The Price of Paper

The education industry is booming. Colleges soak up not only government dollars but millions from loan-laden students, totaling $18,796 in revenue per full-time student – that’s a 29% increase over the last 10 years (Kirshstein and HurlBurt 7)! With figures like that I might consider getting into it myself, provided I can finish my degree and avoid declaring bankruptcy. Higher education programs have flourished since the dawn of mandatory public education and even more so after secondary educational institutions became more popular around 1880. Since that time we have seen a huge paradigmatic shift from workforce initiation after basic education to today where nearly 75% of all students graduate with a high school diploma in hand, many of which plan on pursuing a bachelor’s degree (Ebner 23). While I believe this shift to be a positive thing, it does raise concerns about the cost of this new degree-bearing ‘norm.’ Although it sounds good for everyone to have a piece of paper saying they know something, the actual education that it should embody is what is at stake. Education is different than a degree.

Reason 1: Paper Means Nothing

When sorting through a stack of candidates for a new job opening, managers often toss those resumes that under ‘highest education obtained’ don’t prominently display a bachelor’s in whatever. Not that bachelor’s makes a person more qualified for the position; it’s just a sifting tool. Let’s be honest, it may not be all the managers fault that he does this. If you or I were in the same position, would we also not look for something to quickly sort candidates? I think we would, and while sifting is fair play, I’m far from believing the best sieve is a simple bachelor’s degree.

Ideally, proudly presenting an employer with a bachelor’s degree should give one a leg up. Any degree is a mark of achievement, or at least it should be. But just as Mortimer J. Adler in his essay, “How to Mark A Book” says, “having a fine library doesn’t prove that the owner has a mind enriched by books.” Having a bachelor’s doesn’t prove that the owner has a mind bursting with pertinent knowledge. There is a definite distinction between having books and owning books. To truly own a book, you must read it, digest it, and apply the information (Adler). The same goes for degree seekers; they can have one, but that is by no way an indication that they own that knowledge.

Reason 2: Specific Degrees Don’t Matter

Charles Murray sums this idea up in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College?” He said, “Employers do not value what a student learned, just that the student has a degree,” (Murray 233). Using a degree to sift through qualified candidates makes sense for a job within a chosen field, but when the requirement is just a degree, it means next to nothing about whether that person is qualified for a position, other than they can endure, and do their time. This skill does not warranty their bachelor’s paper has any significant weight to it. It does not mean they own it. Adler said something similar about books that applies, “Full ownership comes when you have made it a part of yourself,” meaning that you have applied and use the knowledge gained.

Here’s an example to illustrate: I have a friend, top of his class and brilliant by any standard, who achieved a bachelor’s in psychology. He was planning on going to graduate school to further his education and one day help people with that knowledge, but psychology is a popular degree right now and the programs he tried to get into were full. In need of a job to support his family, he applied at a local credit union. The credit union required anybody applying for an account managerial position to hold a bachelor’s degree to merely be considered. No, not a degree in accounting, business, sales, finance, or even economics; just a degree. He of course got the job and has since been doing well.

Reason 3: Supply and Demand

There is a simple law that everyone who studies economics, and probably everybody else in the world, has heard of. It’s called “supply and demand.” bachelor’s degrees are no exception to this law. The more that are out there and the higher the market saturation, the less demand there is. Unemployment among bachelor’s degree holders is not promising. Susannah Snider talks about bachelor’s graduate unemployment in her article, “Think Outside the College Box,” saying, “The unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree recipients between the ages of 20 and 24 is 5.9%, lower than the national unemployment rate, but a discouraging statistic for those who assumed a degree would result in an immediate paycheck,” (Snider 58).This trend may perhaps be the basis for Charles Murray’s essay “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Murray may be looking at the developing norm of everybody aiming to get a bachelor’s degree and starting to worry if this means losing out on other essential professions. And if, because of market saturation, a bachelor’s is worth less, are other, maybe blue-collar positions, worth more? Remember, when everybody has the same super power then no one is special.

Reason 4: The Price of Paper

In 2008 we witnessed the bursting of a huge economic bubble in the real estate market, for many carrying long-lasting economic effects. As college prices continue to inflate, some question whether the post-secondary education isn’t the next bubble to burst. Brian Kelly in his article, “Is College Still Worth It?” says, “If colleges were businesses, they would be ripe for hostile takeovers, complete with serious cost-cutting and painful reorganizations,” (8). Regardless, year after year students pay more for their education. To pay for rising tuitions students have to take on loans that can be “roughly the median price of a home,” (Kelly 8). What choice do I have? A question many feel faced with. Society is pressuring us into getting a bachelor’s because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Might I offer a few alternatives to offset the cost of college:

1. Take a free online course. If learning is the most important factor, there are literally hundreds of free, no-credit classes that anyone can take from top universities such as MIT, Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford, just to name a few. These classes are taught by professors and often include the textbook and course materials free. Many of them really grade their students’ papers and tests. Although you may not walk away with an Ivy League school credit, most of them will supply you with a certificate of completion.
2. Pick up a certificate. Attending a trade program and getting a certificate in a chosen vocation is just as viable a means to provide as a bachelor’s degree in many instances.
3. Get an Associate’s degree. Two year programs at community colleges can save you loads of money in the long run, and still get you into a higher paying position than just a high school diploma alone. Another surprising fact about associate’s degrees: according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, nearly 30% of Americans with associate’s degrees now make more money than those with bachelor’s degrees (Marcus).
4. Take two and transfer. Taking two years at a community college and then transferring to a four-year institution can save a lot of money, considering community colleges’ tuition rates are often rock bottom. Additionally, students who enroll first in a community college and then transfer to a four-year program are two times as likely to finish and do better than their peers who went straight from high school to a four-year university.

These options not only save time and money but are counted among post-high school credentials which will increase overall lifetime earnings (Gewertz). For example, Associate’s degree recipients earn about 24% more than high school graduates during their working life (Snider 60).

Paper for Thought

Do not misunderstand; college still makes sense for many people. It oftentimes has a very positive impact on the rest of their lives, not only economically, but also for the academic growth and new relationships and ideas fostered. I do, however, believe that placing a college bachelor’s degree in the same category as a high school Diploma is wrong. Are we creating a culture of self-demeaning people who are down on themselves if they don’t have what it takes to attend and finish college? If we continue to push a bachelor’s degree into the norm we risk alienating, or worse, convincing those, whose contribution may be more helpful in a different industry, to fit in and get just get the paper.

Sources:

Adler, Mortimer J. “How to Mark a Book.” The Radical Academy (1940).

Ebner, Tim. “Graduation in the United States.” Education Week (2013): 23-27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 November 2013.

Gewertz, Catherine. “‘College for All’ Reconsidered: Are Four-Year Degrees For All?” Education Week (2011): 6-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 November 2013.

Kelly, Brian. “Is College Still Worth It?” U.S. News & World Report (2010): 6-12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 November 2013.

Kirshstein, Rita J. and Steven HurlBurt. Revenues: Where Does the Money Come From? Data Brief. AIR. Washington: American Institutes for Research, 2012. Document. <http://www.deltacostproject.org/pdfs/Revenue_Trends_Production.pdf&gt;.

Marcus, Jon. Community college grads out-earn bachelor’s degree holders. Ed. Rich Barbieri, et al. 26 February 2013. CNN Fortune & Money. 3 December 2013. .

Murray, Charles. “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: with readings. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. 222-224. Print.

Snider, Susannah. “Think Outside the College Box.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance (2013): 58-60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 November 2013.