We’re seeing and hearing more and more debate these days about whether going to college is worth the cost. It’s a fair enough question, and every student should do the calculus before enrolling. But prospective students and their families should consider all of the costs and benefits of a college degree, not the one-dimensional cost-versus-salary comparison that often seems to be the entirety of the discussion.
This Seattle University grad seems happy to receive her degree!
In the past few questioned the value of a college degree. “Skyrocketing cost” is typically given as the reason to re-think that truth. Here in the State of Washington tuition at public baccalaureate institutions has been increased by 14 percent in each of the last two years to help the institutions offset some of the drastic reductions the legislature made to state funding in the current budget. However, Washington’s private colleges raised tuition by just a little over four percent in that time, on average. The members of Independent Colleges of Washington have budgeted more than $278 million for institutional financial aid for next year. Combined with state and federal aid and private scholarships, the cost comes within the reach of most any family. In fact, nationally, inflation-adjusted net tuition at private colleges has actually dropped 8.6 percent over the last five years.
It’s unfortunate that, in the minds of many, a college education is no more than a financial transaction. Perhaps all of those get-a-good-job-get-a-good-education commercials that ran on TV during the ’50s and ’60s have contributed to the mindset. We often hear “not every job requires a bachelor’s degree” as a reason not to support higher education. But numerous studies have driven home the value of increased education, to the student and to society as a whole.
Rebecca Mead wrote a great piece on the college cost debate for the June 7, 2010 issue of The New Yorker. The whole thing is worth a read, but we especially like Mead’s conclusion:
If even a professionally oriented college degree is no longer a guarantee of easily found employment, an argument might be made in favor of a student’s pursuing an education that is less, rather than more, pragmatic. (More theology, less accounting.) That way, regardless of each graduate’s ultimate path, all might be qualified to be carriers of arts and letters, of which the nation can never have too many.
We often hear from employers that what they really need are more people with communication, problem solving, and critical thinking skills, just the sorts of talents honed in pursuit of a solid liberal arts education, regardless of major. Factor in the value of an educated life when you’re evaluating the ROI on that college degree.
