Scholarship Winner | Andrew

The goal of the Jet Future Business Leaders Scholarship is to help one college student per semester with the cost of their education. This semester, Andrew Waddell has been selected as the winner of the $1,000 award.

Andrew is a sophomore at Ohio State University, studying Business Information Systems. When asked about what he enjoys about his studies he said "I really enjoy my computer programming classes. This summer I am taking the second java programming class and I am very excited to learn more about the language. I am also enjoying my accounting classes. It is interesting to learn how different businesses use and budget their money."

In addition to being a member of the Sports Analytics Association, Andrew is the co-founder and treasurer of the Herpetology Club at Ohio State.

Prompt

Over your lifetime, the cost of college tuition has increased significantly compared to average wages. Do you believe that the value of the education provided has risen with the increased cost of tuition?

Andrew's Essay

I personally do not believe the value of education has risen with the cost of college tuition. Before attending college I actually wrote a paper on whether it was better for someone to attend a trade school and learn a trade, or attend college. The pros to trade school were it does not take as long, it is significantly cheaper, and you can still make a good or even great wage once you start working. However, the big con I found with trade school is you do not get the "college experience." In a trade school, you do not live with all of your buddies for four years and go to football and basketball games every week. You basically just start your life right there. The pros for college were you got this experience and fun and you are able to explore your life for four years and you also get this "nice" degree. However, that big con is you are going to drop $100,000 on it. I do not know how it is for most people, but for the last two summers and into this last semester, I have worked my tail off at multiple jobs and still have to take out a significant amount of money in loans. It can be very frustrating because over the summer I was working 50 hours a week, and I look at my bank account now and I barely have any money after paying school, and I still had to take thousands of dollars out in loans. When you look at the average wages of someone with a college degree, it probably is a little bit higher than that of someone who did not go to college, but I am not sure it is worth the $100,000, plus all of the interest that is going to occur from the loans taken out. Also, I know many people who have gotten their college degree, and then never used it. Or they got their college degree and then realized that what they were studying to be, they actually did not like or were not very good at it. However, most people still decide to attend college after high school. I think the numbers have started to decrease, but I am not sure. All I know is, I frequently think about if I made the right decision financially to attend school. I know I would not be thinking this if the value of education has risen with the increased cost of tuition.