Go ahead — saddle me with debt. If that’s what it takes to go to college, so be it.
I know whatever college accepts me next year is likely to be expensive. Good chance I’ll have to take out some loans. That’s OK. It’ll be worth it.
These days, many people don’t look at it that way. Thousands of college students across the country tossed their mortarboards in the air last month and are now wondering what comes next, and if they were right to go to college. Two out of three are carrying heavy debt — close to $30,000 on average — and job prospects are grim.
The US Department of Education estimates that colleges this year will dole out 1.8 million bachelors’ degrees. But a recent survey by the firm Accenture suggests that only 16 percent of grads have jobs lined up. And unemployment rates for recent grads remain high.
All this has people questioning the value of that sheepskin. William Bennett and David Wilezol’s new book is titled “Is College Worth It?” In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the president of an “ad tech” company, Kirk McDonald, seems to answer no — unless you study computer programming.
But measuring the value of higher education by your job prospects gets it all wrong. Sure, I’ll be looking for a job to support myself (and to pay back my loans) when I finish my studies. But I want to go to college, first and foremost, to learn.
I’m excited about the mountains of new information that will surround me, the professors who’ll guide and challenge me, the libraries and other resources I’ll have at my disposal, the peers I’ll be among — kids just as hungry for knowledge as I am.
I’m excited about the eye-opening discoveries I’ll be making in areas that I’ve only had a taste of in high school. And I’ll be grateful for all the time I have to indulge in all this.
The fact is, there’s enormous value in being in an environment that makes all that possible — far beyond what the Internet and books alone can offer.
At a university, I’ll spend my time learning about all the things I love: words and their histories through time and across different lands, or the nature of stars and the world of animal behavior.
I might expand my understanding of music and develop my musical skills. Or become familiar with the customs, languages and traditions of different cultures.
And, of course, I’ll immerse myself in what is, for me, the most captivating field of all: the fascinating and mysterious workings of the human body.
This is mainly why I plan to go to college: because there’s intrinsic value in learning — in learning for learning’s sake.
OK, not all kids think like me. Plenty don’t go to college to learn, but rather to increase their marketability and their income later on. With college costs rising faster than pay these days, college might not be worth it for these kids.
But society should be grateful for kids willing to soak up seemingly unmarketable info. We’re the ones who’ll be the storehouses of knowledge, the informed analysts of tomorrow, the idea generators, the ones who want to push the envelope in ways that benefit everyone. We may not study programming (though we can learn that quickly, if need be), but we’ll enrich the culture in other — perhaps less tangible — ways.
An educated population is a hallmark of a great civilization, and its intellectual leaders — its writers and thinkers — pave the way for everyone, even if their own financial compensation doesn’t always offset the cost of college.
I’m not looking forward to taking on massive debt. But I’m not going to be discouraged by the fear that my college diploma might not raise my lifetime earnings enough to justify the costs. There’s a lot more that I hope to get out of college than higher pay.
And if any of my classmates don’t feel likewise, well — a course in computer programming might just be the thing for them.
Harry Brodsky will be filling out applications for college — and for student loans — as a high-school senior next fall.