There has been much written in the national media in recent years about the rising cost of undergraduate education, and even more than a few articles questioning whether the cost of college is “worth it.” It’s important to note that 100% of the people writing these articles are the beneficiaries of at least an undergraduate education.
Undergraduate education does cost a lot of money. It’s expensive to provide even competitively modest salaries for 350 employees, and healthcare costs alone for those employees are nearly 4% of our operating budget. To heat, cool and maintain dozens of buildings and 100 acres of grounds, to keep classrooms equipped with the latest technology, and to update servers so that the internet is “nearly as fast” as a Starbucks also costs a lot of money: millions of dollars a year, in fact. What most in the media have missed, however, is that these costs pale in comparison to what many independent or private undergraduate institutions provide in financial assistance, particularly those institutions like the University of Dubuque which purposely serve young men and young women who are often the first in their families to attend college. In fact, 35% of our operating budget (nearly $15 million) goes back to students for the purpose of keeping the cost of college manageable. Ninety-nine percent of our students receive some amount of financial aid. Tell these students, or their families for that matter, that an undergraduate education isn’t worth it.
In a recent study conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust, a well-respected think-tank, researchers learned that young adults with just a high school diploma earned 62% of the typical salary of college graduates. That’s down from 81% in 1965. (For another look at this trend, see the book Coming Apart by Charles Murray) The analysis also illustrates the increasing economic difficulties for young adults who lack a bachelor’s degree in today’s economy. As a whole, high school graduates were more likely to live in poverty and to be dissatisfied with their jobs, if not unemployed. In contrast, roughly nine out of ten college graduates ages 25-32 said that their bachelor’s degree had paid off or will pay off in the future. Even among the two-thirds of students reporting who borrowed money for college, about 86% indicated that their degrees have been “worth it.”
As is often the case in journalism, the extreme stories sell more newspapers. For example, a student who chooses to major in something like fashion merchandising, and who borrows $100,000 to attend a school that provides little in aid but charges maximum in tuition is probably not going to fare very well in the job market. A student who majors in accounting or finance, or who pursues a major in nursing or English with an eye towards teaching is going to do very well in the job market. In fact, at our school, their rate of employment out of college is nearly 100%, and the prospect of upward mobility throughout their careers is extremely favorable.
Students who choose to work hard, make good choices during their undergraduate education, and who attend schools where thinking about a life vocation begins their freshman year nearly always do very well, even when they are the first of their families to have attended college.
It’s like it was nearly 30 years ago when an older friend of mine described his daughter’s educational experience:
“My daughter wanted to major in vocal music,” he said. “She wanted to be an opera singer. I told her that if she wanted her mother and me to help pay for her education, she could major in music, but that she also had to major in something else. In her case, she chose to have a second major in nursing.”
“What does your daughter do today?” I asked.
“She has been a nurse for 18 years…who sings in her church and participates in Community Theater.”
