It can seem, as a student, that you are under financial attack. Globally, college registration fees and tuition rates are constantly and continuously rising. The cost of college accommodation is steadily increasing. Living expenses for students always seem to run ahead of national inflation statistics. Add to that, the fact that you may be studying and earning little, while your friends enjoy a weekly or monthly pay cheque from their job. Or what about the forgotten hidden costs of spending time in the library instead of relaxing at the gym or the cinema? Factors such as these are compelling current and prospective students to question whether doing a degree programme is worth it, at least financially.
The traditional wisdom is that a college degree will lead to a higher income and better standard of life. If, however, you take a shorter-term outlook and confine yourself to entry-level salaries and employment opportunities relevant to your degree, you will most likely find that is not the case. In relative terms, globally, entry-level salaries for graduates are lower than they have been ever. Furthermore, the prospects for advancement are less certain. Even if you take a longer-term view, you may never recover the true costs of going to college over your lifetime of working!
These considerations have led to a long-standing debate within the academic community. For example, should students view college only as a resource to prepare themselves for the future workforce? Or is the aim to create engaged and enlightened citizens, capable of thinking critically and communicating clearly, and ultimately able to thrive in their well-being? If you follow the former logic, due to the high, and ever-increasing, financial, social, and mental expenditures involved, the investment does not seem to match the return for many graduates.
If, however, you look at the more expansive perspective of college life, a positive view emerges. The reality is that college is about both preparing people for a job (and helping them advance their careers and earnings) and to thrive in their overall lives. A Gallup-Bates College Study (in the USA) affords some insight into what students maybe thinking:
- 80% of college graduates say it is ‘important to derive a sense of purpose from their work’; yet only 38% of graduates strongly agree they have ‘discovered work that has a satisfying purpose’.
- For graduates with low levels of purpose in their work, only 6% are ‘thriving in their overall well-being’; while graduates with high purpose in their work are ten times more likely to be ‘thriving in their well-being’ (59%)!
- The top two drivers of a graduate achieving purpose in their work are when they have an applied job or internship while studying for their degree, and when they have someone who encourages their goals and dreams during college. Graduates who are reflective are 67% are also more likely to have purposeful work.
These findings are true for all generations of graduates, but especially for Gen Z and Millennials. They are more likely to want to derive purpose from their work than from other sources in life. Both these generations, in looking back on their college experience, are likely to regret not having had real-life work experiences while studying.
So, graduates value both purpose and work, and, in fact, find the most purpose in and from work. Colleges can, for instance, help graduates achieve purposeful, applied work by including applied studies and work experiences while the students are studying with them. They can further assist by teaching students the knowledge and skills needed to care about their own well-being, and by having faculty, staff, and students who embrace a culture of caring about each other’s goals and dreams. Instilling a classically liberal arts element as an integral part of learning (that is, teaching students how to be reflective) is also powerfully linked to job success and satisfaction.
The purpose of college is not just job training, but also includes career and life training. Your job is not just about a salary; it is also about obtaining experiences that has a purpose. Helping graduates achieve purposeful work experiences may indeed be the purpose of modern college.
If we want to answer the question of whether college is worth it, we need to start by asking ‘what is the purpose of college?’ Reflecting on that may well be the key to unlocking the next era of higher and further education, as well as the societal well-being and economic prosperity for our nation.