higher education or job essay

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You Don’t Need a College Degree to Land a Great Job

Four social media strategies you can use to stand out.

Not having a college degree shouldn’t diminish your chances of securing a good job. One of the best ways to move forward is to create a strong social media presence. It will help you stand out, get noticed by potential employers, and find a job you want.

• Start by auditing your social media profiles. Make sure your profile picture looks professional and real. When you share your work experiences, ensure that they match your résumé. Don’t hesitate to include any additional details about your jobs (such as additional responsibilities, awards, etc.) that you couldn’t fit on your résumé.
• Pay attention to the people you follow. Connect with industry leaders and potential employers, especially on platforms like LinkedIn. Like, share, and respond to their updates.
• Prove your passion. Follow hashtags and discussions and stay abreast with the latest industry news. Focus on the content you share, write, and post. When you see an interesting topic, repost the articles and share your commentary or thoughts.
• Finally, learn new skills and show them off on social platforms. Did you just learn Adobe Illustrator? Share a certification or a new project you completed as part of the course. Know that you don’t have to be an expert to share your skills. If you’re a self-taught baker, you can create interesting video content using Instagram Reels and TikTok to share your knowledge.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

In the 19th century, Horace Mann, a pioneer of American public schools, famously called education the “ great equalizer of the conditions of men .” But for decades now, the education system has revealed — and amplified — existing social inequalities.

• JM Jeff Mazur is the executive director for  LaunchCode , a nonprofit aiming to fill the gap in tech talent by matching companies with trained individuals. As one of the winners of the  2017 MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge , LaunchCode has been recognized for expanding “the tech workforce by providing free coding education to disadvantaged job seekers.” Jeff lives in St. Louis with his wife and twin girls.

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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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Studying vs Working? What Is Better for You?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of furthering your education before applying for a job?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of getting a job after basic graduation?

Although this is a very debatable topic, through this article, we will try and give an unbiased view from both angles that will help you make a wiser decision.

After completing your graduation, you are often confronted with the thought- higher education or job, which one should you go in for?

Though one particular answer may not be the right one for everyone, it depends on your priorities that define the answer. Let us look at both the cases and then try and conclude a possible definite answer.

While some would argue that educational qualification is directly proportional to the level of job you get, others would say that education has least to do with your job. It is only the experience you have that ultimately matters.

Higher Education Before a Job

1. Higher Education Is Closely Related to Higher Incomes

Here the argument stands that the higher the education, the higher the income.

A survey conducted by the National Centre for Education Statistics stated that for 25- to 34-year-olds who worked full time, year-round, higher educational attainment was associated with higher median earnings; this pattern was consistent from 2000 through 2018.

For example, in 2018, the median earnings of those with a master’s or higher degree were $65,000, some 19 percent higher than those with a bachelor’s degree ($54,700).

In the same year, the median earnings of those with a bachelor’s degree were 57 percent higher than the earnings of high school completers ($34,900), and the median earnings of high school completers were 25 percent higher than the earnings of those who did not complete high school ($27,900).

This pattern of higher incomes associated with higher levels of educational attainment also held for both males and females and for those who were White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian.

According to a research article published in May 2020 by The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics , states that Education leads to higher wages and lower unemployment.

The data collected showed that those possessing a doctoral degree earned more than a person holding a professional degree who earned more than a master’s degree holder and so on.

2. Great Performance Leads to Better Academic Qualifications

Great scores in high school or graduate level can allow you to apply for scholarships and other financial aid.

3. Better Education Leads to Lower Rates of Unemployment

Education most definitely leads to employment. Without education, employees will not be in a position to fill vacancies with skilled manpower.

Therefore, the more education, the fewer chances of unemployment.

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4. Higher Education Is Important for Careers Initially

In the argument working Vs. Studying, the ones supporting studying state that the higher your education is, the better chances of a great start in your career.

They argue that getting a  job in the first place is a tough task. People get jobs based on their qualifications.

Keeping a job and climbing up the corporate ladder may depend on your output and your experience, but getting the job in the first place depends on your level of education.

The more you study, the better you are prepared for the future. Research conducted by the Association of American colleges and Universities states 80% of employers believe that it is important to have a college education.

When it comes to answering the question of higher education or job, some people say that higher education prepares you for the skills required in the future . Many times theory teaches you what your experience can not.

5. Eliminates Training Period

Many argue that when it comes to Studying Vs. Working, people who study and then apply for a job can be absorbed on the job without spending much time on training for the job.

This saves the employer the time and effort of training.

Why Opt for A Job?

They argue that when it comes to deciding between a job or higher education, one must definitely opt for a job.

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1. Internships Completed While Studying Count as Work Experience

Those who are for working more than studying say that internships , projects, and assignments completed during the college days are also considered as work experiences.

Employers look at all these work experiences before hiring a prospective professional. Apart from degrees of education, employers look at work experience while studying.

In an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and written by George D Kuh , he states that experience can be the best teacher .

He further states that “research suggests that working during college is related to acquiring such employer-preferred skills as teamwork and time management .”

2. Degrees Have Nothing to Do with The Level of Output

The best example is that of Steve Job, Co-founder of Apple inc. Apparently, Steve Jobs had not finished any formal degree of education.

In fact, he dropped out of college after one semester, and his highest qualification was high school.  Therefore, it is evident that the level of education has nothing to do with your capabilities.

3. A Degree Lapses with Time

Many argue that degrees attained almost 20 to 30 years ago are irrelevant today because of the fast-changing technology.

It is the work experience that matters today. They state that in the debate Working vs. Studying, it is advisable to always choose to work because work experience is what will get your career soaring.

4. Loss of Time

Every year spent furthering your education is a year of experience lost. Some believe that you can further your education at any point in time, even while working, through certificate courses and online channels.

Spending a lot of time on higher education instead of working will result in a lot of time waste.

5. While Working Your Earn Money

The best part about starting to work early is that you earn a good amount of money. Higher studies involve expenses for courses and other expenses.

However, starting to work means you get to earn good money early on.

The bottom line when it comes to choosing between higher education or a job is that a mix of both would be ideal.

A good degree that shows employers you have the educational qualifications and a few internships completed while studying will make a perfect balance.

While looking for a job, employers look at both educational qualifications and work experience.

Educational qualifications let the employer know that you have the skill and technical know-how to perform.

In contrast work experience eliminates the time and money , an employer may have to spend on training a candidate.

In conclusion, we can say that working Vs. studying both have their pros and cons. Determining what suits you is more important.

Sometimes financial constraints can drive one to take the decision to work rather than to study further. Or an economic slowdown can make a student study further rather than look for a job.

So whatever you choose to do definitely depends on the circumstances you are in. Ultimately, both education and work experience go hand in hand when it comes to brighter career prospects.

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The World Might Be Better Off Without College for Everyone

Students don't seem to be getting much out of higher education.

I have been in school for more than 40 years. First preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, and high school. Then a bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley, followed by a doctoral program at Princeton. The next step was what you could call my first “real” job—as an economics professor at George Mason University.

Explore the January/February 2018 Issue

Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.

Thanks to tenure, I have a dream job for life. Personally, I have no reason to lash out at our system of higher education. Yet a lifetime of experience, plus a quarter century of reading and reflection, has convinced me that it is a big waste of time and money. When politicians vow to send more Americans to college, I can’t help gasping, “Why? You want us to waste even more?”

How, you may ask, can anyone call higher education wasteful in an age when its financial payoff is greater than ever? The earnings premium for college graduates has rocketed to 73 percent—that is, those with a bachelor’s degree earn, on average, 73 percent more than those who have only a high-school diploma, up from about 50 percent in the late 1970s. The key issue, however, isn’t whether college pays, but why. The simple, popular answer is that schools teach students useful job skills. But this dodges puzzling questions.

First and foremost: From kindergarten on, students spend thousands of hours studying subjects irrelevant to the modern labor market. Why do English classes focus on literature and poetry instead of business and technical writing? Why do advanced-math classes bother with proofs almost no student can follow? When will the typical student use history? Trigonometry? Art? Music? Physics? Latin? The class clown who snarks “What does this have to do with real life?” is onto something.

The disconnect between college curricula and the job market has a banal explanation: Educators teach what they know—and most have as little firsthand knowledge of the modern workplace as I do. Yet this merely complicates the puzzle. If schools aim to boost students’ future income by teaching job skills, why do they entrust students’ education to people so detached from the real world? Because, despite the chasm between what students learn and what workers do, academic success is a strong signal of worker productivity.

Suppose your law firm wants a summer associate. A law student with a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford applies. What do you infer? The applicant is probably brilliant, diligent, and willing to tolerate serious boredom. If you’re looking for that kind of worker—and what employer isn’t?—you’ll make an offer, knowing full well that nothing the philosopher learned at Stanford will be relevant to this job.

The labor market doesn’t pay you for the useless subjects you master; it pays you for the preexisting traits you signal by mastering them. This is not a fringe idea. Michael Spence, Kenneth Arrow, and Joseph Stiglitz—all Nobel laureates in economics—made seminal contributions to the theory of educational signaling. Every college student who does the least work required to get good grades silently endorses the theory. But signaling plays almost no role in public discourse or policy making. As a society, we continue to push ever larger numbers of students into ever higher levels of education. The main effect is not better jobs or greater skill levels, but a credentialist arms race.

Lest I be misinterpreted, I emphatically affirm that education confers some marketable skills, namely literacy and numeracy. Nonetheless, I believe that signaling accounts for at least half of college’s financial reward, and probably more.

Most of the salary payoff for college comes from crossing the graduation finish line. Suppose you drop out after a year. You’ll receive a salary bump compared with someone who’s attended no college, but it won’t be anywhere near 25 percent of the salary premium you’d get for a four-year degree. Similarly, the premium for sophomore year is nowhere near 50 percent of the return on a bachelor’s degree, and the premium for junior year is nowhere near 75 percent of that return. Indeed, in the average study, senior year of college brings more than twice the pay increase of freshman, sophomore, and junior years combined. Unless colleges delay job training until the very end, signaling is practically the only explanation. This in turn implies a mountain of wasted resources—time and money that would be better spent preparing students for the jobs they’re likely to do.

T he conventional view— that education pays because students learn—assumes that the typical student acquires, and retains, a lot of knowledge. She doesn’t. Teachers often lament summer learning loss: Students know less at the end of summer than they did at the beginning. But summer learning loss is only a special case of the problem of fade-out: Human beings have trouble retaining knowledge they rarely use. Of course, some college graduates use what they’ve learned and thus hold on to it—engineers and other quantitative types, for example, retain a lot of math. But when we measure what the average college graduate recalls years later, the results are discouraging, to say the least.

In 2003, the United States Department of Education gave about 18,000 Americans the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. The ignorance it revealed is mind-numbing. Fewer than a third of college graduates received a composite score of “proficient”—and about a fifth were at the “basic” or “below basic” level. You could blame the difficulty of the questions—until you read them. Plenty of college graduates couldn’t make sense of a table explaining how an employee’s annual health-insurance costs varied with income and family size, or summarize the work-experience requirements in a job ad, or even use a newspaper schedule to find when a television program ended. Tests of college graduates’ knowledge of history, civics, and science have had similarly dismal results.

Of course, college students aren’t supposed to just download facts; they’re supposed to learn how to think in real life. How do they fare on this count? The most focused study of education’s effect on applied reasoning, conducted by Harvard’s David Perkins in the mid-1980s, assessed students’ oral responses to questions designed to measure informal reasoning, such as “Would a proposed law in Massachusetts requiring a five-cent deposit on bottles and cans significantly reduce litter?” The benefit of college seemed to be zero: Fourth-year students did no better than first-year students.

Other evidence is equally discouraging. One researcher tested Arizona State University students’ ability to “apply statistical and methodological concepts to reasoning about everyday-life events.” In the researcher’s words:

Of the several hundred students tested, many of whom had taken more than six years of laboratory science … and advanced mathematics through calculus, almost none demonstrated even a semblance of acceptable methodological reasoning.

Those who believe that college is about learning how to learn should expect students who study science to absorb the scientific method, then habitually use it to analyze the world. This scarcely occurs.

College students do hone some kinds of reasoning that are specific to their major. One ambitious study at the University of Michigan tested natural-science, humanities, and psychology and other social-science majors on verbal reasoning, statistical reasoning, and conditional reasoning during the first semester of their first year. When the same students were retested the second semester of their fourth year, each group had sharply improved in precisely one area. Psychology and other social-science majors had become much better at statistical reasoning. Natural-science and humanities majors had become much better at conditional reasoning—analyzing “if … then” and “if and only if” problems. In the remaining areas, however, gains after three and a half years of college were modest or nonexistent. The takeaway: Psychology students use statistics, so they improve in statistics; chemistry students rarely encounter statistics, so they don’t improve in statistics. If all goes well, students learn what they study and practice.

Actually, that’s optimistic. Educational psychologists have discovered that much of our knowledge is “inert.” Students who excel on exams frequently fail to apply their knowledge to the real world. Take physics. As the Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner writes,

Students who receive honor grades in college-level physics courses are frequently unable to solve basic problems and questions encountered in a form slightly different from that on which they have been formally instructed and tested.

The same goes for students of biology, mathematics, statistics, and, I’m embarrassed to say, economics. I try to teach my students to connect lectures to the real world and daily life. My exams are designed to measure comprehension, not memorization. Yet in a good class, four test-takers out of 40 demonstrate true economic understanding.

E conomists’ educational bean counting can come off as annoyingly narrow. Non-economists—also known as normal human beings—lean holistic: We can’t measure education’s social benefits solely with test scores or salary premiums. Instead we must ask ourselves what kind of society we want to live in—an educated one or an ignorant one?

Normal human beings make a solid point: We can and should investigate education’s broad social implications. When humanists consider my calculations of education’s returns, they assume I’m being a typical cynical economist, oblivious to the ideals so many educators hold dear. I am an economist and I am a cynic, but I’m not a typical cynical economist. I’m a cynical idealist. I embrace the ideal of transformative education. I believe wholeheartedly in the life of the mind. What I’m cynical about is people.

I’m cynical about students. The vast majority are philistines. I’m cynical about teachers. The vast majority are uninspiring. I’m cynical about “deciders”—the school officials who control what students study. The vast majority think they’ve done their job as long as students comply.

Those who search their memory will find noble exceptions to these sad rules. I have known plenty of eager students and passionate educators, and a few wise deciders. Still, my 40 years in the education industry leave no doubt that they are hopelessly outnumbered. Meritorious education survives but does not thrive.

Indeed, today’s college students are less willing than those of previous generations to do the bare minimum of showing up for class and temporarily learning whatever’s on the test. Fifty years ago, college was a full-time job. The typical student spent 40 hours a week in class or studying. Effort has since collapsed across the board. “Full time” college students now average 27 hours of academic work a week—including just 14 hours spent studying .

What are students doing with their extra free time? Having fun. As Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa frostily remark in their 2011 book, Academically Adrift ,

If we presume that students are sleeping eight hours a night, which is a generous assumption given their tardiness and at times disheveled appearance in early morning classes, that leaves 85 hours a week for other activities.

Arum and Roksa cite a study finding that students at one typical college spent 13 hours a week studying, 12 hours “socializing with friends,” 11 hours “using computers for fun,” eight hours working for pay, six hours watching TV, six hours exercising, five hours on “hobbies,” and three hours on “other forms of entertainment.” Grade inflation completes the idyllic package by shielding students from negative feedback. The average GPA is now 3.2.

W hat does this mean for the individual student? Would I advise an academically well-prepared 18-year-old to skip college because she won’t learn much of value? Absolutely not. Studying irrelevancies for the next four years will impress future employers and raise her income potential. If she tried to leap straight into her first white-collar job, insisting, “I have the right stuff to graduate, I just choose not to,” employers wouldn’t believe her. To unilaterally curtail your education is to relegate yourself to a lower-quality pool of workers. For the individual, college pays.

This does not mean, however, that higher education paves the way to general prosperity or social justice. When we look at countries around the world, a year of education appears to raise an individual’s income by 8 to 11 percent. By contrast, increasing education across a country’s population by an average of one year per person raises the national income by only 1 to 3 percent. In other words, education enriches individuals much more than it enriches nations.

How is this possible? Credential inflation : As the average level of education rises, you need more education to convince employers you’re worthy of any specific job. One research team found that from the early 1970s through the mid‑1990s, the average education level within 500 occupational categories rose by 1.2 years. But most of the jobs didn’t change much over that span—there’s no reason, except credential inflation, why people should have needed more education to do them in 1995 than in 1975. What’s more, all American workers’ education rose by 1.5 years in that same span—which is to say that a great majority of the extra education workers received was deployed not to get better jobs, but to get jobs that had recently been held by people with less education.

As credentials proliferate, so do failed efforts to acquire them. Students can and do pay tuition, kill a year, and flunk their finals. Any respectable verdict on the value of education must account for these academic bankruptcies. Failure rates are high, particularly for students with low high-school grades and test scores; all told, about 60 percent of full-time college students fail to finish in four years. Simply put, the push for broader college education has steered too many students who aren’t cut out for academic success onto the college track.

The college-for-all mentality has fostered neglect of a realistic substitute: vocational education. It takes many guises—classroom training, apprenticeships and other types of on-the-job training, and straight-up work experience—but they have much in common. All vocational education teaches specific job skills, and all vocational education revolves around learning by doing, not learning by listening. Research, though a bit sparse, suggests that vocational education raises pay, reduces unemployment, and increases the rate of high-school completion.

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Defenders of traditional education often appeal to the obscurity of the future. What’s the point of prepping students for the economy of 2018, when they’ll be employed in the economy of 2025 or 2050? But ignorance of the future is no reason to prepare students for occupations they almost surely won’t have—and if we know anything about the future of work, we know that the demand for authors, historians, political scientists, physicists, and mathematicians will stay low. It’s tempting to say that students on the college track can always turn to vocational education as a Plan B, but this ignores the disturbing possibility that after they crash, they’ll be too embittered to go back and learn a trade. The vast American underclass shows that this disturbing possibility is already our reality.

Education is so integral to modern life that we take it for granted. Young people have to leap through interminable academic hoops to secure their place in the adult world. My thesis, in a single sentence: Civilized societies revolve around education now, but there is a better—indeed, more civilized—way. If everyone had a college degree, the result would be not great jobs for all, but runaway credential inflation. Trying to spread success with education spreads education but not success.

This essay is adapted from Bryan Caplan’s book The Case Against Education . It appears in the January/February 2018 print edition with the headline “What’s College Good For?”

What Is the Purpose and Future of Higher Education?

A sociologist explores the history and future of higher education..

Posted February 18, 2019 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

A recent story asked, “ Can small liberal arts colleges survive the next decade? ” This question is important as we see the closure of some small schools, mostly in areas away from big cities. Yet, as University of California Riverside sociology and public policy distinguished professor Steven G. Brint notes based on his new book Two Cheers for Higher Education , “There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed.” This illustrates, among other things, why it is important to consider a historical perspective on higher education to place recent individual news stories in context. That’s exactly what his latest book does: It explores the rich history of higher education, leading him to argue that overall higher education appears to be doing quite well, but also that there remain important concerns for higher education on the horizon.

I asked Steven questions about the purpose of higher education, why he argues higher education is doing quite well, and what his concerns are for its future. Anyone interested in the rich history of higher education and how that informs the future of higher education should read this book. Going to college or university is increasingly a fixture and perhaps even an obsession for parents and students, and understanding the history of that industry is useful to help us think about why we encourage students to go to college in the first place.

What, in your view, is the purpose of higher education?

The aims of higher education change over time. In the United States, the original purposes were to prepare students for a few “learned professions,” especially the clergy, and to provide a strong, religiously tinged moral education. Many of the activities that we now associate with higher education—extra-curricular clubs, majoring in a defined specialization, faculty research, access for socioeconomically disadvantaged students—came later.

Today, we would have to start by recognizing the fundamental fact that the purposes of higher education are highly differentiated by the stratum in the system institutions occupy. The aims of community colleges are very different from those of research universities. I do not talk about community colleges in the book, though I did write a book on community colleges early in my career . The great majority of the 3,000 or so four-year colleges and universities are primarily devoted to teaching students, mainly in occupational fields that in theory equip graduates to obtain jobs. Students will receive a smattering of general education in lower-division and will have opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities. The latter are more important for many students than classroom studies. Students hone interpersonal skills on campus, make contacts that can be useful for instrumental purposes as well as ends in themselves. For those who finish, their diplomas do provide a boost in the labor market, more for quantitative fields than for other fields.

Research universities are of course the most complex environments and the range of their activities is difficult to catalog in a short answer. In addition to providing instruction in hundreds of programs, they run hundreds of student clubs and organizations, contribute to the selection of high achieving students for graduate degrees, train and mentor graduate and professional students, produce thousands or tens of thousands of research papers annually, reach out to industrial partners, field semi-professional athletic teams, solve community problems, run tertiary care hospitals, patent new discoveries and attempt to create environments conducive to learning for a very wide variety of students. One could say that these activities, taken together, constitute the enacted purposes of research universities.

However, when you look at their activities from the perspective of public policy, the focus will tend to be on three main purposes: (1) human capital development (in other words, improving the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of students), (2) basic research and research in the national interest, and (3) the provision of access for students from lower-income and under-represented minority backgrounds. Implicitly, Two Cheers for Higher Education focuses more on these primary aims of public policy than on some of the ancillary activities of universities. Of course, some of the activities that could be considered ancillary—such as student clubs and the patenting of new discoveries—are clearly related to these public policy aims. For that reason, I do also discuss them at some length in the book.

At a time when we see stories of colleges closing, why is it that you argue that higher education is doing quite well?

We do see some colleges closing and more colleges merging. There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed. We do hear a lot of talk about mergers in recent years, and some of the regional public universities in rural areas are definitely struggling. Where population is declining steadily, it becomes harder to make the case for the local college. But population is not declining in urban areas or in suburban areas around big cities. Here we see new colleges rising or existing colleges growing larger. Higher education is doing quite well in the parts of the country that are seeing growth in population and wealth. Sometimes higher education has been an important influence in attracting employers, new jobs, and new wealth. The state of Georgia is an interesting example. It now has the 10th largest economy of the 50 states, and the investments that state leaders and donors have made in Georgia Tech, Emory, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University have played an important role in the state’s impressive development.

Though your book is largely positive about higher education, you note some concerns about the future of higher education. What are those?

According to public opinion surveys, the major concerns of Americans have to do with cost, the quality of undergraduate education, and liberal bias in the classroom. I address each of these issues in the book. One hopes that criminal justice reform may allow most of the 50 states to invest more heavily in higher education, reducing family’s burdens. I also advocate a universal, income-contingent loan repayment policy similar to the ones that already exist in England, Australia and several other countries. My research has led me to agree with the critics that the quality of undergraduate education is too low for too many. I show in the book how the lessons of the sciences of learning can be embedded without much more than forethought in even large lecture classes. The evidence on liberal bias is mixed. Clearly, minorities remain subject to many discriminatory and wounding acts on college campuses. At the same time, where we find a liberal orthodoxy there’s a risk that assumptions and commitments will substitute for evidence and reasoning. We do need more spaces on campus where contemporary social and political issues can be discussed and debated.

I also discuss what academic and political leaders can do about the threat to the physical campus represented by online competition , by the tremendous growth of campus administrative staff (compared to the slow growth of faculty), and the deplorable increase in poorly-paid and sometimes poorly-prepared adjunct instructors.

I hope that the evidence and recommendations that I provide will stimulate new thinking and action in each of these areas of concern. The U.S. is fortunate to have the strongest system of higher education in the world, but many problems arose during the period I cover. It will be important to address these problems before they undermine public support for institutions that are now central to the country’s future well-being.

Brint, S. G. (2018). Two cheers for higher education: Why American universities are stronger than ever--and how to meet the challenges they face . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jonathan Wai, Ph.D. , is Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and the 21st Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas.

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Employability and Employment: The Role of Higher Education in a Rapidly Changing World

• First Online: 28 June 2022

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This chapter focuses on the Middle East but draws on case studies from Asia and Europe to examine the evolving role of higher education in supporting, promoting and even hindering employability. Through analysis of existing trends and values, this chapter explores the need for a clearer understanding of the relevance and position of higher education in developing skill-based graduates and the need to reflect on current and past practice in light of tomorrow’s challenges. There is a concern that higher education is approaching a crisis point and that massification of access, increased expectations on returns, and increasing levels of unemployment, are shifting the perspective of the role higher education can and should play. This chapter will also examine and discuss key issues in higher education and explore the importance placed on perspective, activity and results. The chapter provides evidence from a variety of sources in order to establish an understanding of patterns, trends and possible future strategies for interaction and development. The review focuses on the conflict between an outcome-based and a developmental approach in order to explore the extent to which higher education is responding to current issues and the extent to which it is placed to address future concerns.

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Hassock, L., Hill, C. (2022). Employability and Employment: The Role of Higher Education in a Rapidly Changing World. In: Ng, B. (eds) Higher Education and Job Employability. Knowledge Studies in Higher Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05716-8_8

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Importance of Higher Education

Today, education is much more than books and degrees. Today, education means opening your mind to a whole new world, the world in which there are no geographical barriers to knowledge. Today, education means having an acceptance and respect for the entire human community, around you. To me, education is much more than a good degree, for the purpose of acquiring a highly paid job. I feel that education in today’s times is a tool with which we can transform our society, and as such, education opens our minds to acceptance of new societies and newer cultures. I believe that education is the perfect means for the social development of any society. For any culture to thrive and flourish, the education system must be sound. An excellent example of nations flourishing at a rapid pace due to education is the high growth rate of countries like India and China. India as a country has taken just fifteen years to be recognized as a global force. The fast-developing economy of India has been boosted simply by the efforts of one single generation of educated individuals who have placed India firmly on the world map for years to come. And this has been possible only by the tools of education.

Education creates awareness in the minds of individuals, a new sense of responsibility, openness to change and progress, all of which are important factors in the development of a nation. Each educated person makes a great difference to the country as a whole.

Education positively impacts the health of citizens. Higher education enables people to think critically and evaluate the pros and cons before makingmaking crucial decisions about important issue in life, whether it be health, fitness, careers, or even the choice of food to be consumed, daily.

Education is indeed a powerful means to remove the prejudices from our mind relating to gender, class, caste or race. An educated person will generally respect human kind in all its forms.

Education enables us to think deeply about primary concerns in life, especially pollution. Protection of the earth and its environment has never been at such a focus ever in the history of humanity. As educated people, we know and realize our responsibilities in protecting the earth and its atmosphere. Higher educational thinking also fosters a desire for improvement in the quality of life of individuals. It has been proven by studies that people who are highly educated have better access to health, from increased awareness of dietary practices and resultantly better and healthier lifestyle. In nations where education activities are on the rise, the youth are more mature and level headed. This improves the entire scenario of the nation as a whole as there is reduced criminal activity.

In this age and era of globalization, education to me is as important as consuming food. Besides providing monetary freedom, the benefits of education are numerous, not only to an individual but to the entire society as a whole, which is ultimately the most influencing factor in the success of any nation, small or big.

Education is not the window, but the gateway to the new global community, which is devoid.

By providing greater stability, education impacts the confidence levels of persons in an extremely positive way, thereby paving the way for greater success stories in the world, now and forever.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 23). Importance of Higher Education. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-higher-education/

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IvyPanda . 2023. "Importance of Higher Education." November 23, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-higher-education/.

1. IvyPanda . "Importance of Higher Education." November 23, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-higher-education/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Importance of Higher Education." November 23, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-higher-education/.

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Higher Education and the Opportunity Gap

Subscribe to the center for economic security and opportunity newsletter, isabel v. sawhill isabel v. sawhill senior fellow emeritus - economic studies , center for economic security and opportunity @isawhill.

October 8, 2013

• 13 min read

America faces an opportunity gap. Those born in the bottom ranks have difficulty moving up. Although the United States has long thought of itself as a meritocracy, a place where anyone who gets an education and works hard can make it, the facts tell a somewhat different story. Children born into the top fifth of the income distribution have about twice as much of a chance of becoming middle class or better in their adult years as those born into the bottom fifth (Isaacs, Sawhill, & Haskins, 2008). One way that lower-income children can beat the odds is by getting a college degree. [1] Those who complete four-year degrees have a much better chance of becoming middle class than those who don’t — although still not as good of a chance as their more affluent peers. But the even bigger problem is that few actually manage to get the degree. Moreover, the link between parental income and college-going has increased in recent decades (Bailey & Dynarski, 2011). In short, higher education is not the kind of mobility-enhancing vehicle that it could be.

The obvious solution would seem to be this: First, encourage more low-income children to go to college; and second, finance their education in order to narrow the opportunity gap — a strategy that policymakers have been pursuing for the past few decades. This prescription is fine as far as it goes, and indeed some success has been achieved in both motivating the less advantaged to aspire to college and in providing the financial assistance enabling them to do so. Most high school graduates say that they plan on getting a degree, and spending on Pell grants has risen sharply in recent years, even as deficits have constrained other types of spending (U.S. Department of Treasury, 2012).

The flaw in this simple argument is that the primary problem is no longer enrollment, it is completion. Almost half of all college students and much higher proportions of poor and minority students drop out before they complete a degree. Community colleges, the sector that enrolls the majority of less advantaged and older students, have experienced staggering dropout rates. About 54% of their students don’t complete a degree, receive a certificate, or transfer to a four-year institution within six years (NCES, 2011).

The reasons for lack of completion are many, including rising tuition costs that have only partially been offset by increased government aid and are especially burdensome for the least well off; a lack of information about what aid is available, particularly at more selective schools; and the demands of work and family that may make full-time attendance difficult or impossible. But probably the most important factor explaining lack of completion is inadequate preparation for college in the K–12 years. According to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only a small fraction of high school seniors are at or above proficiency in math and reading: 26% and 38%, respectively (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Yet roughly two-thirds of high school graduates enroll in college. [2]

This lack of preparation is not the fault of institutions of higher education. Most colleges, especially the less selective schools at the community college level, have poured time and money into providing remedial courses to help underprepared students succeed, but the effort has done little to overcome the dropout problem. There have also been experiments with providing community college students with various supports such as counseling, the creation of “learning communities” that keep students together for mutual support, or providing extra financial resources to help meet living costs. However, these programs are costly and have had only modest success (Bettinger, Boatman, & Long, 2013).

It is not as if the incentives for completion don’t exist. The wage premium for a college degree has skyrocketed in recent decades, nearly doubling since 1980. When compared to simply graduating from high school, a bachelor’s degree produces an increase in earnings over one’s career of nearly $600,000, even after accounting for the fact that college graduates tend to be more able than noncollege graduates for reasons that have nothing to do with going to college. An associate degree produces a smaller, but still highly significant gain.

It is clear that different segments of the high school population need different postsecondary opportunities. Some are academically able and should be applying to selective schools. Others are much less well prepared and might benefit more from a one-year certificate in a high-demand field such as health, computers, or welding. One size doesn’t fit all.

A more academic literature has shown that there is a small but significant number of low-income, high-achieving students who do not apply to more selective schools but instead enter the community college system or other less selective institutions where they are less likely to graduate. They are often unaware of the fact that many top-tier universities are seeking a more diverse student body and would provide generous financial aid enabling them to attend. Although there are far more high achievers from wealthier families than among those who are less well off, this “undermatching” of talent with available resources is another indicator that class matters in the U.S. (Hoxby & Avery, 2013; Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson, 2009).

At the other end of the spectrum are a large number of high school students who are simply not prepared for the rigors of college-level work. In an earlier paper, co-authored with Stephanie Owen and entitled “Should Everyone Go to College?” we argued that a college degree is a very good investment, on average, but not for every high school student. The benefits depend not only on whether one completes a degree or certificate, but also on the selectivity of the school, the student’s major, and the type of occupation in which she ends up. For example, the rate of return on a bachelor’s degree from a noncompetitive four-year private institution is under 6% while the rate of return on a bachelor’s degree at our most competitive public institutions is over 12%. The difference in lifetime earnings between someone majoring in engineering vs. someone majoring in the arts is a whopping $1.5 million.

Of course, the value of a college degree should not be measured solely in terms of the payoff in the labor market. Higher education creates more informed citizens, better health, better parents, more job satisfaction, and other noneconomic benefits. Still, students would do well to carefully consider their objectives and expectations before choosing an institution or a major. Efforts to make more information available and to help high school graduates and their parents navigate the complexity of the financial aid system — as well as the multitude of institutional choices available to them — should be increased. [3]

More fundamentally, for a lower-income family, higher education is simply not affordable without heavy subsidies from the government or scholarship aid. Faced with messages that a college degree is the ticket to the middle class, and tuition levels that are beyond their reach, borrowing by students and their families has soared. In part this reflects an increase in the number of borrowers (Greenstone & Looney, 2013). But the levels of debt are both worrisome and inconsistent with the idea that higher education should be accessible to all those able to benefit from it.

In the meantime, the federal government is spending $136 billion a year on Pell grants, student loans, tax credits, and other forms of assistance for undergraduate students. While Pell grants are aimed at providing help to low-income students, loans and tax credits are heavily tilted toward middle-class families (Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2013). [4] Some reallocation of funding from the middle class to the poor would probably help to close the opportunity gap. But more money for Pell grants, by itself, will not solve the dropout problem. There is no evidence that Pell grants have increased graduation rates, as opposed to enrollments. A higher level of assistance for low-income students but one also tied more closely to performance might help to level the playing field in a more cost-effective way while simultaneously providing stronger incentives for better preparation at the K–12 level. For example, West Virginia’s PROMISE scholarships provide free tuition and fees for up to four years to academically qualified students who maintain a minimum GPA and course load in college. Research has shown that the program increased on-time graduation rates by 7 percentage points (Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2013).

More controversially, it may be time to consider an approach that is common in European and Asian countries. These countries require students to demonstrate that they are prepared before they are admitted to a university, using national testing systems. Some countries, such as Germany, also provide far more opportunities for nonuniversity bound students to acquire valuable skills. For those with the requisite ability, the cost of higher education is free or highly subsidized. These systems provide an incentive for students to study hard in secondary school and for the schools to work hard to prepare them for the rigors of college-level work. Universities can then concentrate on educating those most able to benefit, and taxpayers don’t end up subsidizing students to learn in college what they should have learned earlier in their school careers. The European and Asian systems are often more meritocratic than the U.S. system and far more cost-effective from a societal perspective (NCES, 2013).

With the advent of the Common Core standards, a version of this approach could be gradually introduced in the U.S. and financial assistance tied more strongly to performance in high school and college. Because of our tradition of not tracking students and of providing open access to community colleges, and because it would take time for the K–12 system as well as individuals to respond to new incentives, any such modifications would need to be introduced very slowly, and careful attention would need to be paid to how performance is measured.

Even then, critics will charge that such a system would limit access to higher education. They would note that even a year or two of college that ends with the student dropping out has some value in the labor market. They would also argue that access is critical and that our system with its great diversity of institutions from open-access community colleges to elite private schools is designed to promote choice and opportunity. That said, the U.S. is falling behind in international rankings of what students know and how many graduate from college, and it is not clear that we can continue to compete using our current “open-access” model. European countries spend far less per capita on higher education than does the U.S. but get a much greater bang for the buck in terms of college completion rates. To those who worry that this is because they only educate a select few, it is worth pointing out that European levels of income inequality and social mobility compare favorably with those in the U.S.

There is no question that the workforce of the future will need more education, but some of that education may be more effectively provided in high school, in career and technical education programs customized to provide the skills that employers need, and through inexpensive online learning rather than in traditional college classrooms. Community colleges are, of course, providing a great deal of career and technical education, and especially where that education leads to a certification or skill with value in the market place (nursing is a good example), they are providing a vitally important service and deserve more resources for this purpose.

Over the longer term, the focus needs to be on improved productivity in the higher education system. [5] There is a burgeoning interest in online learning combined with more personalized approaches in the classroom. Real innovation and more cost-effective forms of education will require measuring what students learn and not just counting credit hours accumulated. These kinds of innovations will remain controversial within some portions of the higher education community, but they should be welcomed by taxpayers, families, and administrators looking for a way to broaden access without bankrupting either families or state and federal governments. By bringing college-level learning within the reach of the less advantaged and older, nontraditional students looking for ways to retool their skills, innovation can be one solution to America’s opportunity gap.

In summary, I have argued that, despite our dedication to the idea of a higher education system open to all, 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. In the longer term, the solution needs to involve improving the K–12 system. It also needs to involve making learning and access to skills beyond this level a less costly process and one that does not necessarily require four to six years of college. In the near term, more could be done to better inform students and their families about available options, including the availability of financial aid for well-prepared students from low-income families; the importance of matching one’s interests and skills with what different institutions have to offer; and the availability of more work-focused career and technical training for those most likely to drop out of college saddled with too much debt.

This essay was originally published in The College Board volume How College Shapes Lives: Understanding the Issues .

Bailey, M., & Dynarski, S. (2011). Gains and gaps: Changing inequality in U.S. college entry and completion (NBER Working Paper No. 17633). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Barrow, L., Brock, T., & Rouse, C. (2013). Postsecondary education in the United States: Introducing the issue. The Future of Children: Postsecondary Education in the United States , 23 (1), 3–16.

Baum, S., Kurose, C., & McPherson, M. S. (2013). An overview of American higher education. The Future of Children: Postsecondary Education in the United States , 23 (1), 17–39.

Bettinger, E., Boatman, A., & Long, B. (2013). Student supports: Developmental education and other academic programs. The Future of Children: Postsecondary Education in the United States , 23 (1), 93–115.

Bowen, W., Chingos, M., & McPherson, M. (2009). Crossing the finish line: Completing college at America’s public universities . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Dynarski, S., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2013). Financial aid policy: Lessons from research. The Future of Children: Postsecondary Education in the United States , 23 (1), 67–91.

Greenstone, M., & Looney, A. (2013). Rising student debt burdens: Factors behind the phenomenon. Washington, DC: The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution.

Hoxby, C., & Avery, C. (2013). The missing one-offs: The hidden supply of high-achieving, low-income students. Conference draft. Brookings Panel on Economic Activity.

Isaacs, J., Sawhill, I., & Haskins, R. (2008). Getting ahead or losing ground: Economic mobility in America . Washington, DC: Brookings and Pew Economic Mobility Project.

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. (2013). National student aid profile: Overview of 2013 federal programs. Retrieved from http://www.nasfaa.org/national-profile/

National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). Community college student outcomes: 1994–2009 . NCES 2012-253.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2013). Education expenditures by country. The Condition of Education . Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

Owen, S., & Sawhill, I. (2013). Should everyone go to college? (CCF Brief #50). Washington, DC: Center on Children and Families at Brookings.

U.S. Department of Education. (2009). National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2009 Reading Assessment. Institute of Education Sciences.

U.S. Department of Treasury. (2012). The economics of higher education . Retrieved from http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/20121212_Economics%20of%20Higher%20Ed_vFINAL.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Current population survey . Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm

Wildavsky, B., Kelly, A., & Carey, K. (2011). Reinventing higher education: The promise of innovation . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[1] For an excellent overview of the higher education system, see the articles in, The Future of Children: Postsecondary Education in the United States, 2013, especially the chapters by Lisa Barrow, Tom Brock, and Cecelia Rouse and by Sandy Baum, Charles Kurose, and Michael McPherson.

[2] In fall 2012, 66.2% of 2012 high school graduates were enrolled in college (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).

[3] The College Scorecard, the Department of Education’s new tool for informing potential students about graduation rates, costs, and loan default rates at different colleges, is a step in the right direction as is a more simplified process for applying for financial aid.

[4] Roughly 40% of undergraduates receiving federal assistance are from families with income above $30,000 (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, 2013).

[5] In their volume entitled Reinventing Higher Education, Ben Wildavsky, Andrew Kelly, and Kevin Carey argue that there is plenty of low-hanging fruit to be plucked here. Colleges such as the University of Minnesota at Rochester and organizations such as the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) are showing the way, as are some for-profits.

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12 Reasons Why Higher Education Is Important

What is higher education? Well, higher education is considered the last step in formal education. It follows the achievement of a high school diploma and generally involves the completion of a degree. Most recognized definitions explain higher education within the confines of a college or university that awards degrees, and in some cases, certifications.

The Great Debate

Questions over the efficacy of a college degree continue to challenge the higher education community. Is it really worth the investment?

A college degree is expensive. There’s really no way around that fact. If you cut away the population of students who are going full-ride, you still have a substantial number of degree-seekers who will come out of college with insurmountable debt. It’s a terrifying fact that many use as reasoning not to pursue a degree.

But, let’s take a step back and think about college education as more than investing in a future job. Instead, let’s think of it in terms of what it affords — an opportunity to transform.  

The importance of Higher Education: 12 Reasons Why

The obvious.

Let’s start with the obvious — there is a serious wage gap between those with and without a degree. And that gap is projected to grow. In fact, a collective study by the Center on Education and Georgetown University found that people who hold a bachelor’s degree and work full-time earn 84% more in their lifetime than those with a high school diploma.

People with a college education also enjoy other benefits like health and life insurance, both of which lead to a longer lifespan. Thus, when evaluating the ROI for a college education, it’s important to look at the big picture. Over a lifetime, those with a degree simply earn more — whether that is money, benefits, or both.

The Future and AI

The job market is changing dramatically to match the growth of artificial intelligence. As technology becomes smarter and more sophisticated, companies are able to filter out certain roles in favor of automation. This means that jobs are changing. Roles that used to rely on human interaction are being replaced with artificial intelligence.

In wake of that change, there will be an increased demand in jobs that require an advanced understanding of AI technologies. Now, more than ever, it is important to invest in an education that can handle those needs. And yet, there are still other important skills to consider…

A Well-Rounded Dynamo

The job market can be very tough, and companies are actively looking for candidates with well-rounded educations.

It’s not enough to have a degree in engineering or math. Employers want their candidates to be well-spoken with strong proficiencies in communication and writing. They want employees who can deliver on their chosen disciplines, while also presenting impeccable soft skill knowledge. They want to see an engineer who has taken a couple of years of French, and they delight in finding a math major who minored in public communications.

It seems like a lot to ask for, and it is. But, the reasoning for this is actually quite simple. Companies want candidates who have a breadth of knowledge — knowledge that can serve them in any challenge. The strongest candidates are those who can demonstrate a robust repertoire of college classes, across several disciplines and structures. A college education enables students to build this complex list of skills.

Learning How to Think

Higher education isn’t just about earning a degree. If we step back and examine what a college experience entails, we can see that it is more than just attending classes and taking exams. In fact, higher education is about learning new ways of thinking and acquiring problem-solving skills.

Students are asked to reason outside of their comfort zones. They are taught to engage in critical thinking as both an individual and as a member of a classroom. In many cases, students are required to stretch their imagination in both oral and written works, often presented in front of their peers. In other words, a college education teaches students to think differently.

Outside of earning a degree, a student will graduate with new and improved skills in critical thinking, analytics, written and oral communication, and group problem-solving.

International Education

One of the more obvious benefits of a college education is the opportunity to study abroad.

Though not always compatible with every degree option, most schools with strong abroad programs are flexible in helping students pursue international study. We could dedicate a whole article to the benefits of studying abroad, but the most important takeaways are increased experience in global education, independence, language proficiency, and cross-cultural learning excursions that enhance classroom instruction.

Study abroad ranges in duration from a few weeks in the summer to an entire year, and many institutions offer special pricing for their programs. In some cases, an institution will have an established program abroad, that allows students to study at the same price of tuition as in their home campus. It is rare to have that kind of opportunity outside of a college education.

Immersive + Experiential Learning Opportunities

Today’s colleges and universities are investing a lot of time and energy into immersive and experiential learning opportunities . The future is hands-on! Students learn best when they have outside experiences to augment classroom instruction, and immersive and experiential learning takes students into real-world settings like practicums, hospitals, and internships. Within these professional environments, students can practice the theories they learn in the classroom.

They are also given new responsibilities that, on a smaller scale, match the work environment they are interested in. Finally, students can use these experiences to test their interest in their passions. Sometimes, an internship or practicum is all that a student needs to realize they do or do not want to pursue their chosen field of study.

Some colleges and universities allow undergraduate students to engage in research opportunities independently or alongside a professor. This is a huge benefit to students who are looking to gain some experience before pursuing a master’s degree, where research is almost always a requirement of the program.

In other cases, some schools actually require their undergraduates to complete a capstone or final thesis as a component of graduation. No matter what the circumstance — even if not conducted for the purpose of graduate school admittance — research teaches valuable skills in project management and writing etiquette. This kind of experience is very attractive to employers who are looking for evidence of dedication and personal discipline.

It cannot be overstated that alumni play a major role in the future of higher education. They give back to their communities, they provide gifts to their institutions, and in many cases, they offer up a network for students who are looking to land a job after college.

A strong alumni network can go a long way in the job search , with many alumni eager to help recent graduates find an opportunity within their field of study. Some institutions even invite their alumni to come back to campus and act as panel members for upperclassmen. Students are given the chance to ask vital questions about their industry, while alumni can offer up advice , information, and even networking opportunities.

Active Community Members

People with a college education are more likely to get involved in their community. It is also true that a degree informs on more than just one’s major. Higher education explores complex issues regarding health, the environment, business, and politics.

When students are educated to examine multiple issues, across several industries and disciplines, they learn to assess today’s problems from an interdisciplinary point of view.  It is that very skill within higher education that equips graduates to be more active community members and smarter voters.

Personal Growth and Independence

If we think of earning a degree within the traditional undergraduate track, we can consider a college education to be an important phase of independence and problem-solving.

Undergraduate students are inundated with pivotal changes, many of which take place outside of the classroom. Students must learn how to manage their time, how to deal with new people and roommates, how to talk to their professors, and how to navigate their new, social settings. Most importantly, students must gain the independence to make these decisions on their own.

A college education is so much more than tackling new challenges in the classroom. It’s about learning how to manage new-found independence in a way that is practical and safe.

True Passions

Some high schoolers know what they want to study in college. For those lucky few who have found their passions early in life, a college education is a necessary means to an end. For many other students who are on the fence about their chosen field of study, there is hope. A college education affords individuals the opportunity to discover their passions.

Most schools do not require their students to commit to a major right away, allowing for some freedom to explore different options. In fact, many first-year advisors strongly encourage their students to take as many interesting classes as possible. Institutions know that most incoming freshmen will encounter some confusion when it comes to selecting a field of study, so elective courses are offered up as a way to explore possible interests.

Clubs, Groups, and Extracurriculars

Colleges and universities are big on promoting extracurricular activities to strengthen resumes. They sometimes refer to this as an “activities resume.” Companies want to see that candidates spent their college days doing more than just studying. They want to see evidence of leadership and participation in clubs and organizations.

A college education allows students to get involved in these extra-curricular activities. So, even if a student is pursuing a degree in computer science, they can still demonstrate leadership experience by serving as a committee member for their fraternity or sorority. Students can also show off their participation in language clubs, community-service organizations, or simply groups dedicated to a certain passion.

Why Is Higher Education Important?

The world is changing. Technology is developing beyond our wildest dreams, and complex issues in business, environment, and politics continue to challenge our society. Higher education prepares students to meet these challenges with grit and determination.

A college education is more than classroom instruction. It is a holistic journey that explores facets of individuality, perseverance, and skill. A degree is about learning how to think, communicate, and deliver. More realistically, it can be considered as a transformation — from potential to realization.

Are you ready to earn your degree? Check out our undergraduate and adult programs, today!

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Job vs Higher Studies: Making the Right Choice

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The aspect of making the right choices is crucial since the course of your life is the outcome of the choices that you make at the formative stages of your life. The primary requirement of making any kind of choice involves weighing the pros and the cons of the choice to be made. The dilemma of securing a job or pursuing higher studies is quite perplexing since it is dependent on several factors. It is completely subjective and you cannot arrive at a definitive conclusion. 

A job could be the best choice for you if it’s the need of the hour. On the other hand, if you are financially stable with an interest in further studies, pursuing higher studies is unmistakably the best option. It is also important to take note of your academic stature while making the choice – whether you are an undergraduate or have completed your graduation. Thanks to the culture of campus placements! Nowadays, the final year students of various courses land up with jobs even before they are graduates. It is immensely satisfying to start earning even when deep down you wished to continue higher studies. However, this particularly holds true in case you belong to the NIT, IIT IIM segment because of the best packages on offer but the dilemma rears its ugly head in the case of lower strata colleges. In such cases, you can play the “need of the hour” card. If you lack financial stability do take up the job in offer, work for a considerable amount of time, gain industrial exposure and experience, make judicious savings and you are ready to scale the heights of higher studies. 

The cost of pursuing higher studies and your long-term career goal are the two most important factors that you must consider while making the choice. 

Cost factor

You must remember that pursuing higher studies entails a cost so if you tend to overlook the practicality and follow your heart, you just might have to drop out of the course and that would mean loss of time, money, and efforts. Being pragmatic and gauging the implication of your choice on the present situation are therefore two very vital aspects that you must consider. 

Career goal

Having a proper understanding of your career goal is a crucial aspect in making the right choice between a job or higher studies. If you are aiming to get industrial exposure over knowledge then higher studies is no more a necessity for you. On the other hand, if you see yourself as a researcher or a teacher in the near future then educating yourself is imperative. 

The dilemma could be more perplexing for financially stable students because they can take either but cannot figure out the right one. For them, the option of higher studies could be the right choice since you would not land up with high pay packages unless you hail from the top colleges. But, you can be sure to crack an off-campus job with high pay if you have a higher degree. So for you, higher studies are the right option that secures good pay. If however research in your chosen domain is what you are aiming for, click the option of higher studies instantly.  

For the student who lacks a sound financial footing the option of jobs is a lifesaver. Go for it, no questions asked. If you are passionate about higher studies you are never too late but you must stabilize your economic front before chasing your dream. 

In the end, it’s all about how you choose to see yourself on the path of life. If you have a clear understanding of your priorities in life, making the right choice between a job or higher studies would simply be a cakewalk for you.   

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