Is College "worth it?"

Being both a college professor, and the parent of a High School student who is in a college search, I have been thinking a lot lately about what a college education is all about. Recent news reports have correctly pointed out that college is more expensive than ever, and the cost to attend has been rising faster than inflation.  Interviews with young people or parents question the need to attend college.

Such questions are natural, and even healthy. Each individual must decide if college is "worth it," with "it" being time, effort, payments of tuition and various expenses, lost wages (compared to four years of gainful employment), sacrifices made by family and friends, and more.  In assertion that it is all "worth it," some will point to the esteem gained by a college degree; some will tally up additional earnings potential of a career paid to a college graduate instead of wages paid to a non-graduate. Obviously additional occupations, promotion and advancement are possible with the degree.  College expands social networks, including in some cases life partners (e.g., one of my students announced this weekend that he's become engaged).

It's possible that what we have is a natural contraction in progress, and the precentage of our population attending college may fall. For years, the situation in the United States has been that attending college has become commonplace, and it was believed it should be available to the majority of High School graduates.  This is a recent phenomenon. It wasn't long ago that college was possible for only a small minority of HS graduates. I suppose the general rise in affluence in the country, and the social changes (such as GI Bill or draft avoidance) associated with our 20th-century wars are probably big factors.  In any case, we expanded college to many more students.

The huge numbers of students admitted in years past almost certainly felt it was "worth it," indeed a dream come true. What has changed? I'd suggest that our social norms and priorities have changed. Frankly, we just don't value any education, or truly any intellectual achievement, as highly as before. College still allows eager students to truly grow and develop in many important ways. College graduates still become leaders, and help society to tackle tough problems (perhaps most importantly, knowing what are meaningful questions). The real question is, do we still care?