Is college worth it? Depends on what you’re going for
Should parents have access to college grades? An expert weighs in
Should parents have access to college grades if they’re footing the tuition bill? We asked an expert.
The car door opened and I felt a lump in my throat. This was college. The strange land I’d been hearing about since I was a child. My father and I carried my trunk up the dormitory steps, located my room, and said hello to my new roommate.
An hour later, as I watched my parents drive away, I felt myself being lowered into a strange new pool of existence, where I was expected to learn at a heightened pace, make my own decisions on everything from classes to laundry, and, above all else, do that elusive thing that had been inching closer in high school but never quite came within reach:
Grow up.
That’s a hefty load of expectations for the college experience. But back then, no one would have said it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Things are different today. A recent study showed more than half of Gen Z college graduates now feel their diploma wasn’t worth it, nor was the time they spent earning it.
They point out the skyrocketing costs of tuition. They bemoan their burden of student loans.
They claim the new technological landscape, where many have succeeded without a college diploma, rewards digital skills over sheepskin degrees. And they say artificial intelligence has rendered much of what is being taught in college unnecessary.
They also complain that so many people now have college degrees, it no longer makes you special, nor guarantees you a higher wage, which was the big motivation when our parents were hounding us with “You have to go to college if you want a decent job!”
As the study concludes, “the ‘college wage premium’ has plateaued.”
Yeesh. After reading all that, why bother applying?
Any other options?
Now, many of these gripes are valid. College tuition for private schools has nearly tripled in the last 60 years when adjusted for inflation, while real wages for most Americans have stayed flat.
And it’s true, high profile tech billionaires like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg never completed a college degree.
And yes, it’s not as special to have a diploma anymore. In 1960, only seven percent of Americans had a bachelor’s degree. Today, it’s 38 percent. Consequently, companies don’t clamor to hire a college grad as quickly as they used to. They likely have plenty already.
But here’s the thing. College, at least back when we were going, wasn’t just about how much money you would make when you got out. It was about transitioning from teenager to adult. Going through the metamorphosis of dependent to independent, repeating what’s been taught to thinking on your own, following others’ plans to making plans for yourself.
When young folks today talk about skipping college because “it’s not worth it” I want to ask, “As opposed to what?” Living at home the next four years? Pursuing an influencer role on social media? Trying a blog, or, heaven forbid, a podcast? Snagging an entry level job for low wages (after all, you have no experience) while spending what little you earn on the apartment you share with five other people?
Is college, as Winston Churchill once said of democracy, the worst use of your four years after high school – except for all the others?
Education under seige
When I look back on my university years, it’s not the facts from the classes that I remember. It’s the learning how to think. Learning how to probe. Learning how to speak on subjects that I first had to immerse myself in, versus simply spouting my opinions.
It’s the crafting of communication through writing. The research of deep subjects and great thinkers. The reading of classic works of literature, drama, and original thought.
It’s the new friendships with people who didn’t come from my back yard. The navigating of study time and party time.
And, not for nothing, the sheer satisfaction of becoming educated. Of getting a ground floor on science, history, psychology, math, languages, the arts, so I could, for the rest of my life, speak with some intelligence to others on such subjects.
These days, college education itself is under siege – and sometimes rightfully so. When critics mock elite universities for emphasizing “oppressor vs. oppressed” doctrine in every discipline, hiring faculty with a political slant, bringing ideology into classes where it has no place, and creating majors that have no practical application in the workplace – any workplace – you can understand why many students, and increasingly their parents, say, “Ah, no thanks.”
But that demands reform from within. And maybe colleges will read this latest study and realize their future is in jeopardy if they don’t return to a more productive, practical approach.
But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the diploma. College, used well, is a bridge to adulthood, and, for many, the last chance to focus on improving your thinking and polishing your mind before jobs, paychecks, mortgages and other responsibilities take over.
When my parents returned four years after dropping me off at college to witness my graduation, we talked a lot about what the experience had been. I used words like “hard,” “life-changing,” “exciting,” “fun” and “eye-opening.”
I never thought about saying “not worth it.” I feel sorry for those who do. They, or their schools, somehow missed the boat.
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.