When reading the article about the cost of college in different countries for the homework assignment, the section about Taiwan caught my interest. Hung-Yu Juan, the interviewee who attended college in Taiwan paid a total of $3000 in undergraduate tuition and has $0 in loans. That wasn’t what surprised me, though. The interviewee stated that “Because I didn’t go into debt for college, I didn’t feel pressure to get a job immediately or feel the need for a high-paying one. Salary wasn’t my concern; I could do whatever I wanted for my career.” This was interesting to me because I thought even in America, students studied what they loved, not what made the most money. So I got to asking:

I introduced the question by talking about how in other countries, the government is able to pay for the undergraduate tuition of all students. I then asked them if the burden of college expenses here in America had any influence on the career they chose. My roommate, who is pre-med, will obviously incur a large amount of debt by the time he is working, but once he starts working, he will be making a huge salary. Once asked this question, he immediately responded with “I am doing what I love, and the cost of college or debt played no factor in pursuing the career I am. It just happens that what I am interested in also pays a lot of money.” And this is what I thought was universal in all college kids. Go study what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. The rest of the interviewees proved me wrong.

“I would never choose a career in anything that pays below average,” said one interviewee, a mechanical engineer. He strongly believed that there is no reason to pay so much money and spend so many hours stressing for a career that did not pay you back for the effort put into an undergraduate degree. He stated that money was definitely a major factor in why he chose what he wants to pursue, but he is also interested in it.

Another interviewee stated that they “know what it is like to be poor” and they don’t want their own family to live like that. They want a career that makes money so their kids don’t have to take student loans and just focus on learning unlike them. “I have to stress about accruing interest and pay it off as soon as possible, in addition to worrying about more loans for each semester. I am scrambling to apply for scholarships and grants just so I can be here.” This person was attracted to dentistry and is planning ahead so that her own kids are not stressed by the same things she is stressed about. 

Overall, I have learned that the cost of college does heavily influence many students’ career paths and some are unwilling to pursue what they love in favor of money. This is a drastic difference from Hung-Yu Juan in Taiwan, who had no pressures due to the cost of college.