关于美国大学学位价值

The forwarded article was taken from 文国英语网.

I hope the forwarded article could help you improve your English reading skills.

随着大学扩招，高等教育质量等问题，如今很多学生家长面对国内高等教育显得越来越理性。有的孩子放弃了高考直接就业，有的放弃国内高考直接出国深造……那么，国内高等教育如此，国外的大学学位价值又如何呢？

As millions of students labor over college applications this month, they and their parents are pondering just how big a tuition bill they want to pay.

Students are increasingly skeptical about the value of a college degree; the proportion who are willing to borrow money for college if necessary has fallen to 53% from 67% in the past year, based on a survey of 800 college students by Sallie Mae, Reston, Va.

Parents are thinking harder, too, about why they sign big tuition checks, based on a steady stream of email I have received since writing about the college cost-to-value equation a few months ago. Here is a look at a few perspectives on the issue:

-- A path to a better-paying job: College graduates in general earn at least 60% more than high-school grads on average, both annually and over their lifetimes, and the income gap has been growing over time, says a 2007 report by the College Board, New York.

Beyond that, students who major in science- or math-related fields tend to earn more right out of college, compared with other majors, research shows. Phillip Hamilton, a St. Louis stockbroker, values the earning potential of a degree from a top professional school for his son, a high-school junior, over any prestige or network a degree from an elite liberal arts college might confer. 'Is a degree in sociology, English or communications from a 'door-opening' school really going to help with that landscaping job that awaits you?' he asks rhetorically. He hopes his son, 17, chooses a college based on the quality of its engineering, food-science or accounting program, and majors in one of those subjects. 'Then if you decide to work at a surf shop after graduation, you can still snap out of it at 27 and get a real job,' he says.

-- Preparing for a rich, well-rounded life: To Megan DeLamar Schroeder, Texarkana, Texas, planning the college experience based entirely on future income demeans its true value. 'The intangible benefits . . . cannot be reduced to some kind of short-term cost benefit-analysis, as though one is purchasing a piece of property or an expensive sports car,' she says.

She borrowed $40,000 to earn an economics degree from Stanford University in the 1980s, which landed her only an entry-level job at a bank upon graduation. She spent 10 years paying off her student loans. But the experience was worth every penny, she says. The opportunity 'to 'marinate' for four years in an amazing environment' served as a 'springboard to lifelong learning and inquisitiveness,' she says. She will encourage her 10-year-old twin daughters to hew to similar values when they start their college search, she says.