An issue especially relevant to the lives of college students is the rising cost of higher education. As highlighted in the recent Wall Street Journal article, “Families to Shoulder Rising College Tuition Costs,” tuition rates have doubled since the late 1980s, leaving many families in a state of financial distress. With endowments lower than usual and the tacit “responsibility” of universities to provide a quality cultural experience for their students and staff, it is not surprising that universities have raised tuition and limited scholarships, enabling their ivory towers to stay high above the red.
In a detailed report analyzing the for-profit higher education industry, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, points out that the federal government has failed college students. These students, who earnestly believe that the government will shield them poor sales pitches and inadequate programs, end up falling deep into tuition related debts. Republican members of the committee took this criticism one step further and said that the report failed to mention similar schemes practiced by public colleges as well. All politics aside, this is a major issue for our generation, colloquially coined “Generation Screwed.”
Excluding those who continue on to graduate school and accrue even more debt, the proverbial college graduate is thrust into the workforce and expected to start paying off their loans after a six month “grace period.” However, two factors make initiating these repayments almost impossible: 1) the poor job market and volatile world economy, and 2) students’ lack of clarity regarding their place in the workforce. To make matters worse, this “grace period” is hardly enough time for some to find a job, let alone figure out a life direction. Apart from the elite students who land jobs at prestigious firms with high paying internship programs, the majority of graduates that are lucky enough to get a mediocre entry-level position often struggle to pay off their college debts, finding themselves in deep water.
These problems would not be as relevant if college was truly a worthwhile investment. But is it? As an economics major, one of the most important concepts that I have learned is the idea of opportunity cost: that the price of any activity is measured by comparing it to the value of the next best alternative. In laymen’s terms, to gain something, one must sacrifice something else. The opportunity cost of obtaining a professional degree and acquiring a better job is going to college.
While the intrinsic value of going to college is implied, one must ask: what is the fundamental purpose of college?
Ideally, the purpose of college should be to morph students from immature high school kids into well-rounded, mature and sensible adults. In doing so, undergraduate institutions are supposed to teach practical courses in liberal arts, applied sciences, and business. However, this ideal has been tarnished by institutions perpetuating the notion of “academia for academia’s sake,” offering courses that do not consider a student’s long-term best interests. Even the “more practical” business oriented courses do not provide an accurate depiction of what actually occurs in the workforce. Considering that in most cases, graduates need even more than a higher education (for example: a JD, MBA, MD, PhD, CPA) to get a well salaried job, what is the best way to rectify the ineffectiveness of higher education and make it more relevant?
Colleges need to use a fusionist philosophy in formulating a more robust curriculum. To start, if universities partner with businesses in a variety of fields and require students to take an apprenticeship based on their coursework and majors, it will enable students to get some minimal exposure to the mundanities of office life, and participate in office tasks on a daily basis. To best fit in with students’ already hectic schedules, this internship would count for credit towards a major, replacing unnecessary classes and busy work. This will help ensure the prospect that students will get ahead while they are still in college, have a more confident idea of their career aspirations upon their graduation, and have less trouble joining the workforce.
Implementation of this program is not intended to suffocate students’ whimsical dreams and transform them into corporate robots. Freedom of expression should always be encouraged, but gently guided in a direction that will reap both personal fulfillment and societal contributions. Molding a student’s education is like cultivating grapes: one cannot just let them grow freely without some sort of trellis to keep them on track.
Although world of business and moneymaking may seem so monochromatic and unromantic, one need not strangle their creative vices to be a success in business. On the contrary, one of the main tools needed for a prosperous business career is an entrepreneurial spirit. Filling an uninhabited niche and developing new business ideas increases the overall wealth of society and general efficiency of humanity. One only needs to take a look at history to validate this point. While there has undoubtedly been a flourishing of culture over the past two centuries, the creative pioneers of entrepreneurship such as Henry Ford and Steve Jobs have definitely had a more profound effect on the world than belletrists F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Truman Capote.
By penning this article, I am not trying to discourage those who are creatively qualified and gifted from pursuing their dreams. I am merely proposing a viable solution to the problems faced by the next generation of workers – ourselves: lack of money to pay for college, and a lack of clarity regarding future career choices. If students are given the proper time and resources to further develop their vocational skills, they will surely have a higher chance of attaining success and contributing towards the overall economic good of society. If universities embrace a fusionist curriculum, students can be confident that they are not wasting their time and efforts on classes that will provide them with no inherent value, and can rest assured that the investment in their education will be worth the opportunity cost, and harness high dividends in the future. For now however, we can only wonder if our gentry level western educations will eventually yield us entry level jobs.