How Important is a College Education Today?

posted at 10:36 am on March 14, 2011 by Jazz Shaw
[ Education ]   

What do American’s think about the value of a college education today, particularly the perceived advantages of a sheepskin from the hallowed halls of the most prestigious institutions? Rasmussen has released some interesting results of what James Joyner called “one of the dumbest polls ever.”

Ronald Reagan was the last president we had who didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale, and the highest levels of government for much of the nation’s history have been filled with Ivy League grads. But that doesn’t seem to influence the thinking of most American Adults.

In fact, only three percent (3%) say individuals who go to Ivy League schools are better workers than those who go to other schools.

Joyner’s first beef with this analysis is that there is very little correlation between the perceived qualifications to be the Commander in Chief and what sets one up to be a “good worker,” and that’s a fair complaint. But he also delves a bit deeper into the general value of a college education for job seekers. In particular he responds to the survey’s findings that, “an overwhelming majority of Americans (81%) said that people learn more practical skills through life experiences and work after college rather than in college.”

I’ve got a PhD and could have told you that before starting grad school. College is only tangentially about teaching practical skills; it’s about preparing the mind for a life of learning.

Whether it’s a cultural backlash against a presumed “intellectual elite” run amok or a response to economic conditions, perceptions of the university system have clearly shifted. A good part of that likely comes more from the latter (fiscal worries) than the former. Last year the average debt carried by college grads rose to $24,000, with many of them still facing a brutal employment market which found too many of them flipping burgers rather than working in their chosen field of study. Alarm bells were being sounded several years ago over the fact that tuition costs had doubled over the last decade while wages had remained stagnant.

And it’s important to note that the average costs and debt cited include far, far more people who went to lower cost state and local colleges. The ones laying out higher prices for big ticket degrees frequently found themselves in even more daunting circumstances.

Many in the next generation of workers will be so debt-burdened that they will have to delay home purchases, limit vacations, even eat out less to pay loans off on time.

Kristin Cole, 30, who graduated from Michigan State University’s law school and lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., owes $150,000 in private and government-backed student loans. Her monthly payment of $660, which consumes a quarter of her take-home pay, is scheduled to jump to $800 in a year or so, confronting her with stark financial choices.

“I could never buy a house. I can’t travel. I can’t do anything,” she said. “I feel like a prisoner.“

The reality is that things have changed drastically since the “happy days” when people with a high school education felt they might still rise up through the ranks from starting in the mail room to become the president of the company. Employers want a college degree for most high paying positions before they’ll even let you in the door for an interview. But are those the only routes available during such challenging economic times?

Anecdotally, I’m seeing a lot more young people today staying in the local area for two years in a community college and then finishing up with two more in a state school where prices for residents can be kept down. Further, increasing numbers of financially strapped families are seeing their kids exploring the option of the military in order to get a free or vastly cheaper education upon completion of a tour of duty. Others are also skipping the college life and heading into technical schools after completing high school.

This brings us back to the disappointing fact that there are virtually no high schools left in America which include shop classes as part of the curriculum, preparing students for work in the trades. It’s apparently a near criminal act to suggest that some students may not want to get a degree, but choose rather to get a job after high school, holding open the option of pursuing a sheepskin later on through continuing adult education in the evenings.

And that’s kind of sad. Given the staggering unemployment rates facing the workforce, every possible option should probably be on the table. I personally know one young man in my town who went into an apprentice program for HVAC after high school. A few years later he not only has no lingering college debt hanging over his head, but is making enough money that he’s looking at buying his first home already at the age of 25. (In a rather ironic twist, some of his former classmates with BA degrees are coming back and asking him about job opportunities.)

Don’t come away from this with the impression that I’m saying college is useless. It’s not. But given the spiraling costs involved and the challenges facing American families, it may not be the only path for parents and students to explore come graduation time. No, you’re not going to walk into a seven figure job on Wall Street without getting that high priced, top end diploma, but how many people will realistically do that each year? It’s akin to being pretty good at basketball and pinning all your plans on making it to the NBA draft. Good work if you can get it, but real world skills and a solid work ethic are still important and will serve some people better than a string of letters after your name from “the right school.”

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