Don’t Throw Your Money Away

The average in-state student at the University of Northern Iowa pays $6102 a year for their undergraduate tuition. That amounts to $24,408 over four years, and that's not counting student fees, books, or room and board. With all of this money being invested into one's education, one must wonder why so many people let it go to waste.

With large course loads and deep-set high school studying habits, it can become very easy to not take classes seriously, especially classes that aren't a part of your major. And sometimes you have to wonder how you'll ever benefit from learning about the philosophical underpinnings of the French Revolution or Keynesian economic theory. And so students tend to slack in such classes: they don't participate in the discussion, they don't take notes, they don't do their homework, and they just kind of skate by with a passing grade.

This is obviously an extreme generalization, but we have observed – and we're sure you have too – these behaviors in many students, ourselves included. You may even be guilty of one or more of them. But when you're paying $6000 a year for classes alone, can you afford to slack off? Are you ok with throwing away roughly $600 on a course that you're taking just because you need the credit?

The answers to these questions lie in what a college education – and, more relevantly, a college degree – is all about. Many people seem to approach college with a trade school mentality where they, the consumer, pay $24,000 for a product, which is the degree, as an investment to get a better career. There are many problems with this view of a college education, but even assuming that this view is correct, one cannot justify not taking their courses seriously.

If you are approaching your education as an investment or as a stepping-stone to a career, you need to realize that what is important for that job isn't the fact that you have a degree but rather the knowledge and skills that the degree represents. A degree may help to get a job, but exemplary performance is what will help you keep it. And if you're not putting an effort into your education, how do you intend to become proficient in your area of interest?

As far as non-major courses are concerned, it can become very difficult to care, because they seem to have very little impact on your future career. What's important to realize here is the purpose of the liberal arts core: to make you a well-rounded person capable of free and critical thought. By making connections between the different liberal arts classes, you can begin to develop better opinions about the world and, more practically, better critical thinking skills that will allow you to become a leader in your future career, something that is valued by almost all employers.

All of these skills can only be obtained through your own individual effort and participation. Professors and instructors can provide situations that will help push you in the right direction, but you have to walk forward and cultivate these skills on your own. And you should. You don't want to throw away $25,000, do you?

The editorial reflects the position of the Northern Iowan's editorial staff: John Anderson, Leah Jeffries, Brad Eilers, Cassie Tegeler, Anna Schreck, and Kari Braumann. All other articles and illustrations represent the views of their authors.