This week, The Daily Beast asks if college is a lousy investment.
If we look at the time, the stress, the expense, the singlemindedness required for kids to get into college, I might say – yes, it’s a lousy investment.
If we look at the cost alone of a college education – my sons are attending universities that total in the $50,000 / year range – again, I might say yes, it’s a lousy investment.
If we look at what college has become to many – a piece of paper necessary to secure employment – again, I might say yes, regretfully. We all know that post-college jobs are not guaranteed.
But if we don’t delve deeper, we’re doing ourselves and our children a disservice.
Costs of the College Dream
In the Daily Beast, Megan McArdle writes:
For my entire adult life, an education has been the most important thing for middle-class households. My parents spent more educating my sister and me than they spent on their house, and they’re not the only ones … and, of course, for an increasing number of families, most of the cost of their house is actually the cost of living in a good school district.
Ah yes. Those hefty property taxes that result from living in a good public school district. Last I checked, my property taxes are roughly equal to the amount of my actual mortgage.
I could also mention the tens of thousands of dollars expended on other educational programs and necessities in middle school and high school, and not private school, I might add. Yes, this was a choice on my part, given that my children earned their extra educational opportunities.
But those opportunities came with a hefty price tag.
That takes us to the college application process itself – my concerns over pushing too hard – and issues of teen stress, which I’ve written about previously.
Benefits of the College Dream
Do some of us recall what college used to be about?
Not only was it a time for first experiences of independence, but for establishing lifelong friendships, for developing the ability to think and question, for broadening our perspectives, for exploring. Some of us knew our passions already. For others, college was a time of intellectual discovery.
Is that still the case? Does it depend on the school, the student, the circumstances?
I’m of the mindset that college should not be considered preparatory school for a career, stuck (somewhat) in the notion that it prepares us for a thinking life, although to ignore the need to earn a living afterward would be foolish and unrealistic.
The Value of an Education
I believe that learning in and of itself is valuable.
I believe that learning how to learn is valuable.
I believe that too often, we’re teaching our children to take tests, rather than to learn.
We squelch their questions and their creativity because it’s easier or we’re tired. Our school systems are test-focused, because teachers take heat if students appear to be performing poorly, and administrators are concerned about funding, not to mention their jobs.
But are we forcing too many children down the same path – whether it fits or not? Have we lost the essence of what “education” is about?
Parents Plotting a Child’s Future
As parents, we invest emotionally in what we perceive as the best for our children. But we’re also increasingly time and resource constrained. The journey our kids undertake may quickly fall into the same “success trap” in which we find ourselves, whether we like it or not.
We convince ourselves that their lives will be manageable in ways that ours may not be, with freedom and money enough to eventually do what they love, or love what they do.
Yet while the Daily Beast may debate the dollars and cents of college in light of earnings versus future debt, I wonder about the common sense of it.
Should everyone attend college after all? Why is it less valuable or honorable to be a technician, a plumber, a farmer, or a chef?
The Educational Investment
My own sons are in college now, thanks to merit scholarships as well as loans. It was clear from the time they were very young that encouraging their learning was a must, and the hope of college – a good college – an essential goal in this household.
But without scholarships, we couldn’t have managed the educational investment. The amount of debt would have been untenable. My boys knew it, and I knew it. Yet they will graduate with double digit debt, which is still better than triple digit debt.
And will all the years of sweat, sacrifice, and money – theirs and mine – prove to be a good investment?
Only they can answer that, and possibly not for 10 years or more. I hold out hope they will look back and say “yes, it was worth it.”
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Very timely.
My son has just decided to take a ‘pause’ from university.
After being diagnosed with a heart condition earlier this year he has re-evaluated his priorities and for now … it’s getting a job – any job – and learning more about life and the workforce in general. He has a part time job and is a great communicator – and is now considering full time work or possibly work experience in a field he is inspired by.
He feels this will enable him to get more practical experience, gain a first hand knowledge of life after uni – and perhaps see whether the degree is worth the time, effort and money.
I often think we are a little brainwashed to think the degree is worth all that – I know too many very well educated uni leavers who struggle to find work and end up taking anything.
I also question how young people can really know for sure what they want to do in life with no work and little real life experience – yet accrue huge debts studying in fields which they have no surety of employment?
Never to forget that education is a business in itself …
You’re so right, Vicki Lee. Education is a business in itself. As for the costs of college, surely this bubble will burst soon. I grant you I have not researched the reasons for it, but I don’t understand the explosion of cost in recent years – as alluded to in the Daily Beast article.
Your son’s pause sounds very wise.
So many things to consider here…
I have always believed in the benefit of learning for the sake of learning. That being said, I will share this tale. My husband’s first go at college focused on his passion for music, without any consideration for degree requirements – learning for learning’s sake – as much knowledge about music as he could acquire. Years later, after we had two children, we returned to college for the degree. It changed our lives for the better. Once we hit the empty nest, he went back to school for a master’s in jazz. Still, I don’t think everyone must go to college, but training in any field is beneficial.
I think there is too much pressure on kids to do, do, do! The college application process seems much more stressful than I remember.
The cost of college these days is enough to make anyone think seriously about whether it is a path they want to follow. My husband and I have always paid for our education – no help from the parents. We did what we could for both of our kids. Our daughter didn’t want student loan debt and chose state schools. Our son chose a private college and helped offset the costs with scholarships and working as an RA and TA. He also took on some student loan debt.
Unfortunately, I do agree that our schools often force teachers to teach to the test. It takes a really good teacher to allow creativity in the classroom and teach children to think for themselves, while still meeting the status quo when it comes to the tests.
I did it the non-traditional way; I went to work first, and then back to school. I think I appreciate it that much more. But I think it really depends on the person, on what they want, and the best way to tackle it. I think one of my daughters will delay college to pursue dance, and the other will go to college straight out of high school. Of course, I worry about costs, but that’s always an issue, isn’t it?
I’m torn on this subject. While I think it’s wonderful when someone has the opportunity to further their education with college, I also believe not everyone is college material. Trade schools offer invaluable experience for those not on the college trajectory. And shouldn’t be viewed as second best. Add to college expenses all the fluff courses that are of absolutely no value except to command more money. I honestly believe college could be successfully be reduced to 2-3 years for most careers if all the unnecessary and unrelated courses were removed. Being an adjunct, I see quite a few areas where the supposedly well-educated are anything but. And that’s a very sad state of affairs.
I was an educator professionally. I value education for education’s sake. I got my BA on my own – through scholarships and student loans and working my a** off along the way.
I don’t agree with parents going into debt, jeopardizing their future and their retirement to pay for their kids’ college education. I also think the education gained from working in the world, traveling the world, bootstrapping are as valuable as what they learn in the classroom. I think the worst lesson we teach some young adult children is that they’re entitled to help from their parents.
Your point about learning how to think is the most salient, I think, in this wonderful post.
I went to college to open up opportunities. Not career opportunities. Life choices. I wanted to go to med school but changed my mind senior year. And I had done enough intentional exploring and hard work to change majors and still graduate in four years.
I also taught at a community college. Ten percent of the students were working hard to transfer to a four-year school. They wanted a less expensive way to achieve their goals. Fifty percent were there because it’s just what comes next. Another thirty percent were there because their parents insisted. And five percent were older students returning to school to change their access to opportunities. (I know that’s 95%. I want to leave my options open.)
Only the first ten percent of the above students wanted to learn how to think. And they’re the only ones I can guarantee succeeded at anything they put their minds to.
College is necessary for an informed electorate, an engaged population asking important questions, a useful citizenry. And that’s why taxpayers should be at once revolting at the cost of college and subsidizing for those who complete a reputable program.
Not for those in colleges who give a subpar education for an inflated price tag.
Every student is different and needs to find their way. Work and living on your own are the place for social growth and practicing independence. College is where you learn to think and join a community of scholars learning to make thinking better.
And I hope every student who wants to join that community can.
The university experience is much like the concept of ‘family’. It’s not just one thing for all people. I lived at home my first couple of semesters and commuted to classes. Then I took a break and just worked. I was 16 when I went to college and I wasn’t emotionally mature enough. Mom wanted me to join a sorority and so I did. They were nice enough to me – the loved my B average – but I didn’t fit there. Later I worked full time and went to night school to finish a BA in six years; a further masters in 3. I never got that ‘move away from home and live in college dorms, finding your wings’ experience. That’s what rich kids did and we weren’t rich. Was my education worthwhile? Definitely, but that was a different time to now.
I think I might have been better off to learn to sell; or to learn to invest – I had (a little) spare cash in the 70s and 80s when returns were rocketing. Learning to set up and run a business might also have been more valuable. I wasn’t of that bent, but my parents and grandparents were all self employed and I suspect this is the way of the future. Will a university education be of help with that sort of lifestyle? I couldn’t say.
Having gone to university in the States and then worked in two universities here in Britain, either the institution has changed a great deal or universities are different here. Students and teaching are their very last priority – they push it off on anyone they can collar; they think of it as babysitting. Research and publishing isn’t even the Holy Grail it once was. Universities are big business these days – they want grants coming in and the PhD types working to produce that income are often on short term contracts with no hope of tenure. Their salary doesn’t in any way reflect the money they bring to their employer. I shared an office with two of these women and it felt like a sweatshop. Had I not felt my university teachers were engaged with me as a student, I’m not sure I could have pulled myself through 9 years of night school. I suspect again, mature students at night school are a different sort of ‘family’ again. I used to think of universities as a sort of hallowed ground, but not after seeing this other side of them. Non profit businesses can be just a greedy as any other kind.
Blue collar vs. white collar work seems to me to be a question of status. There is the old joke about the plumber who used to be a doctor until he realised the profit he could make… but that’s the joke; no one does that, do they? The US is better than Britain about honouring people who work rather than draw welfare, about treating lower status people with respect – well they do that in Oklahoma, I don’t know about elsewhere. In in Britain, many middle class people take satisfaction in looking down their nose at anyone they can. There is a reason one gets poor service here – it’s the revenge of the working class. One used to dream of a great office and a fat paycheck, not a truck to drive and a uniform to protect you from the muck. I’m not sure what people dream of these days.
When Bill went to university here, the state (government) paid. That was back when only a very select group of children continued school past the age of 14, then 16. Now days everyone and their dog seems to expect to go to unversity, but not because they are seeking a career, more because they expect the rite of passage that sounds more like a four year party to me. My secretary had a degree in American Studies, though I was never clear about what was the point of it. She was smart enough to have done something more useful, but she had a strange attitude about life and so I suspect she’ll never fulfull her potential. Increasingly, students/parents are expected to pay a larger portion. Each of Bill’s children have left school with student debt of around £15-20K (which is very little, in comparison, but still alot for them). They don’t have to pay it back until they get salaries above a certain level, which all of them have by now. I have a friend who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She told me that if a student maintained a certain grade point average, the state of Georgia would pay for university there. I’ve no idea if that is still true.
I don’t envy parents of young adults, nor young adults themselves. It’s a tougher world than the one I came up in, that’s for sure.
You make a lot of excellent points, Shelley. And the system that Bill’s children are living with makes a good deal more sense.
Great post! Wonderful comments. Lots to think about. My kids are young (10 and 11) and we homeschool because I want them to learn to love learning and to learn how to think for themselves. I hope they will turn out to be well-rounded, open-minded adults. My husband and I don’t agree on whether they need to go on to college. He thinks “yes” I say “not necessarily.” But that’s still a couple of years down the road.
Love hearing from you Ch33etc… I am always in awe of those who homeschool, though the friends I’ve had who have done so began the process when they felt the local schools were not doing the job. They made considerable logistical adjustments to enable one parent to put in all that time, not to mention coordination with other homeschooling parents. (Have you always homeschooled? Do you imagine continuing?)
I do think we have much that needs serious thought when it comes to our educational system – at all levels. I’m actually trying to learn more about early childhood education these days (critical!), and when you see the excitement and curiosity of young children and realize how much is squelched as the years go on, it’s saddening.
Still, my kids – best I can tell – had a pretty good education in our public schools. But they also had the advantage of a family environment in which learning, questioning, discussing, and creating were considered essentials. This doesn’t mean these principles are right for all children (or all families) – but surely, “learning” as a core value can only do our kids – and our country – some good.
I selected a college and degree because I loved learning for the sake of learning, even though I come from a lower-income background. It worked out for me because college tuition was much less back then and I continue to work in my 40s. I think learning for learning’s sake is vital for society and should NOT be tied into career paths.
Having said that, skyrocketing tuition has changed the game. If you’re going into huge debt for it without any job guarantee, is it worth it?
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.” John Ruskin
I learned to talk in college, but barely learned to think. I certainly didn’t learn to see.
Brilliant, Wolf. It really does take “life” for us to learn to see, doesn’t it.