what is the importance of college education

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The Importance of College Education: A Comprehensive Guide

By Eric Eng

Education is the bridge to success in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Not only does it provide people with the skills and knowledge they need to navigate life, but it also opens up pathways to personal and professional growth. Undeniably, pursuing a college education plays an instrumental role in these aspects.

Understanding the Value of College Education

The impact of higher education goes beyond earning a degree. It contributes significantly to a person’s holistic development and allows one to expand one’s horizon.

The Role of Higher Education in Personal Development

College education ignites intellectual curiosity and promotes critical thinking. It cultivates skills such as decision-making, problem-solving, and effective communication, which aren’t just important in academics but valuable life skills.

Moreover, the college provides a nurturing environment for creativity, exploration, and self-discovery. It encourages divergent thinking and allows students to question, analyze, and interpret the world around them.

For example, in a literature class, students may analyze various texts from different time periods and cultures, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of the human experience. This exposure to diverse perspectives broadens their worldview and enhances their ability to empathize with others.

Furthermore, college campuses often offer various extracurricular activities and clubs that allow students to explore their interests and passions outside of the classroom. Whether joining a debate team, participating in community service projects, or engaging in artistic endeavors, these experiences contribute to personal growth and development.

Economic Benefits of a College Degree

It is well-established that college graduates generally earn more than those with only a high school diploma. Investing in higher education often results in higher lifetime earnings, leading to improved personal and family well-being. Furthermore, economic stability facilitates societal growth and development.

Alongside higher earnings potential, a college degree often provides better job benefits. These include health insurance, retirement investment, travel opportunities, flexible working hours, and workplace autonomy.

Additionally, the economic benefits of a college degree extend beyond the individual. According to research, college-educated individuals are more likely to contribute to their communities through volunteering, philanthropy, and civic engagement. This active involvement helps create a positive social impact and fosters a sense of responsibility towards the welfare of others.

Furthermore, college graduates are more likely to have a higher level of financial literacy, which enables them to make informed decisions about investments, savings, and overall economic well-being.

College Education and Career Opportunities

A college degree is a prerequisite for an increasing number of jobs. Many sectors, such as technology, healthcare, engineering, and education, demand employees with specialized skills and knowledge that can be honed through a well-rounded college education.

Moreover, a college education fosters career mobility and stability. It opens up avenues for promotions and leadership roles and dramatically increases employment opportunities.

For instance, a college education is essential for aspiring doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals in healthcare. The rigorous training and education they receive equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide quality care to patients.

Furthermore, college graduates often have access to a vast network of alumni and industry professionals, which can be invaluable for job hunting and career advancement. These connections can provide mentorship, internship opportunities, and valuable industry insights.

Lastly, a college education helps individuals develop transferable skills such as teamwork, adaptability, and leadership, highly valued by employers across different sectors. These skills enable graduates to navigate the ever-changing job market and thrive in various professional settings.

Debunking Myths About College Education

While the merits of a college education are undoubted, certain misconceptions often impede the path to higher education. Let’s examine a few.

Addressing the Overqualification Argument

One common myth is that having a college degree might leave one overqualified for some jobs. However, a deeper look reveals that more employers seek workers with a broad range of skills, many cultivated through a college education. Advanced education equips individuals with adaptable competencies, enabling them to thrive in diverse work settings.

For example, a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that employers value critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills – all honed during a college education. These skills are essential in today’s rapidly changing job market, where employees must adapt to new technologies and evolving industry trends.

Furthermore, a college education provides students with opportunities for internships, co-op programs, and research projects, allowing them to gain practical experience in their chosen field. This hands-on experience not only enhances their knowledge but also makes them more marketable to employers.

In addition, a college degree often serves as a signal to employers that an individual possesses the dedication, discipline, and perseverance required to complete a rigorous academic program. This signal can give job applicants an edge over those without a degree, demonstrating their commitment to personal and professional growth.

The “Not Everyone Needs College” Myth

Another widespread myth posits that not everyone needs college. While it’s true that some individuals can succeed without a degree, the importance of higher education cannot be downplayed. Apart from enhancing earning potential, it offers intrinsic benefits such as critical thinking skills, immersive learning experiences, and a supportive network of relationships.

Research has consistently shown that individuals with a college degree tend to earn higher salaries than those without one. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median weekly earnings for someone with a bachelor’s degree are approximately 80% higher than those with only a high school diploma. This wage premium not only provides financial stability but also opens doors to better job opportunities and career advancement.

Moreover, a college education fosters critical thinking skills, which are essential for navigating complex issues and making informed decisions. Students learn to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and develop logical reasoning abilities through rigorous coursework. These skills are transferable to various aspects of life, enabling individuals to approach challenges with a thoughtful and analytical mindset.

In addition to academic growth, college offers immersive learning experiences that go beyond the classroom. Students can participate in research projects, study abroad programs, and internships, all providing hands-on learning and real-world application of knowledge. These experiences deepen their understanding of their chosen field and help them develop valuable teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability skills.

Furthermore, the college provides a supportive network of relationships that can last a lifetime. Students can connect with professors, classmates, and alumni with similar interests and goals. These connections can lead to mentorship opportunities, career advice, and potential collaborations. The college community also offers a diverse and inclusive environment, exposing students to different perspectives and cultures and fostering empathy and understanding.

In conclusion, debunking college education myths is crucial to ensure that individuals make informed decisions about their future. A college degree equips individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge for a successful career and offers personal growth, lifelong learning, and a support network. It is essential to recognize the value of higher education and the numerous benefits it brings to individuals and society as a whole.

The Social Impact of College Education

College education profoundly impacts society, influencing civic engagement, social mobility, and community development. Through its multifaceted effects, higher education plays a crucial role in shaping a more inclusive and progressive society.

College Education and Civic Engagement

One of the significant benefits of college education is its positive impact on civic engagement. Research has consistently shown that college graduates are more likely to actively participate in their communities and engage in various forms of social and political activism. This increased civic involvement can be attributed to the knowledge and skills acquired during their educational journey.

College education exposes students to a wide range of social issues, encouraging them to critically analyze and understand the complexities of the world around them. This heightened awareness fosters a sense of responsibility towards their communities, motivating college graduates to contribute actively to societal growth. Whether through volunteering, community service, or advocacy work, college-educated individuals often become catalysts for positive change.

Higher Education’s Influence on Social Mobility

Beyond its impact on civic engagement, college education also plays a crucial role in promoting social mobility. For individuals from lower-income families, access to higher education can be a transformative opportunity that breaks the cycle of poverty and opens doors to better economic prospects.

By providing individuals with the knowledge, skills, and credentials necessary for good-paying jobs, college education equips them with the tools to improve their economic situation. This increased earning potential benefits individuals and their families and contributes to economic growth.

Moreover, college education promotes equal access to resources and opportunities, leveling the playing field for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is a powerful equalizer, enabling individuals to overcome socioeconomic barriers and pursue their aspirations. By expanding access to higher education, society can work towards creating a more equitable and just society.

In conclusion, college education has far-reaching social implications. It enhances civic engagement and responsible citizenship and serves as a catalyst for social mobility and equal access to opportunities. By recognizing the transformative power of higher education, society can strive toward a more inclusive and prosperous future.

The Challenges of Pursuing a College Education

Despite the numerous benefits, pursuing a college education has its challenges. These hurdles must be addressed to make higher education accessible for all.

When it comes to the challenges of pursuing a college education, financial barriers are often at the forefront. College education can be financially taxing, with tuition fees significantly burdening many students. However, it doesn’t stop there. Books, accommodation, and personal expenses can pile up, posing even more significant financial barriers. As a result, many students struggle to afford the education they desire. Society must advocate for policies that make college more affordable and provide financial aid to those in need. By doing so, we can ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue higher education.

Aside from financial barriers, college students face another significant challenge: striking a balance between academics and personal life. The pressure to excel academically can often be overwhelming, leaving little time for socializing, part-time jobs, and family responsibilities. Many students struggle with the constant juggling act, trying to meet their coursework demands while maintaining a healthy personal life. To address this challenge, institutions should prioritize mental health support and offer time and stress management resources. By providing students with the tools and support they need, we can help them navigate the complexities of college life and ensure their overall well-being.

Furthermore, it’s essential to recognize that the challenges of pursuing a college education extend beyond financial and academic pressures. Students also face various social and cultural barriers impacting their educational journey. Race, gender, and socioeconomic status can influence a student’s experience in higher education. Institutions must foster an inclusive and supportive environment that celebrates diversity and provides equal opportunities for all students.

In conclusion, while pursuing a college education offers numerous benefits, it has challenges. Financial barriers, the struggle to balance academics and personal life, and social and cultural barriers are just a few of the hurdles students face. However, by acknowledging and addressing these challenges, we can work towards making higher education accessible and inclusive for all.

Making the Most of Your College Education

Choosing the right course and institution.

Selecting the correct program and institution is vital in shaping your college journey. Choices should align with your long-term goals, interests, and values. Thorough research, college visits, speaking with alumni, and career counseling can aid this crucial decision.

Maximizing Learning Opportunities in College

College is more than just attending classes and getting grades. It offers ample opportunities for experiential learning. Students should seize these opportunities through internships, study abroad programs, workshop sessions, research projects, and other co-curricular activities.

Preparing for the Job Market Post-College

To make the most of your college education, one must also prepare for the job market post-college. This includes equipping oneself with transferrable skills, networking, and gaining practical experience in your field. Active engagement with career services and using internships, mentorship programs, career fairs, and workshops can facilitate this transition.

A college education is a journey of personal growth, intellectual exploration, and professional development. It is a transformative experience that carries the potential to shape a person’s life and contribute meaningfully to the community. The challenges are significant, but the rewards are well worth it with the proper support.

If you want to discuss the matter to a greater extent or inquire about college admissions, look no further! Our experts here at AdmissionSight can help you! Here at AdmissionSight, we have over a decade’s worth of experience guiding students through the competitive admissions process to get accepted to the top universities in the world. Feel free to set up an appointment today to book your initial consultation .

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• The State of American Jobs
• 5. The value of a college education

Table of Contents

• 1. Changes in the American workplace
• 2. How Americans assess the job situation today and prospects for the future
• 3. How Americans view their jobs
• 4. Skills and training needed to compete in today’s economy
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

An extensive body of research has argued that obtaining a college diploma is a good deal for graduates on almost any measure – from higher earnings to lower unemployment rates. By the same token, those without a college degree can find their upward mobility in the job market limited by a lack of educational credentials: This survey finds that one-third of Americans who lack a four-year college degree report that they have declined to apply for a job they felt they were qualified for, because that job required a bachelor’s degree.

But despite the potential benefits and opportunities available to college graduates – and the potential challenges faced by those who lack a college diploma – Americans have somewhat mixed attitudes about the effectiveness of traditional four-year colleges and other higher education institutions. On a personal level, many college graduates describe their own educational experience as having a generally positive impact on their personal and professional development. Roughly six-in-ten (62%) college graduates with two- or four-year degrees think their degree was very useful for helping them grow personally and intellectually, while roughly half think it was very useful for opening up job opportunities (53%) or for providing them with useful job-related skills and knowledge (49%).

Yet even as many college graduates view their own educational experience in positive terms, the public as a whole – including a substantial share of college graduates – expresses reservations about the extent to which various higher education institutions prepare students for the workforce more generally. Just 16% of Americans think that a four-year degree prepares students very well for a well-paying job in today’s economy, and 51% say this type of degree prepares students “somewhat well” for the workplace. Some 12% think that a two-year associate degree prepares students very well (46% say somewhat well), and 26% feel that certification programs in a professional, technical, or vocational field prepare students very well (52% say somewhat well).

The purpose of college: Americans view workforce-relevant skills and knowledge as more important than personal and intellectual growth

Americans’ views of what a college education should be tend to prioritize specific, workplace-related skills and knowledge rather than general intellectual development and personal growth. Half of Americans say that the main purpose of college should be to teach specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace, while 35% think its main purpose should be to help students grow and develop personally and intellectually and 13% volunteer that these objectives are equally important. The public’s views on this issue have shifted slightly in favor of skills development since the last time Pew Research Center asked this question in 2011. At that point, 47% said main purpose of college should be to teach specific skills and knowledge and 39% said it should be to promote personal and intellectual growth.

Americans who have engaged in additional schooling beyond a bachelor’s degree are especially likely to say that the main purpose of college should be personal and intellectual growth, rather than the acquisition of specific skills and knowledge. Some 47% of those with a postgraduate or professional degree think the main purpose of college should be personal and intellectual growth, while 35% think it should be teaching workplace-relevant skills.

In contrast, those with limited college experience (or no college experience at all) are more likely to prioritize the development of specific skills over general intellectual improvement. For instance, 56% of Americans with a high school diploma or less say college should be primarily a place to develop specific work-oriented knowledge and skills, while just 31% see it primarily as a place for personal and intellectual growth.

There is also a partisan element to these views, with Republicans and Democrats expressing highly differing opinions on the purpose of college. Democrats (including Democratic-leaning independents) are about evenly split on which of these objectives is more important: 42% say colleges should prioritize personal and intellectual growth, while 43% say they should prioritize the development of workforce-relevant skills. But among Republicans and Republican leaners, 58% say that the main purpose of college should be teach specific skills – while just 28% feel that the main purpose should be general personal and intellectual growth.

These partisan differences hold true even after accounting for differences in educational attainment. Democrats and Democratic leaners with high levels of educational attainment are more likely to prioritize personal and intellectual growth relative to Democrats and Democratic leaners with lower levels of educational attainment.

But Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents at all educational levels are more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with similar levels of education to believe that personal and intellectual growth should be the main purpose of college.

Along with Democrats and those who have progressed beyond a bachelor’s degree, younger adults (those ages 18 to 29) are more likely than older adults to feel that personal and intellectual growth should be the primary purpose of college: some 43% of 18- to 29-year olds feel this way, compared with roughly one-third of those in older age groups.

In addition, Americans who themselves work in the education field tend to place a greater emphasis on personal and intellectual growth as the primary purpose of college: 46% believe that this should be the main purpose of a college degree, while 35% believe that college should mainly be a place to develop specific skills and knowledge (19% of those who work in the education industry consider them equally important).

Most college graduates regard their college experience as very useful for intellectual growth; views are more mixed when it comes to job opportunities and marketable skills

When asked to assess certain aspects of their own educational experience, about six-in-ten (62%) college graduates (including those who graduated from a two-year degree program) feel that their time in college was very useful in helping them grow personally and intellectually. About half say their college experience was very useful in helping them access job opportunities (53%) or in helping them develop skills and knowledge they could use in the workplace (49%).

The further people have progressed in their college career, the more likely they are to consider their experience very useful. Those with a postgraduate or professional degree are more likely to say that their college education was very useful in each of these respects compared with four-year degree holders, who are in turn more likely than those with a two-year associate degree to say that their education was very useful across each of these measures. For example, while two-thirds of those with a postgraduate or professional degree say their college education was very useful in opening doors to job opportunities, 56% of those with a four-year degree, and an even smaller share (40%) among those with a two-year degree, say the same. And while 57% of those with more than a bachelor’s degree say college was very useful in helping them develop marketable skills, about half or a smaller share among those with a four- or two-year degree hold this view (49% and 43%, respectively).

When it comes to helping them grow professionally and intellectually, majorities of those with a postgraduate or professional degree (77%) and those with a bachelor’s degree (64%) say college was very useful, compared with 46% of those with a two-year college degree.

Americans have mixed views about the extent to which college prepares students for a well-paying job in today’s economy

When asked a broader set of questions about the impact of college more generally, the public expresses somewhat mixed views about the extent to which a college education prepares students for success in the workforce.

Two-thirds of Americans (67%) think that a traditional four-year degree prepares students for a well-paying job in today’s economy at least somewhat well, but just 16% think it prepares them very well, and 29% think it does not prepare them well. A somewhat smaller share of Americans (58%) think that a two-year community college degree prepares students for a well-paying job either very (12%) or somewhat (46%) well, while 38% think that these programs do not prepare students well.

Interestingly, Americans with a four-year college degree are generally no more positive – or negative – than those with less education about the relationship between a four-year degree and a well-paying job: 13% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more education say a four-year degree prepares people very well, as do 11% of those with a two-year associate degree, 12% of those with some college experience but no degree, and 17% of those with a high school diploma. Among those who did not complete high school, however, 40% believe that a four-year college degree does a very good job of preparing people for a well-paying job.

When it comes to assessments of a two-year college degree, about one-in-six (16%) Americans who hold this type of degree say it prepares workers very well for a well-paying job. This is considerably larger than the share of those with at least a bachelor’s degree (7%) who say a two-year degree prepares people very well, but not necessarily more positive than the views of those with less education.

Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to say four- and two-year degrees prepare people very well for a job in today’s economy. For example, about three-in-ten (29%) Hispanics and about a quarter (24%) of blacks say this about a four-year degree, compared with 12% of whites. And while about one-in-five blacks and Hispanics (18% each) say a two-year associate degree prepares people very well, one-in-ten whites share this view.

These findings are consistent with previous Pew Research Center surveys that found that black and Latino parents view college as more essential for their children’s success than do white parents.

A substantially larger share of the public has positive attitudes towards certification programs in a professional, technical or vocational field in the context of workforce development. Some 78% of Americans think that these programs prepare students well for a job in today’s economy, including 26% who think they prepare students very well. Just roughly one-in-five (19%) think they do not prepare students well. It is important to note, however, that respondents were not asked about the effectiveness of certification programs instead of a college education.

Positive assessments of certificate programs as a way to prepare workers for jobs in today’s economy are particularly widespread among those who did not complete high school; 44% in this group say these types of programs prepare people very well, compared with about a quarter (27%) of those with a high school diploma and a similar share of those with some college, but no degree (22%), a two-year degree (28%), or a four-year degree or more education (22%). Certificate programs are also particularly well-regarded among Hispanics, 39% of whom say they prepare people very well for a good job in today’s economy. About a quarter of blacks (25%) and whites (23%) say the same.

One-third of Americans without a bachelor’s degree have elected to not apply for a job they felt they were qualified for because it required a four-year degree

Recent research has argued that there is a “ credentials gap ” in today’s workforce, as employers increasingly require a bachelor’s degree for positions that did not demand this level of schooling in the past. And the survey finds that 33% of Americans who do not have a four-year college degree report that they have declined to apply for a job they felt they were qualified for, because it required a bachelor’s degree.

Americans who have engaged in some type of formal education beyond high school (short of obtaining a bachelor’s degree) are particularly likely to believe they’ve been adversely affected by credentialing requirements as they work their way up the educational ladder. Some 25% of Americans with a high school diploma or less and no additional schooling beyond that have not applied for a job because of a bachelor’s degree requirement. But that figure rises to 34% among those with a high school diploma plus additional vocational schooling, to 38% among those with some college experience but no degree, and to 44% among those with a two-year associate degree. Put somewhat differently, as people receive additional formal education without actually obtaining a bachelor’s degree, they may develop relevant skills without the on-paper credentials to match.

In addition, adults younger than 50 are much more likely than older adults to have refrained from applying to a job they felt they were qualified for because they didn’t meet the formal educational requirements. About four-in-ten non-college graduates ages 18 to 29 (41%) and ages 30 to 49 (44%) say this has happened, compared with 31% of those ages 50 to 64 and just 12% of those 65 and older.

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Admit-a-bull // official admissions blog, why a college education is important.

By Joe Emerson | Last Updated: Jul 15, 2022

Defining why a college education is important involves more than just identifying the superficial benefits of more career opportunities. At a deeper level, college is where you will map a path through life that can take you to places you never expected to go.

The beauty of postsecondary education is that college can yield tangible and intangible benefits for you that in turn benefit others – even if school doesn’t awaken your sleeping Pablo Picasso, Stephen Hawking, or Bill Gates.

Tangible Benefits of a College Education

It’s well established that a college education delivers measurable material benefits. If you were to rattle off the list of reasons you’re attending school, chances are these are the first ones you’ll mention.

College Education and Wages

A handful of money definitely qualifies as a tangible benefit, and research has matched levels of education to payroll expectations and the ability to find a job:

• In 2015, bachelor’s degree holders earned 64 percent more than those with a high school diploma.
• Bachelor’s degree recipients can expect to earn about $1 million more over a lifetime than a person who doesn’t go to college.
• A postsecondary education is expected to be required for about two-thirds of available jobs by 2020.

A recent study broke the higher education benefits down even further, finding among other things, that a bachelor’s degree now means the holder will earn 84 percent more than someone with no postsecondary education. The report went even further, projecting lifetime earnings based on virtually all education levels:

• Lifetime wages of a high school dropout – $973,000
• Lifetime wages of a high school graduate – $1.3 million
• Lifetime wages of someone with some college but no degree – $1.5 million
• Lifetime wages of an associate degree holder – $1.7 million
• Lifetime wages of a bachelor’s degree holder – $2.3 million
• Lifetime wages of a master’s degree holder – $2.7 million
• Lifetime wages of a person with a doctorate – $3.3 million
• Lifetime wages of a professional degree holder –$3.6 million

Based on U.S. Census Bureau data , the usual median weekly earnings in 2017 for people of varying education levels was:

• Doctoral degree holder’s median weekly earnings – $1,743
• Professional degree holder’s median weekly earnings – $1,836
• Master’s degree holder’s median weekly earnings – $1,401
• Bachelor’s degree holder’s median weekly earnings – $1,173
• Associate degree holder’s median weekly earnings – $836
• Person with some college (no degree) median weekly earnings – $774
• High school diploma (only) holder’s median weekly earnings – $712
• Person without high school diploma median weekly earnings – $520

The unemployment rates in 2017 for people in those education categories was 1.5 percent for doctoral degree holders, 1.5 percent for professional degree holders, 2.2 percent for master’s degree holders, 2.5 percent for bachelor’s degree holders, 3.4 percent for associate degree holders, 4 percent for people with some college, 4.6 percent for people with a high school diploma, and 6.5 percent for people without a high school diploma.

Better Jobs Equal Better Benefits, Perks

A college education also usually translates to great benefits and perks as well:

• Typical white-collar benefits: health insurance, eyecare insurance, vacation and other paid time off, dental insurance, maternity/paternity leave, pension plan, 401(k)
• Potential white-collar perks: transportation and parking reimbursement and/or company car, free food and beverages, flexible schedules and freedom to work from home (or elsewhere), concierge services, golden parachutes (high-dollar severance packages)

For Some, College Is the First Real Adventure

College takes you out of familiar surroundings and presents new challenges. But college doesn’t only pave the way for intangible experiences. Adapting to new faces in a fresh place is just the start. The education process can mean internships, overseas travel, exciting research opportunities, and exploration of multiple career paths, all of which can lead to some very tangible results when you start working.

And academic success opens doors to careers where, quite literally in some cases, even the sky and moon aren’t the limits. Think aerospace engineering.

Connections that Can Last a Lifetime

The thousands of people you meet, study with, and work alongside in college will range from peers to mentors, along with power players in your chosen field and others. These are connections you will make note of and potentially use to advance yourself and your ideas.

And as far as relationships go, the only romantic label as common as “high school sweetheart” is “college sweetheart.”

Intangible Benefits of a College Education

A college education can open doors for your career and your own personal growth. For example, college helps develop many important skills, such as self-awareness, global-mindedness, critical thinking, and more.

People by Nature Desire Knowledge

That is a paraphrase of a premise that the Greek philosopher Aristotle states in his Metaphysics . It is affirmed by the connection of head and heart when the study of history helps you forecast the future, when math adds up to real-life solutions, and when the development of skills allows you to produce a masterpiece worthy of the Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, or U.S. Patent Office.

In Pursuit of Critical Thinking

Results are in on colleges and critical thinking. During one recent study , researchers began with the notion that everyone wants colleges to teach critical-thinking skills and that the challenge routinely is accepted. Here’s a key finding: Data show that a student who begins college with critical thinking skills in the 50 th percentile can expect to be in the 72 nd percentile after four years.

Critical thinking is, according to the Foundation for Critical Thinking , “that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it.” Developing that skill yields endless opportunities to enrich your life both personally and professionally.

College Advances Self-Realization

A college education, if pursued honestly and earnestly, gives you the knowledge and skills needed to pursue a career and your passions. The degree also can bring hard-to-match personal satisfaction. A huge part of ensuring that self-realization process is finding a school that is right for you , where you’ll feel safe and comfortable enough to let yourself grow and explore.

Our USF admissions advisors are happy to answer your questions about the USF admissions process, so contact us online or by phone at 813-974-3350 .

About Joe Emerson

Joe Emerson spent 30 years as a magazine and newspaper reporter, editor and copyeditor who turned to freelancing after 20 years with The Tampa Tribune, which closed in 2016 after 125 years of serving the Tampa Bay area. Writing and delivering valuable information remain his passion.

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8 Reasons Why Having a College Degree Is Important

11.07.2022 • 9 min read

Bob Patterson

Former Stanford Director of Admissions

Learn more about why a college degree is important by understanding the benefits and value of having one.

In This Article

What Does a College Education Provide?

Why is it important to have a college degree, frequently asked questions.

In 2016, the Pew Research Center found that 75% of Americans with bachelor’s degrees are happy with their lives. College graduates described their educational experience as having a truly positive impact on their personal and professional development, saying it:

Was essential for their intellectual development

Opened doors to exciting job opportunities

Provided them with indispensable skills and knowledge for their careers

In the world of work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that those with college degrees have lower unemployment rates and higher median earnings overall.

We’ll cover even more benefits of a college degree.

Source: https://www.bls.gov/emp/chart-unemployment-earnings-education.htm

College is about more than just gaining subject knowledge–it’s about finding direction. Consider how these US schools describe their mission:

Northeastern University “encourages its students to grow as innovative problem solvers and entrepreneurs.”

Sarah Lawrence College aims to graduate “world citizens who are diverse in every definition of the word, who take intellectual and creative risks, and who cross disciplinary boundaries, within a framework of humanistic values and concern for community.”

MIT seeks “to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.”

Through a combination of classes, internships, global opportunities, and connections, a college degree can provide you with real skills to navigate your career path and the world.

1. You Can Discover Your Niche

Through classes, lectures, and connections with professors, you can find your academic passions. You’ll develop your knowledge of subjects that truly interest you. Your academic passions are highly valuable to society and can lead to growth in their respective sectors.

For example, computer science and artificial intelligence have real applications for national security . According to a McKinsey Global Institute report, these fields can add 16% ($13 trillion) to global economic output by 2030.

2. You Can Increase Your Career Opportunities

Finding a job is one thing. Finding a job that allows you to support yourself financially, emotionally, and physically in the modern economy is another.

Of the 55 million job openings over the last decade, many of the fastest growing occupations require higher education, including:

Community services

Many US companies still require degrees. An Employability Report released by Cengage Group shows 62% of employers believe a degree is necessary for prospective employees. This may change in the future , but for now, entry into the competitive job market often requires a degree.

A good job, according to the Center on Education and the Workforce , “meets the minimum earnings standard for economic self-sufficiency.” Finding a good job directly correlates with a college education: 80% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher had a good job compared with only 42% of those with only a high school diploma.

Source: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/pathway/#resources

3. You Can Develop Essential Skills

A 2020 survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported the top requirements for employees:

Source: https://www.naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/candidate-selection/key-attributes-employers-want-to-see-on-students-resumes/

Whatever major you choose , going to college ensures you develop skills for life, careers, and our ever-changing world.

4. You Can Increase Your Earning Potential

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to find that education is the key to unlocking higher earnings. The trend is clear: doctoral and professional degree holders earn the most, and high school graduates earn the least.

Source: https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2022/data-on-display/education-pays.htm

If you’re looking for the highest paying degree options, read 20 Highest Paying Degrees: Get the Most out of College. For more detail about lifetime salary, check out The College Payoff .

5. You Can Experience a Positive Return on Your Investment

Speaking of finances, although degrees can be expensive, many college graduates find that the return on investment (ROI) of their bachelor’s degree is positive. In fact, 72% believe their degree has paid off —even those who have received federal aid, scholarships , or loans . There are many ways you can pay for your education and avoid debt later in life.

6. You Have Access to Networking Opportunities

It’s no secret that networking is an essential part of job success . Whether you’re looking for a better job or climbing the career ladder, building a supportive network around you is critical. A network not only helps you discover new jobs, but also connects you with people already working at organizations you’re interested in. It enables you to weed out the jobs that don’t provide the best benefits or opportunities and to tailor your resume or interview to the new job.

All colleges have incredible career resources and extensive alumni networks for you to take advantage of, like:

Career fairs

Internship listings

Resume workshops

Interview specialists

Alumni connections

There’s really nothing you can’t achieve if you use all the college resources available to you.

7. You Have Access to Diverse, Global Opportunities

Our world is becoming increasingly global. New technologies make it easier to communicate across continents, transfer information across borders, and discover new ideas. Colleges actively look to make their campuses more diverse , simply because the interaction between college students with different views and opinions shapes the world.

With exciting study abroad options, hundreds of diverse student communities, and ever-expanding curricula, a college degree gives you opportunities to engage in the global community. This sets you up for success after graduation.

8. You Feel a Sense of Accomplishment

If nothing else, dedicating four years of your life to one community, lifestyle, and location can bring you a huge sense of accomplishment. You will have faced challenges, failed a few times, succeeded a few more, made some amazing connections, stepped out of your comfort zone, and discovered who you are and what you want. Yet whether you’ve learned a new language, built a computer, or discovered a cure for a disease, your confidence in your abilities should be sky-high after college. The world is your oyster: go get it!

How does college help me get a better job?

It all comes down to life skills. Regardless of subject or major, college exposes you to an incredibly diverse community with opinions that vary substantially from your own–all with the purpose of learning and advancing your knowledge. Teamwork, leadership, communication, planning, time management, independence… all the skills you need for life and a career, you learn at college. Think of college as a mini working environment, but there’s a safety net to help you when you fail and encounter challenges, which, ultimately, helps you grow.

Is a college degree really right for me?

Despite all the benefits of a college degree and how many times you hear that it’s necessary, a college degree isn’t for everyone. Depending on your skills, finances, and passions, college might not be the right place for you. We are usually ‘Team College,’ but we do understand that it doesn’t apply to every student.

Maybe you want to get a job right out of high school or you can’t see yourself doing the traditional four-year degree–that’s okay! You can enjoy the benefits of starting your work life early. Later on, you could take professional courses, go to community college, or work toward an associate degree. Going back to school at 40 is completely possible, and you can succeed here too! Whatever you decide, it doesn’t have to be forever. You can always change your mind.

How do I apply to college?

Glad you asked! There’s a lot to consider. First, you want to research your options. There are almost 4,000 universities and colleges in the US alone! Once you’ve identified colleges that interest you, you can start thinking about the application. Applications are full of information, documents, and essays, but it’s all totally manageable! Our ultimate guide can help you get started: Applying for College 101: How To Do It & What You’ll Need . College can be a great investment and an exciting start to your future. Not only can you have a wonderful life experience full of friends, learning, and opportunities, but you can also find the career of your dreams, increase your potential salary, and achieve a level of success and happiness you might not otherwise. College may not be the only path, but it’s a popular path for good reason.

About the Author

Bob Patterson is a former Director of Admissions at Stanford University, UNC Chapel Hill, and UC Berkeley; Daisy Hill is the co-author of Uni in the USA…and beyond published by the Good Schools Guide 2019. Together, they have established MyGuidED, a new educational tool for students looking to apply to university (launching 2023).

Degrees+: Discover Online College Unlike Anything You’ve Experienced

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What’s the Value of Higher Education?

Have political and fiscal debates about higher education lost sight of the value of education for individuals and society? Dr. Johnnetta Cole discusses how universities can inform and inspire.

• Dr. Johnnetta Cole President Emerita, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art; President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College

This interview was conducted at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit , hosted by Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute on January 30, 2018.

The value of a college degree can be measured in a number of different ways: increased lifetime earnings potential, a network of classmates and fellow alumni, subject-matter expertise, a signal of stick-to-itiveness, potentially a marker of class or the capacity to move across classes. There are also less tangible benefits, like becoming a more well-rounded individual and part of a well-informed public.

Yale Insights recently talked with Dr. Johnnetta Cole about how she measures the value of higher education. Cole is the former president of Spelman College and Bennett College, the only two historically black colleges and universities that are exclusively women’s colleges. After retiring from academia, she served as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. In addition, she served on the boards of a number of corporations, including Home Depot, Merck, and Coca-Cola. She was the first African-American chair of the board for the United Way of America.

Q: Why does higher education matter?

I would say that we could get widespread agreement on what I’m going to call the first purpose of higher education: through this amazingly powerful process of teaching and learning, students come to better understand the world.

There might be some disagreement on the second purpose. I’d say it is to inspire students to figure out how they can contribute to helping to make the world better. Certainly, higher education is about scholarship, but it’s also about service. It’s about creativity. It’s about matters of the mind, but it’s also, or at least it should be, about matters of the heart and the soul.

Q: Has the public perception of universities changed in recent years?

Throughout the history—and herstory—of higher education, there have been doubters, those who have critiqued it. But I have a concern, and some polls tell us, in this period in which we are living, many people believe that higher education is not contributing in a positive way to American life.

That’s something that we need to work on, those of us who are deeply engaged in and care about higher education, because I think when one looks with as much objectivity as possible, the truth is, and it’s always been, that higher education contributes substantially.

Q: You’ve led two historically black colleges for women. What is the role of special mission institutions?

In my view, we still need special mission institutions. Remember Brandeis, Notre Dame, and Brigham Young are special mission institutions.

With respect to historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), not every African American wants to or does go to an HBCU. The same is true of women and women’s colleges. But for those who wish that kind of education, and if the fit is right, it’s almost magical.

I think it is as basic as having an entire community believe that you can. On these campuses, we believe that black students can do whatever they set their minds to do. On the women’s campuses, we believe that women can reach heights that have not been imagined for women.

HBCUs are not totally free of racism. Women’s colleges are not utopias where there are no expressions of gender inequality or sexism. But they come far closer than at our predominately white and co-ed institutions.

Q: One of the big issues with higher education now is cost. How do we solve the affordability problem?

The affordability question is highly complex and serious. James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed that is not faced.” I believe that this is a perfect example. Colleges and universities are not just raising tuitions so they can make big profits. Pell grants are no longer at least a reasonable response to the affordability question.

We’ve got to figure this out because, in a democracy, accessibility to education is fundamental. The idea that something as precious, as powerful, as a solid education is only accessible to some and not to others, is an assault upon democracy.

Q: You came out of retirement to lead the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Why was the draw so strong?

I’ve managed, systematically, to get a failing grade in retirement.

I grew up in the South, in the days of legalized segregation—you could also call it state-sponsored racism. I didn’t have access to symphony halls. I didn’t have access to art museums. I still remember the library that I went to in order to travel the world through books, was the A. L. Lewis Colored Public Library.

As a young girl, I fell in love with the visual arts, especially African and African-American art. I went off to Fisk University at age 15 and began to see the real works of art for which we only had reproductions in my home. From Fisk, I went to Oberlin, where the Allen Memorial Art Gallery was a special place of solace for me

The opportunity with the Smithsonian wasn’t something I sought; I was asked to apply. My doctorate is in anthropology, not art history, so I was reluctant, but they told me they were looking for a leader, not an art historian. It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. The work was an almost indescribable joy.

Generally, our museums across America do not reflect who America is, nor do they reflect how our world looks. They need to be far more diverse in terms of their boards, staff, exhibitions, educational programs, and visitorship.

What the African art museum has is a unique opportunity because it can speak to something that binds us together. If one is human, just go back far enough, I mean way back, and we have all come from a single place. It is called Africa.

Here’s a museum that says to its visitors, “No matter who you are, by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability or disability, or nationality, come to a place where the visual arts connect you to the very cradle of humanity.”

During those eight years when I had the joy of being the director of the National Museum of African Art, I would greet our visitors by saying “Welcome home! Welcome to a place that presents the diverse and dynamic, the exquisite arts of Africa, humanity’s original home.”

Q: Do you think that our education and cultural institutions are properly valued in our society?

I have to say no. Because if we did, we would take better care of them. If we did, we would make sure that not some but all of our educational institutions from kindergarten through post-secondary education, into graduate and professional schools, have the means to do what needs to be done.

If we really value all of our cultural expressions, whether it’s dance or music, visual arts, theater, when there is a budget shortfall, we wouldn’t say, “These are the first things to go.” We wouldn’t say, “Kids can do without music in their public school.” It’s one thing to say we love an institution; it’s another to care for and protect an institution. I think we can do far better.

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Top 7 Reasons Why College is Important

Understanding the Numbers When reviewing job growth and salary information, it’s important to remember that actual numbers can vary due to many different factors — like years of experience in the role, industry of employment, geographic location, worker skill and economic conditions. Cited projections do not guarantee actual salary or job growth.

With more and more careers requiring advanced education, a college degree can be critical to your success in today's workforce. Research indicates that earning a degree can have a significant and expansive impact on your life. It also has the potential to help you positively impact your family — and the world.

Here are 7 reasons why college could be important for you. 

1. Earn More on Average

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that workers with a postsecondary degree typically earn more than those with only a high school education.* The median weekly earnings — or the middle amount in a set of data — for people with an associate degree  was $1,005 per week in 2022, according to BLS.* That's an increase of $152 per week or over $7,000 more per year than those with only a high school diploma.*

Workers with a bachelor's degree  earned a median of $1,432 weekly, BLS reports — $497 more per week than workers without a postsecondary education and an increase of more than $25,000 per year.* A master's degree  helped workers earn even more at a median of $1,661 per week, BLS notes, $808 more weekly than those with only a high school diploma and almost $42,000 more per year.* 

2. Increase Chances of Employment

It's not uncommon to see "bachelor's degree required" on job descriptions or listed as a preferred qualification. A 2020 survey, done by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in collaboration with Hanover Research, found a growing number of employers deem college a good investment. Of those surveyed, 87% cited college as "definitely" or "probably" worth it ( AAC&U PDF source ).

An undergraduate program, which includes associate and bachelor's degrees, offers a combination of general education courses  and specialized learning in a discipline that interests you. With these degrees, you can develop both broad-based and field-specific knowledge.

You may also have a chance to grow important hard and soft skills  by participating in experiential learning opportunities, which are relevant, hands-on experiences you can translate to the professional world. Experiential learning  takes many forms and may exist both in and out of the classroom.

For example, if you're earning a cybersecurity degree , you might join your college's National Cyber League (NCL) team to test your working knowledge of cryptography and other concepts you might encounter while working in a cybersecurity role .

Additional types of experiential learning you might take advantage of in college include project-based assignments that partner with real organizations, internships and student clubs and organizations. You can leverage these valuable experiences on your resume, in your portfolio of work and during job interviews  to show employers that you are a competitive candidate.

Earning a college degree could also lead to greater career stability. According to BLS data, 2.2% of workers with a bachelor’s degree faced unemployment in 2022 compared to 4.0% of workers with only a high school diploma.*

Find Your Program

3. expand your opportunities.

A college degree can be the extra credential you need to land the dream job you've always wanted. Getting your bachelor's degree may also allow you to view your work as a career and not just a job.

A 2016 Pew Research Center report states that 77% of workers with a post-graduate degree and 60% of workers with a bachelor's degree believe their jobs give them a sense of identity, versus just 38% of those with only a high school diploma or less.

This idea still holds today. The Lumina Foundation and Gallup noted in The State of Higher Education 2022 Report that 61% of students enrolled in higher education are getting their degrees to find more fulfilling jobs ( Lumina PDF Source ). 

Meuse's bachelor's degree in psychology  has been beneficial in her work, and she now wants to earn a master's.

"Right now, I love working at my kids' school. I think that the background in psychology has helped me a lot in understanding the students," said Meuse. "I'm deciding if I want my master's in psychology  or my master's in education , but I'm not done."

4. Prepare for the Future

You can also gain practical life skills as a college student. For example, you will need to meet regular assignment deadlines for each class. The discipline and time management strategies  you learn along the way can be applied to all aspects of your life, whether you're navigating projects at work or your family's busy schedule.

Since your earning potential is typically greater as a college graduate, your degree may lead toward financial stability for you and your family. Your school's finance counselors can walk you through more than just how to pay for college . With their tips and advice, you may discover helpful budgeting techniques and learn more about financing options and processes that may be relevant to future investments — such as purchasing a car or a home.

Homeowners are increasingly more likely to be college educated. Point2 , an organization that reports on real estate market trends, analyzed U.S. Census data to find that 70% of homeowners in 2020 had some college education and at least 40% had a bachelor's degree. 

5. Build New Relationships

College can be more than just an education;  it can be a place you build all types of new relationships. Initially, you may establish a connection with an academic advisor  — someone who will be there to support you throughout your college experience by scheduling classes, providing direction to university resources, and encouraging and mentoring you for personal success, and more. Faculty — your course instructors — also can provide help with understanding your assignments and what's expected of you as a student. 

Once classes begin, you'll be surrounded by peers. Engaging with your peers through activities like group work or class discussions can be a great way to start a professional network, meet your future partner  and make lasting friendships. 

The relationships you build in college can go on to become the foundation of your professional network . You may connect with alumni during your time in college. After you graduate, from a you'll also become part of an alumni association. 

An alumni association is full of graduates, known as alumni , who play a major role in a university's community. They give back in a variety of ways including community service, participating and organizing events and mentoring current students, among other ways. Alumni work in a wide range of fields, and establishing a relationship with others in this network could lead to professional opportunities.

6. Achieve Your Personal Goals

Reck is a 1% survivor of a rare infection called septicemia. He's also suffered a heart attack, been in a coma, undergone 18 surgeries and lost the ability to walk and talk.

"Life goes on around you," he said of his time in the hospital during his health scare. "It's lonely." Once Reck was on the road to recovery, he knew his next goal. After 30 years, he would go back to school and this time it was for him.

"School came upon me like a bell," Reck said. "I'm going to go finish my degree, and here I am, alive." He now holds his bachelor's in graphic design . In achieving his personal goal, he has also attained a professional one. He secured his dream job as a graphic designer for a Boston law firm.

Recent graduates Marlene Riley '22 and Michael Riley '18 '22MBA , wife and husband, walked across the stage together. Marlene is an immigrant from Peru, and Michael is a veteran, and both are first-generation  college students. Finishing their degrees was a personal goal they were able to achieve together, and it was even more special sharing the stage at Commencement. 

"He is my team, and we did it together," said Marlene.

7. Make a Difference

Earning your college degree can improve the lives of those around you, too. The College Board's 2019 report on the benefits of higher education for individuals and society notes that college graduates are more likely to donate money to charity organizations, volunteer and vote ( College Board PDF Source ).

Some colleges encourage students to give back by organizing volunteer opportunities. SNHU holds an annual community service initiative, Global Days of Service . Over 1,200 students served 135 organizations in 2022. A new nonprofit even formed as a result. 

Like Key, you might be galvanized to make a difference in the world after graduating from college. Many students learn about topics like social change  or environmental sustainability  throughout their degrees and go on to make an impact in an increasing number of ways.

A TIME magazine article notes that higher education is rapidly working to improve climate education in many fields, including architecture, economics and law. As a result of this new emphasis on ecology and sustainability in higher education, graduates from various areas of study are now applying their knowledge to improve sustainability practices and address climate change in several sectors. You can also get a degree focusing on these issues directly. For instance, SNHU offers a degree in environmental science  and a degree in geosciences  with opportunities to prepare for a career in sustainability and conservation.

Higher education can give you the chance to make a difference in other ways, too. You can get a degree in a field that will help you improve people's lives.

Some programs of study focused on helping others are:

• Degrees in education
• Degrees in healthcare
• Degrees in human services
• Degrees in nursing
• Degrees in psychology and counseling

College can also broaden your horizons by introducing you to a diverse range of perspectives. A chance to engage with other viewpoints can lead you to better understand people who are different from you and situations you have never personally encountered. This may lead to heightened empathy , improve your communication skills and help grow your confidence as you strive to make the world a better place.

A degree can change your life. Find the SNHU online degree  that can best help you meet your goals. 

*Cited job growth projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth. Actual salaries and/or earning potential may be the result of a combination of factors including, but not limited to: years of experience, industry of employment, geographic location, and worker skill.

**Survey Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States by Kantar on behalf of Southern New Hampshire University in December of 2021. Opinions from 500 general population respondents were obtained using their omnibus survey. For complete survey methodology, please contact Megan Bond at  [email protected] .

Danielle Gagnon is a freelance writer focused on higher education. Connect with her on LinkedIn .

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About southern new hampshire university.

SNHU is a nonprofit, accredited university with a mission to make high-quality education more accessible and affordable for everyone.

Founded in 1932, and online since 1995, we’ve helped countless students reach their goals with flexible, career-focused programs . Our 300-acre campus in Manchester, NH is home to over 3,000 students, and we serve over 135,000 students online. Visit our about SNHU  page to learn more about our mission, accreditations, leadership team, national recognitions and awards.

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For What It’s Worth: The Value of a University Education

By amy gutmann, president, university of pennsylvania.

Editor’s Note: This article derives from an endowed lecture President Gutmann delivered on achieving the aims of higher education at the Spencer Foundation Conference at Northwestern University and subsequently developed further at the De Lange Conference at Rice University. Revised for publication October 21, 2013.

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In 2010, PayPal co-founder and Facebook “angel” investor Peter Thiel announced he would annually award $100,000 each to 20 young people for them to drop out of college and spend two years starting a tech-based business. “You know, we’ve looked at the math on this, and I estimate that 70 to 80 percent of the colleges in the U.S. are not generating a positive return on investment,” Thiel told an interviewer, explaining his view that we are in the midst of a higher education bubble not dissimilar to the housing and dot-com bubbles of previous decades. “Education is a bubble in a classic sense. To call something a bubble, it must be overpriced and there must be an intense belief in it… there’s this sort of psycho-social component to people taking on these enormous debts when they go to college simply because that’s what everybody’s doing.”

Since his announcement, more than 60 Thiel Fellows have decamped from university—a significant number of them from Stanford, MIT, and Ivy League schools—to follow their dreams of entrepreneurial glory. Thiel says he hopes his program will prod more people to question if a college education is really worthwhile: “Education may be the only thing people still believe in in the United States. To question education is really dangerous. It is the absolute taboo. It’s like telling the world there’s no Santa Claus.”

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This is a complex, but not impossible, question to answer. The simplest response is to tally the added income benefits a university education accrues to its graduates, subtract its added costs, and determine if in fact benefits exceed costs. Some economists have done this quite well. The overwhelming answer is that a college education has paid off for most graduates to date, has increased rather than decreased its wage premium as time has gone on, and can be expected to continue to do so moving forward. If well-paid equates to worthwhile , then the worth of a college education can be settled by the net wage premium of the average college graduate over the average high school graduate—there would be little more to discuss in the matter.

But it would be a serious mistake to equate the value of a university education to the wage premium earned by its graduates. If higher education is to be understood as something more—something much more—than a trade school in robes, before answering the question of whether a university education is worthwhile, we must first address the more fundamental—and more fundamentally complex—question of mission: What should universities aim to achieve for individuals and society?

It is reassuring to those who believe in the worth of a university education—and all the more so in a high-unemployment, low-growth economy—to show that the average person with a college education earns a lot more over her lifetime than the average high school graduate, even after subtracting the cost of college. But even if we are reassured, we should not allow ourselves to be entirely satisfied with that metric, because economic payback to university graduates is neither the only aim, nor even the primary aim, of a university education. Rather, it is best to consider the value-added proposition of higher education in light of the three fundamental aims of colleges and universities in the 21st century:

■ The first aim speaks to who is to receive an education and calls for broader access to higher education based on talent and hard work, rather than family income and inherited wealth: Opportunity , for short.

■ The second aim speaks to the core intellectual aim of a university education, which calls for advanced learning fostered by a greater integration of knowledge not only within the liberal arts and sciences but also between the liberal arts and professional education: Creative Understanding , for short.

■ The third aim is an important consequence to the successful integration of knowledge, not only by enabling and encouraging university graduates to meaningfully contribute to society, but also in the creation of new knowledge through research and the application of creative understanding: Contribution , for short.

Although the challenges of increasing opportunity, advancing creative understanding, and promoting useful social contribution are not new, they take on a renewed urgency in today’s climate. Jobs are scarce. The United States is perceived to be declining in global competitiveness. Gridlock besets our political discourse and increasingly seems to define our national sense of purpose as well. In this environment, it behooves us to remind those who would propose to reform higher education by simply removing some or all of it of the apt observation of the Sage of Baltimore, H.L. Mencken: “There is an easy solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”

Many external obstacles to educational and economic opportunity exist in the United States—including poverty, broken families, and cutbacks in public support—which warrant our national attention and, in some instances, urgent action. No one credibly claims that greater access to college education will solve all or even most of these issues. But there is good reason to believe that greater access to high-quality higher education is a vitally important tool in building a more just, prosperous, and successful society. We can, and we must , do a better job in meeting the three fundamental goals of opportunity, creative understanding, and contribution to afford the utmost benefits of higher education for both personal and societal progress. Taking to heart the ethical injunction, “physician heal thyself,” I focus here on what universities themselves can do to better realize their primary aims.

Starting with the first: What can universities do to help increase educational opportunity? For low- and middle-income students, gainful employment itself is likely to be the most basic economic advantage of a college degree. A recent Brookings Institution study found college is “expensive, but a smart choice,” noting that almost 90 percent of young college graduates were employed in 2010, compared with only 64 percent of their peers who did not attend college. Moreover, college graduates are making on average almost double the annual earnings of those with only a high school diploma. And this advantage is likely to stick with them over a lifetime of work. Perhaps most relevant is that even in the depths of the Great Recession, the unemployment rate of college graduates was less than half that of high school graduates, and never exceeded 5.1 percent. Clearly, the more affordable universities make their education to qualified young people from low- and middle-income families, the more we will contribute to both educational and economic opportunity. Other things being equal, universities provide even greater value-added opportunity to low- and middle-income students than to their wealthier peers.

It is especially important to note that opening the door to higher education can have profound effects both on an individual’s lifetime earnings and lifelong satisfaction, regardless of whether or not that door is framed by ivy. Less selective two-year, four-year, and community colleges have an especially important role to play here, as selective universities cannot do everything: their focus on cutting-edge study and discovery limits their ability to engage in compensatory education. (The ability to work with a broad range of student readiness is one of the great advantages of community colleges and some less selective institutions, an advantage we risk forfeiting as an ever-higher percentage of the cost of an education is shifted from state and government support to individual responsibility.) Nonetheless, the available data show that selective universities can provide greater access to qualified students from low- and middle-income families than they have in the past.

My concern for increasing access began with a focus on recruiting qualified students from the lowest income groups. Learning more led to the conclusion that increasing access for middle-income students should also be a high priority. At Penn, we began by asking: What proportion of students on a set of selective university campuses (that included Penn) come from the top 20 percent of American families as measured by income? The answer (as of 2003) was 57 percent.

Since all colleges and universities should admit only students who can succeed once admitted, selective colleges and universities also need to ask: What percent of all students who are well-qualified come from the wealthiest 20 percent? Thirty-six percent of all highly qualified seniors (with high grades and combined SATs over 1,200) come from the top 20 percent, while 57 percent of selective university students come from this group. Thus, the wealthiest 20 percent of American families are overrepresented on our campuses by a margin of 21 percent. All of the other income groups are underrepresented . Students from the lowest 40 percent of income distribution, whose families earn under about $41,000, are underrepresented by 4.3 percent. The middle 20 percent, who come from families earning $41,000 to $61,000, are underrepresented by 8.4 percent. Students from the second highest income group, whose families earn between $62,000 and $94,000, are also underrepresented by 8.4 percent.

Increasing access to our universities for middle- and low-income students is both an especially worthy, and an increasingly daunting, challenge in the wake of the Great Recession.

Increasing access to our universities for middle- and low-income students is both an especially worthy, and an increasingly daunting, challenge in the wake of the Great Recession. Before the Recession, taking financial aid into account, middle- and low-income families were spending between 25 percent and 55 percent of their annual income to cover the expense of a public four-year college education. That burden has skyrocketed in the past five years, especially for middle-income students who are ineligible for Pell grants and who attend public universities whose public funding (in many cases) has been decimated. This has led to a situation where a student from a typical middle-income family today may pay less to attend Penn than many flagship public universities!

Yet private universities too have experienced a painful financial squeeze. Only by making student aid one of their highest priorities and successfully raising many millions of dollars from generous donors can most private institutions afford to admit students on a need-blind basis and provide financial aid that meets full need. This may be the reason why only about one percent of America’s 4,000 colleges and universities are committed to need-blind admissions and to meeting the full financial need of their undergraduate students. An even smaller group—just a tiny fraction—of universities are committed not only to meeting the full financial need of all students who are admitted on a need-blind basis, but also to providing financial aid exclusively on the basis of need . Those of us in this group thereby maximize the use of scarce aid dollars for students with demonstrated financial need.

At Penn, a focus on need-only aid has enabled us to actually lower our costs to all students from families with demonstrated financial need. Since I became president, we have increased Penn’s financial aid budget by more than 125 percent. And the net annual cost to all aided undergraduates is actually ten percent lower today than it was a decade ago when controlled for inflation. Penn also instituted an all-grant/no-loan policy, substituting cash grants for loans for all undergraduates eligible for financial aid. This policy enables middle- and low-income students to graduate debt-free, and opens up a world of career possibilities to graduates who otherwise would feel far greater pressure to pick the highest paying rather than the most satisfying and promising careers.

Although much more work remains, Penn has significantly increased the proportion of first-generation, low- and middle-income, and underrepresented minority students on our campus. In 2013, one out of eight members of Penn’s freshman class will be—like I was—the first in their family to graduate from college. The percentage of underrepresented minorities at Penn has increased from 15 percent to 22 percent over the past eight years. All minorities account for almost half of Penn’s student body. After they arrive, many campus-wide initiatives enable these students to feel more at home and to succeed. Graduation rates for all groups are above 90 percent.

It is also important to note that the benefit of increasing opportunity extends far beyond the economic advancement of low- and middle-income students who are admitted. Increased socio-economic and racial diversity enriches the educational experience for everyone on a campus. By promoting greater understanding of different life experiences and introducing perspectives that differ profoundly from the prevailing attitudes among the most privileged, a truly diverse educational environment prods all of us to think harder, more deeply, and oftentimes, more daringly.

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So what does this need to cultivate global understanding in the 21st century require of our universities? Among other things, I suggest it demands that we foster intensive learning across academic disciplines within the liberal arts and integrate that knowledge with a much stronger understanding of the role and responsibilities of the professions. Whether the issue is health care or human rights, unemployment or immigration, educational attainment or economic inequality, the big questions cannot be comprehended—let alone effectively addressed—by the tools of only one academic discipline, no matter how masterful its methods or powerful its paradigms.

Consider, for example, the issue of climate change in a world that is both more interconnected and more populous than ever before. To be prepared to make a positive difference in this world, students must understand not only the science of sustainable design and development, but also the economic, political, and other issues in play. In this immensely complex challenge, a good foundation in chemical engineering—which is not a traditional liberal arts discipline nor even conventionally considered part of the liberal arts (engineering is typically classified as “professional or pre-professional education”)—is just as important as an understanding of economics or political science. The key to solving every complex problem—climate change being one among many—will require connecting knowledge across multiple areas of expertise to both broaden and deepen global comprehension and in so doing unleash truly creative and innovative responses.

A liberal arts education is the broadest kind of undergraduate education the modern world has known, and its breadth is an integral part of its power to foster creative understanding. But it is a mistake to accept the conventional boundaries of a liberal arts education as fixed, rather than as a humanly alterable product of particular historical conditions.

In my own field of political philosophy, for example, a scholarly approach centered on intellectual history ceded significant ground in the 1970s to critical analysis of contemporary public affairs, which was a paradigm common to many earlier generations of political philosophers. Were the liberal arts motivated solely by the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and not any concern for worldly relevance, then it would be hard to make sense of such shifts. In the case of this important shift in political philosophy, scholars thought it valuable, in the face of ongoing injustice, to revive a tradition of ethical understanding and criticism of society.

A liberal arts degree is a prerequisite to professional education, and most liberal arts universities and their faculties stand firmly on the proposition that the liberal arts should inform the professions. Why then are liberal arts curricula not replete with courses that teach students to think carefully, critically, and creatively about the roles and responsibilities of professionals and the professions? Perhaps we are assuming that students will make these connections for themselves or that it will suffice if professional schools do so later. Neither of these assumptions can be sustained.

For example, we must not assume that students themselves will translate ethics as typically taught in a philosophy curriculum into the roles and responsibilities of the medical, business, and legal professions. The ethical considerations are too complex and profoundly affected by the institutional roles and responsibilities of professionals. Many lawyers, for example, are part of an adversarial system of justice; many doctors are part of a system where they financially benefit from procedures the costs of which are not paid directly by their patients; and many businesspeople operate in what is commonly called a free market, where external interferences are (rightly or wrongly) presumed, prima facie , to be suspect. These and many other contextual considerations profoundly complicate the practical ethics of law, medicine, and business.

My primary point is this: Although the separation of the liberal arts from the subject of professional roles and responsibilities may be taken for granted because it is so conventional, it really should strike us as strange, on both intellectual and educational grounds, that so few courses in the undergraduate curriculum explicitly relate the liberal arts to professional life. This is a puzzle worthy of both intellectual and practical solution.

I propose that we proudly proclaim a liberal arts education, including its focus on basic research, as broadly pre-professional and optimally instrumental in pursuit of real world goals.

This stark separation of the practical and theoretical was neither an inevitable outgrowth of earlier educational efforts, nor has it ever been universally accepted. In fact, it flew in the face of at least one early American effort to integrate the liberal arts and professional education. In his educational blueprint (“Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania”), which later led to the founding of the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin called for students to be taught “every Thing that is useful, and every Thing that is ornamental.” Being a principled pragmatist, Franklin immediately ad dressed an obvious rejoinder, that no educational institution can teach everything. And so he continued: “But Art is long, and their Time is short. It is therefore propos’d that they learn those Things that are likely to be most useful and most ornamental.”

As Franklin’s intellectual heirs, we recognize that something educationally significant is lost if students choose their majors for either purely scholastic or purely professional reasons, rather than because they want to be both well-educated and well-prepared for a likely future career. The introduction of distribution requirements for all majors is one way of responding to this potential problem. The glory and strength of American liberal arts education is its enabling undergraduates to keep their intellectual sights and their career options open, while cultivating intellectual curiosity and creativity that will enhance any of the career paths they later choose to follow. These are among the most eminently defensible aims of a liberal arts education: to broaden rather than narrow the sights of undergraduates, and to strengthen rather than stifle their creative potential.

I propose that we proudly proclaim a liberal arts education, including its focus on basic research, as broadly pre-professional and optimally instrumental in pursuit of real world goals. At its best, a liberal arts education prepares undergraduates for success in whatever profession they choose to pursue, and it does so by virtue of teaching them to think creatively and critically about themselves, their society (including the roles and responsibilities of the professions in their society), and the world.

So what can we do to bolster this optimal educational system, as envisioned by Franklin? As 21st century colleges and universities, we can build more productive intellectual bridges between liberal arts and professional education. We can show how insights of history, philosophy, literature, politics, economics, sociology, and science enrich understandings of law, business, medicine, nursing, engineering, architecture, and education—and how professional understandings in turn can enrich the insights of liberal arts disciplines. We can demonstrate that understanding the roles and responsibilities of professionals in society is an important part of the higher education of democratic citizens.

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These are discoveries such as those made by Dr. Carl June and his team at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, with contributions from colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Their pioneering research with individualized cancer treatments produced a reengineered T-cell therapy. Just in time, too, for young Emma Whitehead, who was stricken with advanced leukemia when she was just five years old. Under Dr. June’s care, Emma, now seven, has beaten her cancer into remission. She’s back at school, laughing and learning and playing with her friends. Her miraculous recovery not only means a renewed chance at a long, fulfilling life for her and her parents— it promises renewed hope for so many who are ravaged by cancer.

In university classrooms and laboratories across the country, the brightest minds are leveraging research and discovery to contribute to the social good. Most of these stories are not as dramatic as Emma’s, but each in its own way has changed and will continue to change how we live and work and understand our world. The full tale of the benefits that universities bring extends far beyond technological and medical advances. We help governments build good public policy based on robust empirical data, garnered from university research. We build better international cooperation through the study of languages and cultures, economic markets, and political relations. We strengthen economies by fostering scores of newly discovered products, markets, and industries. We safeguard our collective health and well-being with insight into global phenomena and systems such as climate change, shifting sea levels, and food supply and agricultural production. All the vital basic and applied research being conducted by universities cannot be accounted for in any one list—the sum is too vast. What I can sum up here is this: If we do not do this research, no one will. Colleges and universities also contribute to society at the local level by modeling ethical responsibility and social service in their institutional practices and initiatives. Their capital investments in educational facilities contribute to the economic progress of their local communities. Colleges and universities at every level can be institutional models of environmental sustainability in the way they build and maintain their campuses.

While the core social contribution of universities lies in both increasing opportunity for students and cultivating their creative understanding, the analogous core social contributions of universities in the realms of faculty research and clinical service are similarly crucial. And both are only strengthened by better integrating insights across the liberal arts and the professions. An education that cultivates creative understanding enables diverse, talented, hardworking graduates to pursue productive careers, to enjoy the pleasures of lifelong learning, and to reap the satisfactions of creatively contributing to society. The corresponding institutional mission of colleges and universities at all levels is to increase opportunity, to cultivate creative understanding, and— by these and other important means such as innovative research and clinical service—to contribute to society.

At their best, universities recruit hardworking, talented, and diverse student bodies and help them develop the understandings—including the roles and responsibilities of the professions in society—that are needed to address complex social challenges in the 21st century. To the extent that universities do this and do it well, we can confidently say to our students and our society that a university education is a wise investment indeed.

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Benefits of College: 10 Reasons to Go to College

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What’s Covered:

10 benefits of going to college.

• Reasons Not to Go to College
• What Are Your Chances of Acceptance?

It’s no secret the price of college is increasing exponentially. In 1980, the average cost of tuition, room and board, and other fees was $9,438. In 2020, that amount jumped to $35,720. This has led many people to question: do I really need to go to college? 

This post will discuss the benefits of going to college, as well as reasons to consider waiting to go to college or pursuing alternative education.

1. Higher Earnings and Income Potential

Several studies have linked a college education with higher earnings over the course of your career, even if college itself is expensive. Jobs that require a degree have higher starting salaries and often lead to promotional opportunities, increasing earning potential even more. On average, a college graduate will earn $38,792 yearly, but an individual with a bachelor’s degree will earn $64,896.

2. Greater Financial Security

Not only does a college degree open doors to higher earnings and income potential, but your degree can also provide financial stability. One study conducted in the U.S. found that a bachelor’s degree increased lifetime income for men by over $900,000 and $630,000 for women. Additionally, jobs that require a college degree often provide employees with other financial benefits, such as pensions, healthcare benefits, and retirement savings accounts.

3. Increased Job Satisfaction

There are many benefits of college that are non-monetary. A study from Pew Research found that people with a bachelor’s degree tend to be more satisfied with their jobs. This is because jobs that require higher education tend to be linked with autonomy, variety, and status, which can lead to increased happiness at work.

4. Building Relationships

The skills you learn in college won’t just be academic in nature. College can also teach you the value of networking and relationship building. The connections you make in college with other students, faculty, and alumni can help you down the line as you apply for a job or graduate school. You’ll often need recommendation letters for applications. Knowing people with established careers in your field can be the gateway to securing a job. In fact, some experts estimate that 70-85% of jobs are found through networking. We recommend always checking out your school’s career center for tips.

5. Developing In-Demand Technical Skills

Some college classes emphasize technical skills which help students be successful in their first jobs. For example, a math class can teach you how to use statistical software or a communications class can teach you the best way to give an effective presentation. Learning how to develop apps, produce videos, and work with AI are other technical skills that can make you marketable during your job search. When you’re picking classes, be sure you consider courses that teach you technical skills for your desired future career.

6. Learning Soft Skills For On the Job 

College coursework will teach you valuable skills that will prepare you for the everyday challenges on the job. Unlike technical skills that are easy to list on a resume, soft skills are picked up through coursework, group projects, and presentations. Skills like problem solving, communication, working in teams, and leadership are applicable and critical to succeed in whatever your future career will be. 

7. Discover Your Interests 

College is a time for personal and professional growth. It is not uncommon for students to pick up new academic interests in college that they would not have had otherwise. College is different from high school because you can choose many of the classes you want to take, and you aren’t required to take classes you’re not interested in. This flexibility allows you to discover your academic passions. Many students end up changing their majors in college as they realize that their interests have changed. In your future career, you are much more likely to succeed if you are working in a field you are passionate about. That makes this time for exploration very valuable.

8. Greater Personal Development

Going to college also impacts confidence and self-esteem. College graduates tend to have higher levels of self-esteem and feelings of achievement after completing college. These traits can have lasting effects on your life as they guide you at work and in life after college. Additionally, juggling various responsibilities in college such as studying, working, and participating in extracurricular activities can help you learn time management skills. You’ll also make life-long connections with your classmates that you’ll be thankful for later in life!

9. Gain Skills for Fast-Growing Occupations

The labor market is rapidly evolving which means that new jobs will soon be in demand. Colleges can prepare you for the specific skills that you will need in these jobs and provide the resources to find opportunities in new fields. Fields like education, health services, government, and financial activities already have more job openings than workers. In 2020, nearly 65% of jobs required a level of education beyond a high school degree . This number will only increase in the next 10 years.

10. Education is Correlated with Future Happiness

Research suggests that the more education you have, the happier you tend to be. A 2016 Pew survey found that adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education are twice as likely to say they are happy with their lives than people with less than a high school education. Having a college degree does not necessarily cause sources of happiness like better health outcomes, more stable marriages, and longer lives, but they certainly are correlated. 

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Reasons NOT to Go to College

So, what if you are still on the fence about going to college? Below are the reasons why you may want to delay going to college, or instead, you may consider pursuing alternative education. 

1. You’re Not Academically Prepared

If you feel like you aren’t ready for the academic rigors of college, you may consider waiting to go to college. You could take summer classes to review material from high school, or you could consider taking community college classes to brush up on your knowledge before applying for a bachelor’s degree.

2. You Need to Work to Support Your Family

If you need to hold a job in order to support yourself and your family, that is a totally valid reason to not go to college, at least for the time being. College is a large financial investment and the time commitment makes it difficult to earn a living while being a full-time student. However, there are opportunities to earn your bachelor’s or associate’s degree part time, which you may consider. 

3. It’s Too Expensive

College isn’t cheap, and unfortunately, the price of college is a barrier for many. If the upfront price of education is too steep, you may consider looking for a job directly out of high school. However, it must be noted that several colleges meet 100% of demonstrated need. Community colleges also provide quality education and give substantial financial aid for eligible students. QuestBridge also partners with top colleges to provide full-ride scholarships to low-income students.

4. You Want to Pursue a Technical Field

Perhaps you want to work in a field where a traditional college degree won’t help you pursue your career goals. If you want to work as an electrician, construction manager, mechanic, or as a landscaper, for example, you may want to consider going to trade school . Trade school is often much less expensive than college and shorter than traditional, four year degrees. As for pay, some technical degrees offer high salaries. For example, the median salary of an electrician is nearly $60,000.

What Are Your Chances of Acceptance? 

No matter your academic situation, you should have a strategy to maximize your chances of getting into college. When you put together a list of schools you want to attend, looking at factors such as location, size, academic opportunities, and cost are all important. Then, finding schools with that criteria that also match your relevant qualifications is key to getting admitted. 

One important aspect of your college search is compiling a balanced school list. When you start researching schools, be sure to look into each school’s application requirements and median test scores and GPA. From there, you can determine if the school might be a target for you, a reach school that may be harder to get into, or a safety school that you could easily be admitted to. 

Are you curious to find out how your GPA, test scores, extracurricular activities, and essays will impact your admissions decisions? Check out our free admissions calculator which can help you determine schools that are a great match for you.

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Why You Should Go to College

Fred dews fred dews managing editor, new digital products - office of communications.

October 16, 2014

More students than ever before are enrolling in degree-granting institutions in the United States. Between 2001 and 2011, enrollment increased 32 percent while more women and more non-whites are entering postsecondary education than ever before (National Center for Educational Statistics). Brookings is home to extensive research on the benefits of and challenges to postsecondary education in America. This post highlights recent Brookings research on key areas related to the value of a college degree: the economic return to a college degree; student loan debt and paying for college; the changing model of postsecondary education; and overcoming barriers to college. All of it points to one conclusion, to quote Richard Reeves: “ go to college .”

Is college worth it? (yes, almost always)

Read: Regardless of the Cost, College Still Matters

The Hamilton Project has also recently studied how earnings vary across college majors. In a new interactive feature, the project found that “lifetime earnings vary tremendously by major” but that “a college degree—in any major—is important for advancing one’s earnings potential.”

Visit the  interactive .

Gary Burtless argues that “ The economic reward from attending and completing college has probably never been higher.” Despite the very real increase in costs to attend college and the tighter labor market college grads face today, the key to understanding why college still has such a big payoff, explains Burtless, “is that the prospects for twenty-somethings who do not complete college are much worse than those of the ones who do. What is more, the economic prospects of the young adults who do not complete college have worsened over time, and much faster than the prospects facing new college grads.”

Read:  College Is Not a Ludicrous Waste of Money .

Richard Reeves and Kerry Searle Grannis identify “five strong starts for social mobility,” one of which involves college. Although earning a high school diploma is “vitally necessary,” it “is not sufficient” to succeed in today’s economy. “Attending college,” they write, “even if not for a full four-year degree, results in labor market rewards: each additional year of school means, on average, an extra 10% return in annual income.”

Learn more about strong starts to boost social mobility .

How big a problem is student loan debt?

And yet, according to Beth Akers and Matt Chingos, “Our analysis of more than two decades of data on the financial well-being of American households suggests that the reality of student loans may not be as dire as many commentators fear.” Akers and Chingos analyzed a variety of factors that mitigate conclusions of a “crisis,” including: higher average debt levels of borrowers with graduate as opposed to bachelor’s degrees; average lifetime incomes of college-educated Americans are keeping pace with debt loads; and the monthly payment burden is about the same or a little less than it has been.

“These data indicate that typical borrowers are no worse off now than they were a generation ago, and also suggest that the borrowers struggling with high debt loads frequently featured in media coverage may not be part of a new or growing phenomenon,” they conclude.

Get more data and analysis on this issue here .

Akers also discusses the student loan issue and solutions in a recent Brookings Cafeteria podcast .

See also Susan Dynarski’s economic perspective on student debt , including whether there is a debt crisis; the costs and benefits of interest subsidies; and an income-based repayment system.

The Hamilton Project has also explored innovative policy proposals for higher education financing. These include: reforming federal lending and financial aid programs, such as the Pell Grant; expanding the use of “net-price calculators” to provide prospective students with a better estimate of the real cost of attending college; and a new system for federal lending that allows repayment schedules to rise and fall with a borrower’s income.

Learn more about  these proposals .

Akers has also called attention to “the plight of recent college grads” who are facing lower earnings, or even unemployment, at the beginnings of their careers but have immediate debt burdens to contend with. “It’s important,” Akers says, “to allow graduates to repay their debts during the times in their careers when they are reaping the economic benefits of their degrees.”

Read:  Assessing the Plight of Recent College Grads .

Isabel Sawhill says there are three ways to make college more affordable : government or philanthropy pick up more of the cost; borrow the money; improve the productivity of the sector “so that students learn as much (or more) but at a lower (or the same) cost.

Read what she proposes as possible solutions to the third way.

Akers explains how Income Share Agreements are another solution to finance higher education . ISAs “allow students to raise funds to pay for their degrees by selling ‘shares’ in their future earnings,” she explains.

Read: How Income Share Agreements Could Play a Role in Higher Ed Financing

Are there alternatives to four-year college?

Stuart Butler argues that college leaders should look at the recent experience of music, book and film industries and “recognize that the higher education industry is encountering a multi-pronged and existential threat composed of successive waves of disruptive innovation. This disruption will force top-to-bottom changes in the very concept of higher education and its relationship with the broader economy.”

Read:  Tottering Ivory Towers .    

In another piece, Butler explores what the future college business model will look like under today’s competitive pressures, which are intensifying, “particularly as the cost of information transfer to students declines to near zero.”

Read:  The Future College as Travel Agent .

Community college “will remain the most appropriate option for postsecondary learning” for many , especially those from less advantaged backgrounds, according to Quentin Karpilow and Richard Reeves. Although community college enrollees exhibit low completion rates, there is, they argue, “huge scope for improving mobility outcomes through the development of the community college system, especially by boosting Associate degree attainment rates and helping students transfer to 4-year institutions.”

Read more here  and find all of Brookings’s research on community colleges here .  

How do we address barriers to college access?

Should everyone go to college? Isabel Sawhill and Stephanie Owen’s research on the question shows that “on average, the benefits of a college degree far outweigh the costs.” The total wage premium over a lifetime for a bachelor’s degree is $570,000, they found. On average. But several “key dimensions significantly affect the return on a college degree,” they write, including: school selectivity, college major, and graduation rate.

See their interactive for more detail and also policy recommendations to help students make smart investments in postsecondary education. 

Sawhill has also pointed to another issue: an uneven playing field when it comes to college completion , high school preparation, and the intersection of these with class. Despite the well-understood link between college and higher income, and taking into account the research on the key dimensions that affect the return on a college degree, Sawhill finds that half of college students, “and much higher proportions of poor and minority students,” drop out before completing a degree. Thus, “despite our dedication to the idea of a higher education system open to all,” she writes, “we are not doing a very good job of leveling the playing field. The result is that opportunity is still linked too strongly to class.”

Learn more about Sawhill’s work on Higher Education and the Opportunity Gap .  

Ron Haskins testified to Congress that a “primary reason that disadvantaged students have trouble both getting into college and completing a degree is that they are not academically prepared to do college work.” He evaluated the major federal college-preparation programs and found that they have little or no impact on enrollment or graduation. He proposed a five-step reform to these programs.

Read his  testimony .

In a Hamilton Project report on policies to address poverty in America , Bridget Terry Long observes that “academic preparation may be an equally formidable barrier to postsecondary education.”

Read her three recommendations for better addressing the academic preparation problem with the hope of improving rates of college success.

Also as part of The Hamilton Project’s report , Harry Holzer argues that the high drop-out rate among low-income youth and adults and, for those who complete degrees, a choice of low-compensation fields “hurt the poor, and weaken the impacts of large national investments in higher education.” He proposes state- and federal-level reforms to improve earnings prospects for graduates and “to encourage two- and four-year colleges to be responsive to labor market demand.”

Read:  Improving Employment Outcomes for Disadvantaged College Students .

Visit the archive of Brookings’s research on U.S. higher education , and also the Brown Center on Education Policy .

Charmaine Crutchfield contributed to this post.

Higher Education

Douglas N. Harris

August 13, 2024

Rachel M. Perera, Jon Valant, Katharine Meyer

August 12, 2024

Kelly Rosinger, Robert Kelchen, Justin Ortagus, Dominique J. Baker, Mitchell Lingo

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• September 1, 2023
• Academic Advice

Understanding the Value of Higher Education: Why is College Important?

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It’s perfectly natural for individuals to ponder, “Why is college important?” especially when witnessing people like Bill Gates, who achieved remarkable success without a college degree. However, it’s essential to recognize that while outliers like Gates exist, they are exceptions rather than the norm. For each individual who thrives without a degree, countless others face challenges due to a lack of necessary skills and knowledge to secure employment and navigate life successfully.

While surely unique paths can lead to success, pursuing a college education is often considered the most reliable and secure way to prosper. So, read on as we explore the many benefits of higher education while highlighting some valid concerns that individuals often have.

Why is College Important?

For most people, college is a crucial phase in their personal and intellectual growth journey. It is a period of self-discovery, diverse experiences, and knowledge acquisition, laying the foundation for future pursuits. It equips individuals with the tools to navigate the world’s complexities and pursue various aspirations. Below, we’ll highlight some key areas directly influenced by college, each contributing significantly to an individual’s development.

Career Opportunities and Earnings

Attending college and choosing the right major can lead to increased career opportunities as many professions require advanced degrees, which can be obtained through higher education. In fact, according to a report published in 2022 by the National Center for Education Statistics , individuals holding a college degree enjoy better employment opportunities than those with lower educational achievements. The study revealed that individuals with Bachelor’s degrees or advanced degrees exhibited higher employment rates than those who did not pursue higher education.

Skill Development and Specialization

Colleges provide a structured environment for students to gain specialized knowledge and develop the necessary skill sets for their chosen fields. Through rigorous academic programs, hands-on training, and exposure to the latest developments, colleges help prepare students to become experts and excel in their careers. Furthermore, by providing direct access to active researchers and industry practitioners as faculty staff, students are exposed to cutting-edge information, fostering innovation and adaptability.

Networking and Social Connections

Sometimes, who you know is as important as what you know. So, in addition to equipping you with knowledge and skills, colleges also offer excellent opportunities for you to create a network that can lead to internships, jobs, projects, or mentorship possibilities. From interacting with your peers and alums to learning from experienced teachers and meeting professionals in the field, you can build a good network in college, which can have a long-lasting positive impact on your career.

Contribution to the Community and Society

Colleges, in general, make substantial contributions to the community and society through groundbreaking research and innovation. They serve as hubs for discovery, where brilliant minds come together to solve pressing challenges and push the boundaries of knowledge — What if brain tumors could be treated painlessly at home without anesthesia? It might seem impossible, but researchers at Stanford Medicine are developing a small wireless device that one day could do just that. Johns Hopkins was the institute that ensured that the New Horizons spacecraft would go past Pluto, while MIT developed a heat engine with no moving parts. The possibilities are endless!

Personal Growth and Self-Sufficiency

Lastly, college is often a dynamic environment that imparts more than subject-specific knowledge. While students certainly gain expertise in their chosen fields, these institutions also assist students in cultivating essential life skills. In addition to mastering complex concepts, students learn the art of time management, problem-solving, communication, teamwork, and various other areas. This way, colleges empower them with the practical skills and competencies necessary to succeed in a diverse and multifaceted world.

Criticism of Higher Education

Despite the evident significance and numerous advantages of higher education, certain factors can make individuals hesitant about pursuing college. Below, we’ll explore some common criticisms and concerns you might have regarding higher education.

Increased Cost of Tuition

Higher education faces substantial criticisms, particularly regarding the escalating tuition fees that burden students with long-term debt. Recent data shows that over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in tuition and fees for private National Universities, with a rise of 134%. Public Universities that charge out-of-state tuition and fees have experienced an even more substantial increase of 141%, whereas the sharpest growth has been observed in in-state tuition and fees, which have surged by 175%.

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Adaptability to the Job Market

Amidst the rapidly evolving job markets, concerns regarding the adaptability of traditional degrees persist. Traditional college programs might not effectively equip graduates for the dynamic transformation of today’s job market, influenced by technological advances and changing industry landscapes. Understandably, students might hesitate to pursue college paths that do not align with current job demands or fail to provide skills needed in the market, potentially leading to difficulties securing relevant positions and necessitating ongoing upskilling to stay competitive.

Strategies to Overcome Higher Education Challenges

Firstly, to ease the financial burden associated with tuition fees and student loans, we advise you to investigate scholarship opportunities and financial aid packages offered by colleges and external organizations. Scholarships can significantly reduce the overall cost of tuition and make higher education more affordable. Additionally, many institutions provide grants and work-study programs that offer financial assistance and the chance to gain work experience simultaneously.

Alternatively, you could also consider community colleges and online education options, which often offer more cost-effective pathways to earning a degree or completing prerequisite coursework.

On the other hand, in order to ensure adaptability to job market demands, it is best to research the program’s relevance before enrolling. Look for programs emphasizing practical skills, hands-on experience, and industry partnerships. You could also seek programs offering internships or cooperative education opportunities, as such experiences provide real-world exposure and help bridge the gap between academia and industry.

The key is to recognize that education does not end with a degree. So, be prepared to engage in ongoing learning, professional development, and upskilling to stay competitive in an ever-changing job landscape.

Is College Worth It?

The question of whether college is worth it or not is a complex topic that may yield different answers for different people. For many, the long-term value of a college degree extends beyond immediate financial gains, encompassing intellectual growth, expanded horizons, and the potential for lifelong learning.

When considering whether you should pursue college or not, it is essential to consider:

• Short-term costs against long-term benefits
• Your aspirations
• Alternative paths to career success

While college undoubtedly offers numerous advantages, such as enhanced career prospects, skill development, and personal growth, the surge in tuition fees and uncertainties surrounding the usefulness of certain degrees have cast a shadow of doubt on the value of this investment. At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that personal ambitions and circumstances mold the worth of college. The essence lies in making informed decisions that resonate with your long-term goals.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): 

What are the benefits of obtaining a college degree.

A college degree offers many benefits, including better job opportunities, increased earning potential ( see the highest-paying master’s degrees ), personal development, wider networking options, and more.

Do you need a college degree to have a promising future?

Although a college degree can lead to numerous opportunities, it is not the sole factor in securing a successful future. Depending on individual goals and circumstances, success may also be attained through vocational training, entrepreneurship , and skill development.

How does higher education contribute to better career opportunities?

Higher education equips individuals with specialized knowledge and skill sets that are often prerequisites for many professional roles. It also provides access to networking opportunities, internships, and other resources to enhance employability.

Is college necessary for acquiring specialized skills in a particular field?

Yes, college is essential for acquiring specialized skills in a particular field. Their academic programs and practical training opportunities help students gain the expertise and proficiency required for success in specific industries.

How does a college education impact one’s contribution to society?

College education has a profound impact on society by imparting knowledge, critical thinking, and ethical values. It also serves as a hub for research and innovation, driving technological advancements, healthcare, sustainability, and more.

What are the counterarguments against the significance of higher education?

Some counterarguments include the rising tuition costs and the practical relevance of certain degrees in today’s rapidly changing industries.

What are the long-term implications of investing in higher education?

Investing in higher education can lead to increased earning potential, improved job stability, and personal growth. However, student loan debt and the rapidly changing job landscape require careful consideration when evaluating the long-term financial implications.

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8 Reasons Why College Is Important

College degree finder, why go to college.

You have probably asked yourself this question at one time or another. Maybe you are right now.

After looking at the growing price tag of most college degrees and the time it takes to earn them, it’s not surprising that you would ask questions like:

• “Why should I go to college? Is a college degree a good return on investment and will I be able to pay back my student debt?”
• “Will the time and effort I invest in a college degree be worth it?”
• “Is college that important? What will college teach me that I can’t learn from my job or my everyday life?”

To answer these questions, let’s take a closer look at the possible benefits of a college degree.

In a recent poll by College Board/ National Journal Next America,

“Ninety percent of those who pursued higher education immediately after high school said they would do so again—while a majority of those who moved from high school directly into the workforce said that if they could reconsider their choice today, they would instead seek more education.”

Going to college can open doors to new opportunities, broader career options, and better chances for personal and professional growth that you may not otherwise find . As a college student, you’ll get to experience new areas of interest, expand your vision of possibilities, develop new friendships and networking connections, establish and accomplish difficult goals, push yourself, and define yourself in ways that you cannot imagine.

Earn Your Associate or Bachelor’s Degree Online. You May Qualify For $6,095 in Grants!

So, why is college important? Let’s get into the data and statistics shall we?

8 Reasons Why You Should Go To College

• Potential To Earn More
• Increased Job Qualifications
• Greater Job Security
• Better Living Situations
• Get Acccess to Career-Track Jobs
• Larger Social Network
• Larger Professional Network
• Be a Postive Influence on Your Kids and Future Generations

What things should you think about when considering college? Find out, here .

1. Potential To Earn More

The Bureau of Labor Statistics research found that, on average, college graduates with a bachelor’s degree typically earn up to almost 65% more per year than those with a high school diploma or its equivalent and almost 40% more than those with an associate degree. When we compare national median annual earnings of someone with a bachelor’s and someone with a high school diploma, that’s a difference of almost $24,000 each year in expected gross income. Don’t want a bachelor’s? Even an associate degree helps. An associate degree graduate typically earns about 6.5% or $6,500 more each year than those with a high school diploma. That difference starts to add up after a short while.

According to The U.S. Social Security Administration , those who only finish high school are anticipated to earn about $1.54 million over their lifetime, some college to earn about $1.76 million. A bachelor’s degree holder may earn around $2.43 million. Add more college to earn a graduate degree and that could increase to about $3.05 million.

2. Increased Job Qualifications

Your potential job options increase with a college degree. About 32% of jobs in the U.S. require an associate or bachelor’s degree and an additional 14% require a master’s or professional degree. By earning a degree, you automatically give yourself the opportunity to apply for the 46% of U.S. jobs that now require a secondary degree .

3. Greater Job Security

According to employment projections released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics , having an associate degree suggests that you may be 26% less likely to be unemployed than those with a high school diploma. By earning a bachelor’s or master’s degree, this same data says that your likelihood of unemployment decreases even more by between 46-52%.

4. Better Living Situations

According to The U.S. Census Bureau almost 12.7% of those with a high school diploma as their highest level of education live in poverty. Only 8.8% of those with some college education and 4.8% of those with a bachelor’s degree live in poverty.

5. Get Access to Career-Track Jobs

When considering why you should go to college, it’s worth imagining what your life is going to be 10, 20, or even 30 years down the road. What do you want your future to look like? Attending college will help you figure out a realistic plan for accomplishing your goals. It will also prepare you with the knowledge and skills you’ll need to progress in your chosen career field.

6. Larger Social Network

Attending college isn’t just about studying and attending lectures – it will also give you the chance to discover activities you’ve never tried before, meet people from different backgrounds and parts of the world, support causes that are important to you and explore new ideas, art forms, and cultures. The benefit of learning from your fellow students is also very valuable – the discussions you get into when you’re surrounded by people studying different subjects and pursuing different paths will give you new ways to look at the world around you.

7. Larger Professional Network

Attending a good college gives you the chance to make friends and connections, opening doors for your future career. Just how important is networking? According to Matt Youngquist, the president of Career Horizons:

“Most jobs aren’t posted or advertised publicly…. At least 70 percent, if not 80 percent, of jobs are not published… And yet most people — they are spending 70 or 80 percent of their time surfing the net versus getting out there, talking to employers, taking some chances [and] realizing that the vast majority of hiring is friends and acquaintances hiring other trusted friends and acquaintances.”

It’s never too early to get started networking and you’re more likely to get career help and advice from alumni and other professional contacts while you’re still a student. You’ll also have the opportunity to apply for internships or join professional groups and organizations that may be more available to you as a student or alumni. If you make connections while you’re in college, you’ll find that you have a great collection of friends and professional contacts to help when you’re searching for a job.

8. Be a Postive Influence on Your Kids and Future Generations

You may not have kids and they may not be in your picture for another 5-10 years. But, whether you have your own children, have nieces or nephews, or you just want to be a good example for future generations, getting your college degree will help.

A recent poll by College Board/ National Journal Next America found that a parent’s educational attainment and attitude toward education is now a stronger indicator of a child’s educational attainment than parent’s income; parent’s income used to be the highest predictor of a child’s educational achievements.

Just under 60% of those with no-degree families reported finishing college, compared with almost 70% of those from families with two- and one-degrees. Additionally, 55% of children from two-degree families reported earning a college or postgraduate degree, whereas only 23% of children from no-degree families reported earning a degree.

Things to Remember When Thinking About College

Just get started and be flexible.

Keeping your options open is recommended and is very helpful. As many successful graduates will tell you, the best-laid plans often give way to more exciting opportunities, and sometimes starting down a path will give you a much clearer idea of what you want to do in the future, even if you end up diverting from that path.

Some individuals who search for reasons to go to college simply suffer from commitment phobia. Don’t look at college as a long-term contract that you’re not going to be able to get out of once you start. And don’t feel like you need to decide on a major area of study before starting college.

College is a time for you to test yourself, explore your interests, see what the possibilities are, and to see what you can achieve. And don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most other students attending college are going to be in the exact same boat you’re in.

There are also a variety of resources, provided by most universities, to help you through college, including academic advisors, professors accessible on campus, tutoring academic support, full-time counseling staff, and more.

While the prospect of attending college may seem daunting, even suffocating, don’t forget that you still can live your life and make it an exciting one.

You’ll be able to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, join social groups, maintain a job, or even pursue a career while completing your studies. You may even find that college ends up being much more enjoyable and fulfilling than you expected.

Deciding Which College is Best for You

Sometimes when students wonder, “why should I go to college,” they are actually just nervous about picking the right college or the right college major for them. There isn’t necessarily a “best” college or major. Each college and study area offers a different experience and unique educational opportunities.

Your task shouldn’t be to identify the top-ranked colleges but rather to figure out which college is best for you, based on the areas of study you are interested in. Your choice of college will depend on your personal and career interests, occupational goals as well as past academic record. If you’re still in high school you should talk with your high school counselor about your options.

Consider attending any open houses provided by local colleges in your area, use the Internet to research colleges that fit your expectations and requirements, and contact individual colleges to speak with their guidance and admission counselors.

Sometimes larger, prestigious or “Ivy League” type universities can seem very attractive. However, you may discover (hopefully sooner rather than later) that you prefer a smaller, less prestigious, community, or church-affiliated college. Bigger isn’t necessarily better, especially when it comes to a college education.

When considering reasons to go to college and where you want to go, think about the environments you are most comfortable in. There are a large variety of smaller colleges and community colleges that can provide you an excellent education without the big school feel.

The only way to really find out what you want is to take the time to visit each college campus, take an organized campus tour, meet people and teachers if you can, sit in on a lecture or two, and experience the atmosphere.

You’ll get the most out of your college experience if you take the time now to investigate your options and stay open to any possibilities.

It’s also important to know that earning a degree from an Ivy League school or private college can be very expensive and there is no guarantee that you’ll get a great job once you get your degree.

In fact, there is typically only a marginal difference in future earnings for those who earn their degree at an Ivy League school versus those who earn their degree from another reputable college.

Having Trouble Affording College? Consider Financial Aid

Where there’s a will there’s a way. If you’re really interested in attending college but don’t have the funds right now don’t get overly concerned. There are several ways to finance your college education.

Financial aid programs include scholarships , grants , student loans and prepaid tuition. At many larger colleges and universities, you’ll also find on-campus jobs that offer flexible schedules to accommodate your personal life and studies.

With so many ways to finance your education, instead of wondering “Why should I go to college?”, the question becomes — “Why shouldn’t I?”

Compare, Ponder, Decide, and Maintain Realistic Expectations

As with any major decision, you’ll want to consider all of your options. Compare costs, living and learning environments, and the overall benefits of attending one college over another.

Consider what things are most important on your list of needs and wants and which school can provide the greatest number of them.

As you make plans for your future, be sure to spend some time thinking and writing about what it is you want to do with your life. What do you wish to accomplish long-term? What are your career and future family goals?

Once you start college, have kind and realistic expectations of yourself. You won’t be a perfect student and your college experience won’t be perfect. It can, however, be extremely worthwhile and life-changing.

While going to college does not guarantee happiness or success, it can open up doors and help create opportunities and options for your future.

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How Important Is a College Degree Compared to Experience?

• Soren Kaplan

Is getting a college degree outdated?

The converging trends of a competitive labor market, ballooning university tuitions, new online learning alternatives, and fast-changing job roles has created a tipping point in the perceived value of college degrees. The percentage of jobs requiring a college degree fell from 51% in 2017 to 44% percent in 2021. And according to Gallup, the percentage of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 who view college education as “very important” dropped from 74% to 41% in just six years. What does this mean for you?

• In today’s fast-changing world, a university degree isn’t the only road to success. In fact, data shows that only 25% of college graduates would choose to pursue the same educational path if they could do it again.
• On top of that, 41% say they would instead get a certificate that would instantly qualify them for an in-demand job.
• Whether you’re considering college, about to graduate, or already have your degree, many more options exist for finding success than ever before.
• Just be sure to give yourself practical experiences. That’s the key to continuous learning, and which can open the door to your next opportunity.

Twenty-one-year-old Eyal Bloom had almost zero business experience and only a high-school diploma. Nothing on her résumé said she could lead a remote project team with members in the United States, India, and Africa. But by applying what she learned leading a small unit when in the military, Eyal has done just that in her role at San Francisco-based startup Praxie.com.

• Soren Kaplan  is the author of Experiential Intelligence ,  founder of InnovationPoint, and an affiliate at the Center for Effective Organizations at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

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What's the purpose of college.

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Instead of asking whether college is worth it, we should more carefully reflect on the purpose of ... [+] college.

Many Americans have begun to ask whether college is worth it. And who’s to blame them? With college tuition rising at astronomical levels, it’s reasonable to think prospective consumers will do a more careful "return on investment" calculation. But instead of asking whether it’s worth it, we’d be better off asking a different question: what’s the purpose of college? Without nailing this answer, it’s impossible to discern whether it will be or was worth it. Even more importantly, being clear about the purpose of college also helps us make the most of it.

The problem is that our national narrative about “college” has created a decidedly false dichotomy between the two primarily professed purposes of college. There is the camp that says college is about preparing a person for work – to help them get a good or better job. In fact, this is by far the most commonly cited reason for why Americans value higher education – to get a good job. The other camp says college is about more broadly preparing a person for success in life - to be an engaged and enlightened citizen capable of thinking critically and communicating clearly, ultimately able to thrive in their well-being. Make no mistake, many of us see the purpose of college as both a job-driven and a life-driven purpose. But our dialogue is horribly stuck in the muck of an either/or debate on these two fronts.

It’s time to end the either/or debate and embrace the reality that college's purpose is both. College is about both  preparing people for a job (and helping them advance their careers and earnings) and  to thrive in their overall lives. Findings from a Gallup-Bates College study released today give us convincing evidence of the importance of both/and – as well as point us toward an improved framework for thinking about the purpose of college. What if the purpose of college is finding one’s own, individual purpose? And what if achieving this is critically linked to finding purposeful work? Here are the study highlights:

• Eighty percent of college graduates say it’s 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. But 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 whether they had an applied job or internship and someone who encouraged their goals and dreams during college.
• These findings are true for all generations of graduates, but especially true for Millennials who are more likely to derive purpose from their work than other sources and in looking back on their college experience are more likely to regret not having had real-life work experiences.
• Finally, graduates who are reflective are 67% more likely to have purposeful work.

What does all this tell us?  It tells us that graduates value both purpose and work – and in fact, find the most purpose in and from work. It tells us that we still have a lot of room for improvement in helping graduates achieve purposeful work. It tells us that if you care about one’s well-being, you’d be smart to help them find purposeful work – because that boosts their odds of thriving by ten times. It tells us there are two very, very important aspects of college that we should ensure no graduate misses the mark on: applied work experience and faculty, staff, and students who embrace a culture of caring about one another’s goals and dreams. And it tells us that a classically liberal arts element of college (teaching students how to be reflective) is powerfully linked to their job success.

What more do we need to end the silly debate about the purpose of college as job training vs. life training? If we view it too narrowly as job training, we miss the purposeful elements that bring work to life. And if we view it too broadly as life preparation, we lose focus on the single most important aspect of bringing life to it’s fullest through work. Work is not just about a paycheck; it’s also about a purpose. Helping graduates achieve purposeful work may indeed be the purpose of 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 very well be the key to unlocking the next era of higher education, economic and well-being prosperity for our nation.

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Home > Blog > Tips for Online Students > Top 10 Reasons Why Is Education Important

Getting Into College , Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students , Why Go to College

Top 10 Reasons Why Is Education Important

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: April 15, 2020

Most of us have grown up being taught the importance of education. But why is education important? Through your frustrating school years, you may have thought that it was a waste of time, or was just something that you needed to do in order to get a job. Truth be told, however, education goes so much beyond just getting a job and making your parents happy. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful tools out there.

What Is Education?

Education means studying in order to obtain a deeper knowledge and understanding of a variety of subjects to be applied to daily life. Education is not limited to just knowledge from books, but can also be obtained through practical experiences outside of the classroom.

Top 10 Reasons: Why Is Education Important?

There are many different understandings and definitions of what education is, but one thing can be universally agreed upon, which is the importance of education — and here’s why.

1. Provides Stability

Education provides stability in life, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from you. By being well-educated and holding a college degree , you increase your chances for better career opportunities and open up new doors for yourself.

2. Provides Financial Security

On top of stability, education also provides financial security, especially in today’s society. A good education tends to lead to a higher paying job, as well as provide you with the skills needed to get there.

3. Needed For Equality

In order for the entire world to really become equal, it needs to start with education. If everyone was provided with the same opportunities to education , then there would be less gaps between social classes. Everyone would be able to have an equal chance at higher paying jobs — not just those that are already well-off.

4. Allows For Self-Dependency

The importance of education is evident when it comes to being self-dependent. If we are we educated, then it’s something that belongs to us, and only us, allowing us to rely on no one else other than ourselves. It can allow you to not only be financially independent, but also to make your own choices.

5. Make Your Dreams Come True

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. An education is the most powerful weapon you can possibly have, and with it, you can make all of your dreams come true. There are of course certain exceptions, depending on what you’re aiming for, but generally an education will take you as far as you’re willing to go.

6. A Safer World

Education is something that’s not only needed on a personal level, but also on a global level, as it’s something that keeps our world safe and makes it a more peaceful place. Education tends to teach people the difference between right and wrong, and can help people stay out of risky situations.

7. Confidence

Being self-confident is a major part of being successful in life. And what better way to gain that confidence than with an education? Your level of education is often considered a way to prove your knowledge, and it can give you the confidence to express your opinions and speak your mind.

8. A Part Of Society

In today’s society, having an education is considered a vital part of being accepted by those around you. Having an education is believed to make you a useful part of society, and can make you feel like a contributing member as well.

9. Economic Growth On A National Level

An educated society is crucial for economic growth. We need people to continue to learn and research in order to constantly stay innovative. Countries with higher literacy rates also tend to be in better economic situations. With a more educated population, more employment opportunities are opened.

10. Can Protect You

Education can protect you more than you know, not only on a financial level, but it can help prevent you from being taken advantage of by knowing how to read and write, such as knowing not to sign any bogus documents.

Photo by  Pixabay  from  Pexels

Education is important for children.

Children are the future of our world, making education crucial for them. Their knowledge is what’s going to keep our world alive and flourishing.

At Childhood

During the childhood development stages, the importance of education is stronger than ever. It’s a time for children to learn social and mental skills that will be crucial for their growth and success in the future. Education at childhood also offers a chance for self-discovery and to learn about their unique interests.

The importance of education in our lives goes far beyond what we can read in a textbook. Education also provides childhood with knowledge such as how to produce artwork and make music. Education allows us to analyze what’s in front of us, and even learn from our mistakes.

Goal Building

By learning from a young age, children are given the chance to start building goals for themselves. Education means having the logic to set your mind to something and achieve it.

Importance Of Education In Society

For a modern society, education is of utmost importance. There are so many influences coming from all directions, and education can help us decipher what we should take as true, and what we should take with a grain of salt. Education can mold people into functional members of society with the right kinds of values.

Productivity

Education is needed for a productive society. Our population only continues to increase, and in turn, so do our needs. We need a strong and efficient workforce of educated people to provide us with the services we need for everyday life.

The Impact Education Has On The World

With education, people can become better citizens, knowing right from wrong, allowing for a better society where laws are followed. An educated nation knows about the importance of voting, doing so with the knowledge not blindly, but also having an understanding of what their party truly stands for. Education can also help people get jobs, which is what a nation thrives on.

Inspiring Quotes On What Education Truly Is

Why is education important, and what is it exactly? While every person has a different understanding of its true meaning, here are some of the most inspiring quotes by some legendary people.

• “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
• “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
• “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin
• “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey

What Are Some Other Reasons Why Education Is Important?

There are endless reasons why education is so important, especially since it also has endless connotations and meanings.

Mind And Body

Our mind and bodies are connected more than we know. With a powerful, well-educated mind, so too are our bodies.

Education helps us understand how to best take care of ourselves, boosting our confidence and overall well-being. Studies have shown that each additional year of education can add up to 1.7 years to our lifespan at the age of 35.

The importance of education also extends to personal growth. By constantly learning, asking questions, and seeking knowledge, we can achieve things we never imagined before. Education helps us get to know ourselves better, whether through books, courses, or professional consultations.

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Worldwide value.

Education is the best way to ensure a positive global perspective. Without proper education, it is difficult to understand what is considered appropriate and how to behave.

Education brings us closer to the goal of world peace by teaching us about our place in the world and our responsibilities to humanity. It instills values far beyond the classroom, encompassing lessons learned at home and through interactions with others. These teachings are essential aspects of what education entails, guiding our behavior and understanding of the world.

Sharpens Your Thinking

Education is essential for sharp and clear thinking. It keeps you informed about the world, making you aware of current events and the people around you. Education helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, guiding you to focus on the right areas.

It enhances logical reasoning, enabling you to argue effectively with accurate facts and work through situations logically. Education keeps you focused and on track, knowing the right path for you.

It also promotes innovation and creativity, allowing your mind to reach its full potential. Education develops basic life skills and street smarts, teaching us how to best conduct ourselves daily.

Education can be the most freeing and empowering thing in the world. It enables you to live life to the fullest by gaining a vast amount of knowledge about the world. Education ensures continual learning from various sources, whether through people, newspapers, experiences, research, or traditional classes.

It breaks barriers, empowering people globally and offering equal opportunities for all socio-economic backgrounds. University of the People, a tuition-free, online university, exemplifies this by providing accessible higher education to everyone.

Education allows you to become the best version of yourself, discovering your interests, strengths, and place in the world, making you feel complete and self-aware.

Education In The Modern World

Education today is more important than ever before, and has reached new heights with new understandings of what it truly entails. Ask yourself “Why is education important?” and it will surely not be the same as anyone else’s answer.

While in modern society, holding a college degree is considered to be highly beneficial for a successful career and to be socially accepted, it is not the only means of education. Education is all around us in everything that we do, so use it wisely!

FAQ Section

What are the primary goals of education.

The primary goals of education are to impart knowledge, develop critical thinking, and foster personal and social growth. It aims to prepare individuals for the workforce, promote civic responsibility, and encourage lifelong learning.

How does education influence future opportunities?

Education enhances future opportunities by increasing employability, boosting earning potential, and providing a foundation for personal and professional growth. It opens doors to higher-paying jobs and further educational pursuits.

How does education vary across different countries?

Education varies globally in structure, quality, and accessibility due to differences in economic development, cultural values, and government policies. Some countries focus on standardized testing, while others emphasize holistic or experiential learning.

What is the role of technology in education?

Technology enhances education by providing access to online learning, digital resources, and interactive tools. It supports personalized learning, enables innovative teaching methods, and makes education more accessible and engaging.

How does education contribute to personal growth?

Education promotes personal growth by expanding knowledge, improving cognitive abilities, and fostering critical thinking. It helps develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and effective communication skills.

How does education address societal issues like discrimination?

Education combats discrimination by promoting inclusivity and awareness. It teaches about diversity, tolerance, and human rights, helping to break down prejudices and empower marginalized communities.

What are the economic benefits of investing in education?

Investing in education leads to higher productivity, increased innovation, and a more skilled workforce. It reduces poverty, boosts economic growth, and lowers reliance on social welfare programs.

Can education foster innovation and entrepreneurship?

Yes, education fosters innovation and entrepreneurship by encouraging creative thinking and problem-solving. It provides the skills and knowledge necessary for developing new ideas and launching successful businesses.

What role do educators play in shaping the educational experience?

Educators shape the educational experience by creating engaging learning environments, guiding students, and adapting teaching methods to meet diverse needs. They mentor and inspire students to achieve their full potential.

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Why College Education Is Important 2024? - College Vidya

College Vidya Team Dec 11, 2023 10.6K Reads

College education is the stepping stone of higher education and growing one’s knowledge in a specialised field, and is a highly important component for future endeavours in any person’s life. The importance and role of college education for shaping a person’s knowledge and adult life is often undermined and underestimated. 

Colleges today are operating in multiple modes, and apart from conventional colleges that are functioning on-campus in the regular mode, there are colleges that are offering education to students in the online mode as well. Such colleges provide an all-round learning experience to students, but through virtual means. So there are many alternative modes of college education that one can choose from today.

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With the increasing emphasis that is laid on professional education and skill development in today’s industry-driven world, many students directly take up skill development diploma professional courses online after completing their school education. As a result, many students are skipping formal college education these days to go for professional training to bag jobs. 

Colleges are degree-awarding institutions of higher education wherein a learner can take admission after completing school education. Colleges across the world provide education at various levels, be it undergraduate education (Bachelor’s degrees), postgraduate education (Master’s degrees) or doctoral education (Ph.D degrees). 

Many students, however, are often unwilling to take up formal college education as it can be seen as a setback or delay towards entering the professional field or going right away for jobs. The popularity of professional diplomas and online certification courses are rising on the other hand. But the importance of college education is underestimated as it plays a key role in the overall growth and development of a person. 

In this blog, we try to highlight why going for college education can just be the right choice for you by bringing forth the various benefits of college education. 

Why Should You Go For College Education? 

1) Skill Development 

Many students complain of the lack of focus on skill development and the excessive focus on textbook-learning in higher educational institutions like colleges and universities. However, in recent times, there has been a major shift of emphasis from education through theoretical learning to active skill development in students. 

For varied courses, ranging from the STEM domains to liberal arts, students are trained in application of learnt concepts and skills in real life situations through college education. This helps to build their application ability, analytical ability as well as professional skills and expertise for future career endeavours. 

So, a good college education lays the path for a successful career in the future. For example, college curricula actively involves various upskilling courses aspects in recent times such as practicum incorporated into theoretical papers, seminars, course-integrated compulsory internships etc. all of which are aimed at enhancing the practical skills of the students. 

2) Diverse Learning Experiences

College education is not just limited to learning that takes place within a classroom. Unlike conventional school settings, students experience diverse learning experiences in college. This includes learning through classroom discussions, through peer conversations and discussion, management of college events, through networking and through encountering diverse opinions. 

Moreover, since most colleges and universities in today’s educational setup do not limit themselves to classroom lectures but actively ensure industrial learning through training workshops, seminars, industry talks etc., students also get to develop their skills and practical knowledge through college education. 

In the case of online higher education institutions, a major criticism proposed against them is the lack of college learning experience. However, this is a myth about online learning, as the majority of the vast learning experiences that students can get in a regular offline mode of college can also be experienced in online learning settings.This can be seen in the form of the various online learning events, webinars, conferences, industrial and hands-on sessions that are conducted in addition to the classroom lectures.

3) All-round Exposure 

As already stated, college education exposes a student to a host of learning experiences in addition to a classroom lecture. Whether it be handling new responsibilities, interacting with new circles or getting exposed to alternative viewpoints, students definitely get an all-round exposure in colleges. 

In addition to being exposed to multiple situations, students also get academic exposure in terms of newer student-teacher dynamics, industrial exposure through workshops, training programs etc. as well as international exposure through the international exchange programs arranged in many colleges.

Online universities are also keeping up with these changing trends in college education and adapting their learning pedagogy and student support to incorporate international connection activities (webinars, industrial sessions, online international conferences), skill development sessions and workshops and practically-oriented learning. Thus college education contributes enormously to the overall exposure and learning of a student. 

This kind of learning might be missed out upon in just diploma or crash courses in professional domains. College education, which is conventionally longer than diploma or professional courses in duration, give students the time and environment to hone themselves holistically. 

4) Pathway to Higher Education 

Since college education, especially in terms of a Bachelor’s degree, is the stepping stone of further education, it proves to be a significant milestone in the learning of students. If one wishes to pursue any higher education in the future, be it professional courses like MBA (Master of Business Administration) , PG diplomas or any other Master’s/doctoral education, the minimum eligibility requirement is to have completed a Bachelor's level of education. 

So, while some students may choose to skip college education after completing school education, if they want to go for higher education in the future, not having the basic college education can prove to be a setback, as they would be required to obtain a Bachelor's level of education first.

In the case of online universities and colleges, the degrees being conferred by such institutions are also highly valued in recent times and considered equally credible and valid for further education as regular degrees. As per the guidelines issued by the primary statutory body of India for higher education, the University Grants Commission (UGC), online degree holders are equally  eligible for applying to all higher education courses as regular degree holders. 

Additionally, it is well-known that the undergraduate education lays foundations of advanced learning in a domain. Hence, having completed college education is not only essential for pursuing higher education in the future, but also for nuanced understanding of concepts. 

5) Increased Career Opportunities 

When you go for conventional college education, the employability chances increase after completion of the degree. In most conventional professional settings, a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree is still highly valued and considered as a milestone in the candidate’s educational background. 

Not only in terms of the value placed by employers upon formal college education, but also in terms of the skill sets, knowledge repertoire and the professional skills that college education renders a graduate with, it is important and central in securing appealing job options. 

Colleges and universities in recent times also contribute directly to the employability and future career opportunities of students. Colleges and university campuses hold regular placement drives wherein  a large number of recruiters (often including MNCs, corporate companies as well as start-ups) participate to extend lucrative job offers with appealing range of perks and benefits to students.

So, college students have the additional advantage of getting the chance of direct placements in a company after graduation instead of searching for jobs and career opportunities. In online colleges and universities, students are provided similar placement opportunities and services as regular colleges. 

In the case of online universities, dedicated placement cells provide all-round placement support to students through virtual placement training, grooming and upskilling facilities, virtual placement drives etc. Thus online colleges are also progressing by leaps and bounds in terms of bringing forth the same placement and employment opportunities to students as regular colleges.

They also provide the additional benefit of being able to pursue internships and other professional endeavours alongside the degree, which can provide an additional benefit to online college students of gaining work experience along with higher education, without compromising upon either. 

6) Boosts Your Self-Confidence and Inner Satisfaction 

Education is important in life, not only from a careeristic perspective but more so from a developmental perspective. It helps to create within students a sense of growth. As college education exposes students to a diverse range of experiences, learning situations and environments, it helps them to gain confidence in their own skills and abilities. 

Completing college education is also a major milestone in a person’s life in terms of life achievements, as it is a stepping stone of higher education. Hence, it can lead to great inner satisfaction in a graduate in the short-term. For both online and regular college students, students get exposure both academically and professionally during the period of completing their education, which is beneficial for growing their self-confidence. In the longer-term, college education can become beneficial for better career opportunities and consequently a better quality of life, leading to greater life satisfaction. 

7) Holistic Growth 

College education exposes a student to a diversity of learning and life experiences in terms of social interactions, professional development, academic learning and so on. Colleges are a throbbing hub of learning, opinions, opportunities and when a student engages in various aspects of college learning, inside and outside the classroom, they are growing and developing themselves holistically. 

College education is conducive to the development of academic skills, practical skills, interpersonal skills, soft skills as well as value judgement in students. Moreover, it is conducive to the development of critical thought, abstraction abilities, application skills, efficient problem-solving and informed decision-making in students. 

In a regular college, a student is exposed to a diverse variety of social, academic and professional/vocational situations that helps them to develop their set of skills and abilities holistically. Similarly an online college exposes students to a new and innovative learning experience. Not only is the mode of education a very unique opportunity for learners to adapt and learn new skills and ways of learning, but additionally, they also get opportunities to form vast networks, engage in peer discussions, interact with top academic and industrial figures and so on. Thus, a good college education doesn’t only provide knowledge to students but also ensures their holistic growth and development. 

8) College Education Encourages Equality and Social Justice 

College education helps to bring a plethora of opportunities at the disposal of the graduate for a better future. When individuals from marginalised communities, oppressed communities or backward groups get the opportunity for college education (through state-funded or other measures) it helps to make their voices heard as well as progress towards their upliftment. 

For remote areas of many developing countries, providing access to college education to women can be a major milestone to working towards gender equality and better life conditions for both the genders. 

Thus, college education becomes instrumental in shaping the life of not just a member of a community but the community itself as it helps in giving them equal chances of growth, fighting the oppression they might have faced, as well as uplifting them by providing impetus for economic betterment. So, college education is closely tied to a better future for many and promoting a sense of social justice.

In the case of online education , this factor becomes even more highlighted, as one of the major rationales behind the creation of online universities and colleges was to bring about more equitable access to education for a larger number of students. Online courses of higher education are much more affordable than many regular courses, both in terms of academic fee amounts and accommodation and related charges.

Moreover, this mode of education is accessible for students from various geographical locations, socioeconomic backgrounds and those who wish to continue their learning alongside a professional pursuit. So, college education is central to making education more accessible to students and ensuring a sense of social equality and upliftment. 

9) Contribute to the Welfare of Society 

The purpose of a good college education is not only the personal growth of an individual, but also the growth of the society. Since conventionally, students seek college education during their years of emerging adulthood (18 years to 25 years), this period also lays the foundations for their moral and value judgements. 

A good college education raises a sense of social understanding, responsibility and moral value system in a student along with disseminating knowledge. Thus, college education helps to shape and support the development of a student’s individual moralities, their values and consequently help towards ensuring that they are responsible adults and citizens of the nation. 

Additionally, through college education, a person becomes an asset to the society as they are well-trained, professionally competent and prepared to contribute to the growth and development of the nation’s economy. Since it is a higher level of education, it helps to ensure a trained and well-developed workforce in a country which can help in building a better future for a country. 

Hence, college education is beneficial not only for the student at an individual level, but can also play a major role in the development of a nation through its economy, unregimented political and social ideas and scope for the growth and upliftment of all.  

College Education and Its Future in India

As was seen through the various ways in which college education shapes the life of a person and helps in their overall and all-round growth, it is understandable that it plays a very important role in one’s life. The scope and opportunities for students wishing to go for college education are now on the rise, with more inclusive measures (e.g. reservation policies for individuals with different abilities, backward classes etc.), financial support (scholarships, state-funded student education, fee waivers and concessions etc.) and innovative modes of learning. 

The government of India is also dedicated towards making college education more accessible to students from all around the nation, with innovative learning features and technological support getting introduced in the mainstream universities to promote effective learning and skill development. 

If you cannot go in for conventional college education in the regular mode due to constraints, then there are many up and coming alternative options for college education such as online learning (through which you can obtain college education and degrees completely through virtual means)  and distance learning (through which you can complete a degree without visiting the college campus regularly). 

Regular Education vs Online Education 

When it comes to taking up college education, a student may be confused as to which mode or learning path to take. With innovative learning paths stemming up, the dilemma is only a valid one. Here we have provided you a comparison of the online college and university and regular college education. 

When it comes to regular education, there are a large number of its benefits and advantages that make it worth taking up. Some of the prominent ones include:

• Being able to engage in active learning through a variety of academic and vocational support programs.   
• Engaging in experiential learning through the experience of college life in itself, through discussions with peers, professors etc.   
• Honing and developing one’s skills and abilities needed to thrive in an industrial and corporate world.  
• Forming strong foundations for future academic goals as well as higher education  
• Being able to network and form in-person connections with peers, professors etc. 

In comparison to the regular mode of education, online colleges and universities are a recently emerging mode of education. It has its own benefits over regular college education.

Some of the major benefits of online education have been listed below. 

• It enables students to overcome financial constraints and continue their education, as it is a much more affordable mode of education.   
• Online education allows students to pursue alternative engagements like internships, jobs, vocational programs etc.  
• Online education provides flexibility of learning to students, allowing  them to learn at their own pace and work on their own academic journey.   
• Online colleges provide all-round learning support, similar to the facilities available in a regular college. In recent times, online colleges have dedicated student-support bodies, 24x7 doubt forums, placement services, AI-run practical and remote labs etc. which provide a 360-degree experience of learning to students.   
• Online education increases the accessibility of education to a larger number of students, especially those who are unable to pursue their dream course in a regular college due to limited availability of seats, due to financial or relocation constraints, due to personal reasons and so on.   
• Online education holds equal value and credibility as an offline course (as per the guidelines of the UGC) and hence is valid for all future educational pursuits, just like a regular degree.   
• Online colleges provide a unique learning modality to students through which they can adapt and learn to use technology for better use in academics.   
• Online colleges and universities allow students to engage to a vast network of peers, professors and industry experts through the virtual mode. Networking in the online mode may also be beneficial in forming ties and interacting with peers on an international basis. 

Thus both online and regular college education provide their own benefits to students, but the importance of college education, irrespective of the mode of learning, remains unquestioned.

Conclusion 

College education lays the foundations for a better future in terms of professional scope, personal growth and societal welfare. Thus, it is important to take up college education once a student finishes their secondary education in school. With support from the state and a quest for further learning, a student can go in for college learning and build a successful future for themselves as well as for the society at large. 

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

⭐ why is college education important.

College education is important for a variety of reasons, including those like better career opportunities in the future, skill development, all-round learning, personal growth and development, boosted self-confidence, welfare of the society, economic growth and development of the nation and so on. 

⭐ Is it worth it to go for a Bachelor’s degree?

Yes, a Bachelor’s degree is worth going for since it is the foundational degree course of higher education in a field. It lays the foundations of knowledge and practical skills needed for pursuing higher education in that domain in the future. It is also helpful to explore career opportunities after graduating since students with a Bachelor’s level of education are given more preference over simple high school graduates or diploma holders.

⭐ What are the benefits of going to college?

The benefits of going to college include being able to network and form a peer group, come across opportunities for social interaction, skill development, all-round academic and industrial exposure, ensure personal growth and development, rise in self-confidence as well as better career opportunities upon completing the degree.

⭐ Is college life important in life?

Yes, college life is very important and considered as one of the most stimulating and crucial periods of young adulthood. This is so because it is this period when one learns in-depth about the chosen knowledge domain, develop and hone their practical and vocational skills needed for their career, form a network or peers and social relationships, work on their overall self-confidence and growth, as well as pave the path for a successful career. College life exposes a student to a vast variety of situations and learning conditions and builds their problem-solving, decision-making, abstract thinking and critical abilities.  

⭐ Does college promote skill development?

Yes, earlier, the common conviction was that college promotes theoretical learning only and students must go for a skill development program or diploma for enhancing their skills and practical abilities. But in recent times, top colleges and universities lay equal emphasis on skill development as theoretical learning, and have incorporated various skill development workshops, seminars and industry-exposure sessions, compulsory internships and practicums into the curriculum. So, yes, college education can prove to be beneficial for skill development.  

⭐ What type of education is college education?

College education falls in the domain of tertiary education, which is obtained after the completion of primary and secondary education. 

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Academic Success Tip: Promoting Inclusivity With the Syllabus

A study from Worcester Polytechnic Institute found students believe their instructors are more inclusive if they include specific features, such as their pronouns and materials from diverse scholars.

By  Ashley Mowreader

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A study from Worcester Polytechnic Institute finds when faculty members include their pronouns, an inclusivity statement and diverse course materials in their syllabi, students are more likely to believe they prioritize equity and inclusion.

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A course syllabus is a necessary and important document in higher education classes, not just in outlining expectations, policies, curricula, required materials and resources, but also in fostering students’ feelings of belonging. More recently, professors have added “identity safety cues” into their syllabi that cultivate inclusive and equitable learning environments, including personalized statements, accessibility statements, land acknowledgments, content warnings and inclusivity statements.

To gauge the effectiveness of this work and how students perceive inclusion in syllabi, researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute evaluated over 150 syllabi from STEM ( science, technology, engineering and mathematics) courses, hoping to identify what elements stood out to students.

The study , published in Nature’s Humanities and Social Sciences Communications journal in June, found students value having a professor’s pronouns noted, inclusivity statements and readings and materials authored by women and gender minority scholars as inclusive practices.

Reimagining the Syllabus

To foster belonging and engagement in the classroom, some professors have changed their syllabus model entirely. Anna Marie LaChance, a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, created a mini syllabus magazine with doodles, advice for how to succeed and her philosophy and pedagogies.

Read more here.

The study: The study’s authors—faculty members Francesca Bernardi, Crystal Brown, Lindsay Davis, Michelle Ephraim, Rebecca Moody and Raisa Trubko—sought to understand how syllabi signal inclusivity in the classroom, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses, which have historically less representation among women , students of color and gender minorities (including nonbinary and transgender learners).

To do so, researchers conducted analysis of 163 introductory undergraduate course syllabi from various departments at WPI to identify how many syllabi included the instructor’s pronouns, an inclusivity statement or diverse learning materials. Then, the researchers surveyed 145 undergraduate students to gauge how much they use the syllabus and how important those three features are with multiple-choice and open-ended responses.

Syllabi represented six academic years, from 2016–17 up to 2021–22, and represented WPI’s four schools—arts and sciences, engineering, business and global.

The results: The survey highlighted that students primarily look for grading information, course expectations, information, academic schedule and policies within the syllabus. Over three-quarters of students said they believe the syllabus is important (77 percent), and many see it as providing structure and organization to their schedules.

Among respondents who do not think the syllabus is important, students shared they thought its information was redundant because it was available elsewhere (in the LMS, in-class instruction or email communication), or because information changed throughout the course, making the syllabus obsolete.

Three-quarters of students believe syllabi listing instructors’ pronouns are important and this number grows among gender minority and women (86 percent). However, only 10 percent of the syllabi analyzed included an instructor’s pronouns. All syllabi with pronouns were from the School of Arts and Sciences and some of these syllabi also included the pronouns of teaching assistants or peer learning assistants.

A greater number of syllabi featured inclusivity statements (33 percent), and similar numbers of students believe these statements are important to add (71 percent). When inclusivity statements are featured in a course syllabus, students want that professor to demonstrate those values in the classroom and not feature a statement as a performative action.

Around one in five syllabi had works authored by women and gender minorities, and around three in five students said including women and gender minority authors in courses is important for their learning experience.

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So what? In addition to highlighting how many students want these features in the classroom, students also shared why these practices are inclusive, noting that they:

• Set norms. Including pronouns in the syllabi encourages students to share their pronouns, which in turn validates gender identities, building a more equitable classroom environment. Similarly, an inclusivity statement sets expectations for how a professor will treat students and holds them accountable for inclusive actions, which was important to survey respondents.
• Demonstrate respect. Students indicated having pronouns in the syllabus makes them more comfortable in addressing the professor correctly, avoiding miscommunication and encouraging creating relationships with their instructor.
• Show support for all students. When a professor has their pronouns on their syllabus or an inclusivity statement, students say that can signal a professor’s allyship or recognition of LGBTQ+ or BIPOC issues on campus, which helps learners feel safe and supported in their academics.
• Foster diverse conversations. Students believe including works by diverse authors can expand their perspectives, ideas and experiences as well as challenge stereotypes in academia.

Across the student survey, few respondents indicated any of the three elements made them uncomfortable or affected their learning, making the practices mostly beneficial to learners.

Do you have an academic success tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.

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Back-to-school story ideas: Transitioning back to a routine, cell phone-free schools, importance of STEM, and more

12 Aug 2024

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Virginia Tech has experts available to speak on back-to-school topics ranging from cell phones in school, nutrition standards, the importance of STEM education, and more.

To schedule an interview, please contact [email protected] .

Strategies to transition back to school

Lack of structures and expectations during summer can make the transition back to school more difficult. Rosanna Breaux , a child psychologist at Virginia Tech, suggests using some of these strategies the week or two before school begins to help get children back into a routine:

 Set some limits around screen time during weekdays.

 Implement 30-60 minutes a day of reading, or completing writing or math worksheets, to get their minds back into a school mindset.

Establish a consistent bedtime schedule that is in line with when they will go to bed and get up in the morning when they are in school.

Once school starts, Breaux recommends focusing on the following healthy habits and routines:

Keep a consistent bedtime schedule on weekdays and weekends (i.e., go to bed within the same one-hour period, wake up within the same one-hour period).

Encourage regular exercise and outdoor time. This can be particularly hard as it gets colder, but getting 30-45 minutes of moderate exercise, five days per week can help children manage emotions and focus better.

Figure out time-saving strategies that will make things easier on you and your children: meal prepping, and having a range of healthy snack options available in the house and car to grab and go.

More here .

Cell phone-free schools

Students in Virginia’s public schools won’t be needing their cell phones as they head to school. Many school boards are enacting cell-phone free educational and instructional rules, and some are beginning this fall. What does this mean for students, teachers, and parents? How will teachers adapt to policing the cell phone rules in their classrooms? Chuck Lowery , associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies in the School of Education, can share various perspectives connected with this ruling and what it means for student learning moving forward.

School lunches: Nutrition standards and the need for free or reduced lunch

Back-to-school season may conjure up memories of school food and cafeterias. From new nutrition standards for lunches to why schools offer free and reduced meals, Marcus Weaver Hightower , a professor in the School of Education, can share his insight. Weaver Hightower also can discuss the universally free lunch program in Minnesota schools launched by Governor Tim Walz, candidate for vice president of the United States. In 2022, Weaver Hightower published the book, Unpacking school lunch: Understanding the hidden politics of school food .

Why sleep is so important for kids

With busy schedules both in and after school, children’s days are stretched thinner than ever. That only puts more emphasis on the importance of sleep, for both their physical and mental health. Dr. Abhishek Reddy is a child and adolescent psychologist with training in sleep medicine. He’s conducted research on the connection between insomnia and depression in adolescents, and can speak to ways treating underlying mental health and sleep-related conditions in children.

The significance of school physicals and immunizations

The start of a new school year is a great reminder to get your child to the doctor for their yearly physical and ensure they are up to date on their immunizations. Many school systems require them for entrance or to play sports. Dr. Christopher Pierce , interim co-chair of pediatrics for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and Dr. Vydia Permashwar , vice chair of pediatrics, explain the importance of both school physicals and immunizations.

“A school physical, especially for the younger ages, is a comprehensive visit that aims to identify any conditions that may impact a child’s ability to learn and provide schools with that information,” Permashwar says. “These physicals provide opportunities for catch-up and booster vaccines to prevent illnesses, screening for anemia, hearing and vision screenings, identify developmental issues, and use diagnoses to come up with plans to maximize their success in school. They can help with working out plans of action with your child’s physician.”

“Immunizations in general provide a concept of herd immunity, which limits the exposure and possible breakthrough for those who have poor immunity or are immunocompromised,” Pierce says. “Middle and high school immunizations are for cancer and meningitis prevention specifically. The amazing, positive impact for these vaccines is profound, as they prevent diseases that have lifelong implications.”

Importance of engineering education for young children

Sparking an interest in engineering at a young age can help drive creativity and collaboration while preparing students for future academic and career endeavors. Kim Lester has been with the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) since 2015 and has experienced the benefits of introducing STEM concepts to K-12 students firsthand. Lester says that unless they have a STEM professional in their family, it can be very difficult for a K-12 student to picture what a career in engineering might look like.

“As an educator, I see the benefits of exposing young minds to the exciting and varied careers that STEM fields can provide. Decisions about coursework starting in middle school can affect the opportunities these students have later, so it is critical we show them and their families the path forward. Nothing brings me more joy than when a 7th grader admits they only came to camp because their mom made them, but now they want to know what’s next.”

Building engineers, brick by brick

For many students interested in pursuing engineering, Legos are the gateway. Sally Hamouda and her computer science undergraduate research assistants are working with elementary students in hopes of inspiring other kids to pursue STEM careers through their program, Codekids .

Using the Virginia state curriculum in partnership with Floyd County elementary schools, Hamouda and her students are designing and building a range of digital tools that can be used by K-12 teachers to introduce mathematical and computer science concepts at a grade-appropriate level to elementary students. The curriculum uses Legos to create patterns to solve problems in unique ways.

“This allows teachers of various subjects to use our tools in the classroom without having to design and build their own. That’s my end goal,” Hamouda said.

Margaret Ashburn

540-529-0814

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Meet Makena Stewart: ‘It Is Important to Allow Space for Students to See How They Contribute to the Learning Process’

Makena Stewart is joining the NC State College of Education during the 2024-2025 academic year as an assistant professor of the practice in community college leadership. 

Stewart previously served as the vice president of strategic excellence at South Piedmont Community College as well as in various administrative and community college leadership roles in student services, academic affairs, and research and planning. She earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Learn more about Stewart below: 

The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you choose a career in education?

I grew up in a household where a love of learning was nurtured, and I was encouraged to seek opportunities to grow deeper in my knowledge. This encouragement came not only from my family, but also from my teachers. During my master’s program, a faculty member encouraged me to apply for a position in a community college as a career coach. That opportunity opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. There, I gained a deeper understanding of the impact education can have on changing the lives of individuals as well as a community. 

What inspired you to pursue a doctoral degree?

I love every level of education and have always had a spirit of inquiry and curiosity. After my master’s degree, I wanted more structured learning and the doctoral degree provided me with the tools to hone my research skills and apply them in a practical way in the community college setting.

What are your research interests?

Organizational culture, program evaluation, institutional effectiveness and holistic wrap-around supports that promote student success within the community college.

What sparked your interest in those topics?

My background as a community college practitioner has provided me with experiences in many areas of leadership, such as academics, student services and institutional effectiveness. Having these multiple vantage points has helped me to understand how intricately connected every part of the institution is and the impact this connection has on the success of the student. Community colleges foster a spirit of innovation and continuous improvement, and I am interested in capturing these best practices in my research.

What is one moment or project in your academic career that you are particularly proud of?

I had the opportunity to co-lead an institutional quality enhancement plan that was designed to improve the academic advising experience for all learners; being able to collaborate with colleagues to identify a problem of practice, research and implement a a model built on best practices for student completion was incredibly rewarding.

What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is built upon my experience as a learner. I know how powerful it is to have one’s curiosity nurtured; as a result, I never pass up an opportunity to cultivate that same experience for my students. The learning environment is a place of great discovery, and it is my privilege to foster those moments of discovery through active learning and real-world application. Every single student adds value, and it is important to allow space for students to see how they contribute to the learning process.

What do you hope your students will learn from you?

I hope my students will learn the importance of being reflective leaders so they can deploy creative solutions to complex educational problems. Most importantly, I want my students to demonstrate authenticity, lead with compassion and understand that their decisions help shape the lives of future students.

What do you believe makes an extraordinary educator?

An extraordinary educator is one who sees the whole student and is willing to be innovative to ensure that all students are met at the point of their needs, and who is not afraid to dig deeper for understanding.

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Lacey Seaton ’17MSA, ’21EDD: ‘I Was Inspired By the Belief That Every Student Deserves the Opportunity to Thrive in a Supportive Environment’ 

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Announcing Important Updates Within Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life

Dear Ithaca College Community,

I would like to take this moment to share two significant recent staffing updates within the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life.

First, I am thrilled to share that we have appointed Lauren Kelly Benson as the new Director for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Lauren Kelly officially began their tenure at Ithaca College on Monday, August 5.

Lauren Kelly brings a wealth of experience in teaching, community building, and programming across a variety of spaces and settings including: secondary and higher-education institutions, non-profits, leadership development cohorts, corporations, and foundations. Their work is guided through a trauma informed, disability justice, and anti-racist lens. Lauren Kelly holds several affiliations and accreditations including being a member of the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network and BEAM: Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective.

Their professional background includes cohort training and workshop facilitation with MNDFL @ Work, which works with a variety of workplaces to support the values of equity, mindfulness, and holistic wellness. Lauren Kelly is also the founder and lead teacher of The Black Wellness Project, a donor-funded initiative that supports yoga, meditation, mindfulness and ritual classes and workshops in Black affinity spaces.

Lauren Kelly recently completed their Masters in Divinity with a concentration in Interfaith Ministry from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. They also hold an undergraduate degree in Sociology from Hunter College.

"I am so excited to get to know and support our IC community," Lauren Kelly said. "My heart and work is in creating connections, belonging, and community across faiths, beliefs, and values, and I’m grateful to be able to serve IC in this way. I look forward to exploring how we can practice together ways of feeling emotionally and spiritually resourced to face the big realities and mysteries of the world. I encourage our community to please feel free to stop into the Muller Chapel and say hi as we get ready to start the new academic year!"

In addition, I would like to take this moment to provide an update regarding the structure and leadership within the BIPOC Unity Center. I am pleased to announce that Cliff-Simon Vital has been elevated from the role of Assistant Director to the role of Interim Associate Director of the BIPOC Unity Center for the 2024-25 academic year. Cliff-Simon, together with Shadayvia Wallace, Associate Director of the BIPOC Unity Center/Program Director for the MLK Scholars Program and First Generation Programs, will co-lead in providing day-to-day direction for the Center.

Marsha Johnson (Dawson), who served as the Interim Director for the BIPOC Unity Center in addition to her duties as Dean of Students during the Spring 2024 semester, will be stepping down from her Interim Director appointment. Luca Maurer, Executive Director for Student Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, will continue to provide overall supervision and support to the BIPOC Unity Center.

Cliff-Simon is entering their second year at Ithaca College and has provided remarkable leadership and dedicated service during a crucial time of transition for the Center. Cliff-Simon has done excellent work in coordinating the Ithaca Achievement Program (IAP), facilitating impactful events/programs, and providing dedicated mentorship to the BIPOC Unity Center’s Peer Educators. I look forward to having their co-leadership and strategic vision guide the amazing work of the BIPOC Unity Center during the upcoming academic year.

"I am honored to step into the role of Associate Director for the BIPOC Unity Center," Cliff-Simon said. "After a year of uncertainty, I look forward to continuing and elevating our mission of fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all students feel empowered to succeed and thrive. We have a lot of work to do and I am ready to amplify voices, build on our collective strengths, celebrate diverse narratives, and create meaningful change within our community."

I am also excited to share that we have filled two key vacancies within the BIPOC Unity Center that will help us continue to amplify the amount of support we can offer to both students and campus partners. McKenzie Murry has recently joined the BIPOC Unity Center as its new Program Coordinator and will be responsible for supporting a wide range of programming and events hosted by the Center. Erin Foster is also a new member of the BIPOC Unity Center and will serve as the Administrative Operations Coordinator.

"I am delighted that Lauren Kelly Benson has joined us as the newest member of our team, and about the new co-leadership roles Cliff-Simon and Shadayvia have this year," Luca Maurer, Executive Director for Student Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging said. "The unique set of skills, expertise and perspectives Lauren Kelly brings as they step into this key position are invaluable at a critical time of both challenge and opportunity for our campus and our world. Lauren Kelly's vision and experience will bring the mission of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life -- truly the "heart" of IC -- to life. Both Cliff-Simon and Shadayvia have demonstrated unwavering commitment and leadership during a pivotal time for the BIPOC Unity Center. I am excited to support their co-leadership that will continue to drive the work of the Center in the coming year, and honored to work alongside the entire Student Equity, Inclusion and Belonging team to move this work forward, from diversity and inclusion toward equity and justice."

With the hire of Lauren Kelly Benson and the announcement of Cliff-Simon’s promotion, I am thrilled that our SACL Leadership Team is now complete as we get ready for the imminent start of the 2024-25 academic year. The importance of strong leadership within these two departments is crucial, particularly as we continue to navigate the complexities and profound challenges spurred by current events. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and the BIPOC Unity Center will play a pivotal role in nurturing brave spaces where students can feel seen, build meaningful connections, and are empowered to embrace their true selves as they pursue their academic and personal growth at Ithaca College.

Stanley A. Bazile, Ph.D.

Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Life

I was so focused on dorm room essentials I didn't know I had to do these 7 things ahead of my son's college move-in

• I'm preparing my son for college move-in, and I've been so focused on his dorm needs.
• But there were a lot of other things I needed to get squared away ahead of his move-in.
• He had to open a new bank account, register to vote, and sign up for frequent flyer miles.

Congratulations, parents of incoming college freshmen ! We survived the application process, this year's FAFSA debacle, the big choices, high school graduation, and now, finally, we are about to send our kids out into adulthood.

It's a bittersweet, busy time as they register for classes, connect with new roommates, and prepare for campus life away from home.

While my mind is currently drifting toward dorm room décor and meal plans, there's another important checklist that all parents need to complete — full of practicalities I certainly didn't expect.

Here are 7 things you'll want to have squared away before move-in day .

Fill out all the necessary legal paperwork

This first step is perhaps the most crucial: You'll want to ensure you and your child complete power of attorney forms, including those for health and finance issues . While your kid is still a teen, she or he is technically an adult now.

Unless you have certain legal documents completed and readily available, a hospital cannot give you information about your child if they are unconscious and unable to consent. You'll also need a FERPA waiver if you want the university to share your student's academic information with you.

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The good news is these forms can be easily filled out online, signed off, and then executed by a local notary public. I used Mama Bear Legal Forms ; the process was a snap, not too expensive, and now I have peace of mind.

Open a new, nationwide bank account

My son's been working part-time for several years, and his paychecks go directly to his bank account. But that account is linked to mine at a regional institution that doesn't have branches on the West Coast, where he's headed.

It's time to get their money matters in order to avoid fees, inconvenience, and general angst. So we chose a larger national bank with plenty of ATM options on and near his campus.

I also made sure to add his new account to my Venmo app . I'm sure he'll be hitting me up for cash occasionally, and when I'm feeling generous, I'll be able to send him money with the push of a button.

Download transportation apps like Lyft and Uber

While Uber recently added a teen account option for younger riders, Lyft still doesn't transport kids under 18 without adults. So, while your incoming student might not have used either service before, you'll want to ensure she or he has access to them now.

Safe, reliable transportation anytime they need it is a must, especially if they're like my son and not taking a car to college. Download those rideshare apps now, and make sure they're linked to your kid's new bank card.

Make sure they have health insurance

While many colleges and universities charge a student health fee, allowing access to an on-campus clinic for basic medical care, some also require all students to have health insurance and will charge for that policy as well.

Double-check your bill. If your child is already well covered with your own plan, apply to have the university coverage waived. You could save hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

Sign them up for frequent flyer accounts

If you send your kiddo to a college that's further away than a quick road trip , chances are you'll be racking up the air miles. Don't let them go to waste.

Make sure your student is signed up for frequent flyer accounts on the airlines with the best direct routes to and from home. Those breaks and holidays will add up quickly.

Hand over their important government IDs

Many parents (me included!) cringe at the idea of giving their young adults original birth certificates, Social Security cards, or passports. However, if your child will be looking for a job once they get to campus, copies or screenshots of these identifying documents might not be adequate for the hiring process .

Check ahead, and if originals are needed, hand them over — but stress the importance of keeping them safe and secure.

Make sure they are registered to vote

Last but certainly not least, if your incoming college freshman is 18, they're finally eligible to vote .

Make sure your child is registered and has a plan for November — and beyond — if attending school out of state. Depending on where you live, that might include early in-person voting, requesting an absentee ballot, or voting by mail.

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