“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” – Eppie Lederer (a/k/a Ann Landers)
Reader — and good friend — Jeff sent an email following Tuesday’s post. As a side note, he has noted that he often agrees with my conclusions, even though he differs with the path I used to reach them. Here’s a the relevant excerpt from his email (used with permission, BTW):
Drink from the fount of knowledge
I did, again (!) have the weird experience of being the amen corner for most of it while taking specific exception with a point you made along the way. In this case it was your assertion that the ROI on higher ed is questionable. I know what you mean—that it’s more expensive than it used to be, with less guarantee of paying off. That’s true. But the key to clearly seeing the return on higher ed is to ask the “compared to what” question in a different way. If it’s longitudinal, now compared to then, point taken.
But I’ve read, thought, and written about this topic a lot, and am convinced that the more relevant question to apply is, sticking with present reality: how much advantage is there in a BA compared to stopping with less than a BA? And it’s not even close. Chances of achieving a middle-class life or better plummet without a BA. With a BA, people make hundreds of thousands more dollars in their careers, are much less likely to be unemployed, are more likely to like their work, and are more likely to have successful marriages, successful children, longer and healthier lives, and to give back through some sort of service. Correlation isn’t causation, and there surely are hidden variables here, but the evidence is overwhelming that better life outcomes are overwhelmingly associated with a 4-year college degree. And the gap is actually growing.
From an NPR story today:
In other words, the U.S. economy has been growing, and we all have been getting wealthier. But people who have the biggest incomes have been pulling away from the pack in a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Those upper-class households are increasingly likely to be headed by a married couple with higher educations, the data show.
“Those Americans without a college degree stand out as experiencing a substantial loss in economic status,” Pew concluded.
The Pew study is the latest showing lost momentum for the middle class. For example, in August, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce released a study showing that high-paying jobs are proliferating, but not middle-income jobs.
The Georgetown report concluded that the U.S. economy now has about 1 million more jobs that rank in the top third of income-generating occupations. But the middle third jobs have not yet recovered from the recession — that category is still showing 900,000 fewer jobs, compared with pre-recession levels.
The Georgetown study’s key finding was this: Since the recession ended, “almost all good jobs have gone to college graduates. Out of the 2.9 million good jobs created since the recovery, 2.8 million have been filled by workers with at least a bachelor’s degree.’
So, that’s my ‘I agree, except for …’ commentary this time around.”
I realize now that I could have said the short-term return on investment is questionable, but Jeff wouldn’t have sent such a great email. I pointed to the uncertain job market for recent college graduates as emblematic of the headwind young men are facing as they seek to establish themselves.
But let me concede that Jeff’s point is absolutely correct — over the course of their working lives, those who earn bachelor’s degrees will generally out-earn those with less than a bachelor’s degree. And since I have both a bachelor’s and a master’s, I want to clarify that I am in favor of education — as much as you can get, of as high a quality as you can get. However, I think there are some things a young man should consider before he jumps straight into college.
Academics
Do you enjoy classroom learning, and do you generally see your efforts paying off in acquired knowledge and good grades? Do your SAT/ACT scores suggest you have an aptitude for college-level work? You need to be in the affirmative on both questions. You may have a genius IQ, but if you are a kinesthetic learner, you may find the hours of required reading less than a good fit for you. Seek to match what you’re made for with what the school is good at.
Finances
Do you have a sound plan for financing your education? Mom and Dad may be able to pay cash for your tuition and fees. If so, that’s great. Many more students choose a top-tier school in another state and borrow exorbitantly to finance it. Still others work while knocking out their first two years at the local community college, eventually transferring to a four-year college or university to complete their degree. And others serve in the military or work full-time while saving to attend college a few years after high school. Choosing a school based on its value instead of its cost will help you minimize borrowing. And zero is the best amount to borrow.
Temperament
Do you have a sure enough sense of your identity and your values to avoid agreeing with the most recent lecture you’ve heard? A good part of college life is the opportunity to read and consider points of view vastly different from one’s own. At the same time, many students find themselves under pressure to adopt a given professor’s pet ideology. Gaining the wisdom and maturity to see this effort for what it is, and to resist it while remaining cordial is not an exercise for rookies.
There is nothing wrong with taking a year or more between high school and college to become better prepared. As I’ve written before, the two years I paid rent between college and graduate school made me a much better student.
You also need wisdom and maturity to avoid the common pitfalls of college life that originate in overindulging. Many of your classmates will be on their own for the first time in their lives. The process of discovering and applying appropriate limits for oneself is essential to growing up — and it can be painful to watch.
Plan? What plan?
Do you know what you want to study? Most state schools want you to declare a major before you set foot on campus. Other liberal arts colleges insist that you defer this decision until late in your second year. Pre-med students received a waiver, though. Given the investment of time and money required to pursue a degree, you need to know what you’re trying to do.
Now let me appear to contradict myself: Another great benefit of college is the opportunity to study subjects that are new to you. In my case, I arrived on campus at the beginning of my freshman year certain I wanted to major in political science. That lasted as long as the first term and my first political science class. The next term, I took a studio art class. I loved it! When I met my dad for lunch one day, I told him I was thinking of majoring in art. He asked, “What would you do with a degree in art?” I didn’t have an answer, so I got even with him — I majored in Spanish!
Does my major matter?
There are a couple of ways to answer this. First, it matters that you love it enough to continue to work at it and complete the subject mastery required to graduate. Second, it may not matter as much later. A majority of college graduates work in fields unrelated to their college major. But be careful here: some grads are underemployed, while others, like me, established connections between my major and larger life goals. For me, the process of learning languages prepared me to think in terms of systems and approach any unfamiliar subject and learn its vocabulary, grammar and syntax.
This is important and probably deserves its own follow-up post: a lot of jobs that exist now won’t exist 20 years from now. And there will be jobs 20 years from now that only a time traveler could predict. The world will likely always need engineers, doctors, nurses, and lawyers — but even these professions will change in light of currently unforeseeable developments. A quality education can help you become and remain agile through whatever changes come.
Why a college degree ultimately pays more
Quite simply, if you major in a serious subject in an accredited school, completing your degree will provide you with access to full-time salaried employment and better options for advancement for the rest of your life. Why is this? I’ll give Jeff the last word. As he wrote in a follow up email: “In my mind, employers see a BA as the best evidence (short of actually knowing someone) that (a) the person knows how to learn and (b) has enough stick-to-itiveness to complete an ambitious, multi-year goal. And in most cases, that’s going to be pretty spot on. That’s why I’ve told my kids that I don’t care what they study. Just prove to the world that you can learn and that you can follow through, and you’ll probably do pretty well at something, whether it’s what you majored in or not.”
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic. Bring your best manners, please.