Why College?

First, let's spend some time addressing the question of whether college makes economic sense. It is completely true that college costs more in absolute terms today than it did thirty years ago, in some cases as much as 400 percent more, even after adjusting for inflation. We would assert that what colleges are delivering to students (the essential “product,” if you will) has changed very little in terms of education, social development, civic engagement, and career preparation. Then why else would you be paying more? We believe the extra cost has come along with little meaningful long-term extra benefit to the student's life after college. The reasons for the extra cost are a complex mix of factors such as increased spending on administrative personnel, increased perks to compete for students (e.g., fancy new dorms, gyms), and the ability for colleges to charge more money when the federal government is happy to keep guaranteeing higher student loans that cover those increasing costs.

The United States offers more choices for students to attend college than any other country by far. Germany, a well-educated and economically competitive country, has about 60 percent fewer colleges, adjusted for population. Because we have so many more colleges in the United States, those colleges must compete more with each other to stay in business. Even though it sounds counterintuitive, raising its prices can actually make a college appear more prestigious and competitive in the marketplace. Few will admit it publicly, but a college is a business, and even if it is a nonprofit, that does not mean it can be a “negative profit.” If there is a spending arms race to attract students, a college may face extinction if it refuses to participate unless it is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country.

All of this has little if anything to do with a direct improvement in instruction and student outcomes, the whole reason your teen would go to college in the first place. Professors' salaries have remained largely stagnant in real terms since the 1970s, and a much higher percentage of professors are part-time today than back then. Students are not coming out of college smarter, more employable, wiser, or happier than they did in 1970. And yet on average, college is still a good economic investment compared to not going to college at all. How can this be? Much of it has to do with how the employment landscape has changed and the Great Recession beginning in 2008 in particular. That recession accelerated a trend that was already happening, which is the reduction of low-skill, blue-collar, and clerical jobs due to automation; moving jobs to countries with cheaper labor; closing factories due to competition from emerging markets; and successful challenges to the power of organized labor in certain industries.

As we noted earlier in this book, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce published in a 2016 report that about 11.6 million new jobs had been created since the 2008 recession ended, and of those jobs, almost 99 percent went to people with some level of college education. Seventy-two percent of those jobs went to someone with at least a bachelor's degree. Only 80,000 jobs out of 11.6 million new jobs went to a person with nothing more than a high school diploma. According to the report, that trend has accelerated with each new recession over the last few decades. People holding a four-year degree (or higher) for the first time ever now make up a greater percentage of the workforce (36 percent) than students with only a high school diploma (34 percent). Office and administrative support, historically one of the largest segments of the working population, suffered a decline of 1.4 million positions during the last recession. There are still 1.6 million fewer construction positions than before the recession. While manufacturing jobs rebounded following the recession, more of these jobs than ever before require some kind of technical knowledge, and having at least an associate degree can provide a competitive advantage for applicants.

Large segments of our economy that used to rely on low-skill labor are finding ways to achieve more productivity with fewer people, and the smaller number of employees who remain are being asked to bring skills to the workplace that cannot be obtained solely in high school. Production industries employ only about 19 percent of today's workforce compared to 50 percent in 1947, whereas industries that rely on professional workers now employ 46 percent of today's workforce compared to 28 percent in 1947. The data are undeniable: college graduates across all degree types have lower unemployment rates than those without any college education.

What about earnings? According to a 2014 analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, the gap between what college graduates earn and what those without a degree earn has hit an all-time high. People in the United States with a college degree earned about 98 percent more an hour on average than people without a degree in 2013. That difference was only 64 percent in the early 1980s. So there is plenty of sound evidence that compared to people who don't have college degrees, college degree holders are likely to be more employed in the future, earn much higher wages on average, and hold jobs that provide important benefits such as health care coverage and retirement plans.

We are not implying that having a college degree is a guarantee of employment or a middle-class wage with solid benefits. A lot depends on your child's personal interests, aptitudes, circumstances, decisions, and work ethic. Some career fields pay much more on average than others, and some colleges provide a high-quality degree for a better price than others. Moreover, the economic landscape will never stop shifting, sometimes dramatically. College is an investment, and like any other investment opportunity, there are options that provide great returns for the price and options where you can get much less than you thought you would even when the cost is breathtaking and the marketing is slick. But the good news is that there are so many colleges in the United States that if students are thoughtful and spend an adequate amount of time exploring their options and understanding more about their potential career interests and earnings, there are many good choices that will greatly increase the likelihood that their life will be better off with a college degree than without one.

College has other benefits beyond the direct knowledge for employment in specific career fields. We would argue in many cases that some of the best career preparation from college comes from experiences outside the lecture hall. First, good colleges challenge students to develop critical thinking skills. Rather than just learning information and regurgitating it back in exams or papers, students need to learn to make their own inquiries into a question where the answer is not entirely clear and then develop arguments and defend them. The best colleges and program departments make students solve open-ended problems where the solutions may surprise even the professor. The professional jobs with the highest earnings potential and strongest employment stability will be roles that require us to solve the kinds of problems that computers and cheap offshore labor cannot. Colleges give students a toolbox of mental models and problem-solving strategies that they can apply to a wide range of problems regardless of the career field.^1,2,3,4

Second, college provides opportunities to develop interpersonal and social/emotional skills that can enrich students' lives and improve their career prospects. Many college courses require students to work in teams and deal with the challenges of coordinating group action, leading others, and coping with uncomfortable situations like a slacking teammate. Students who take seminar-style courses will learn to express and defend their ideas in front of a group and deal with public critique. Almost every college offers semester-long public speaking courses that require students to present in front of large groups. And in order to succeed, almost all college students at one point or another will need to advocate for themselves and ask for help from a variety of professors, teaching assistants, or peers.

College often exposes students to a diversity of ideas, religions, ethnicities, and regional and international cultures. This exposure can help them learn to respect ideas and backgrounds very different from their own, which increases their ability to relate, lead, and problem-solve with people from many different places. These are among the soft skills that distinguish high-potential employees in a workplace and put them in a position to become leaders who work on high-profile initiatives such as international expansion, cross-functional innovation teams, and special task forces. Even in highly sophisticated technical fields, someone has to translate ideas back and forth between technical and nontechnical staff, and someone has to help make a group of highly educated geniuses function as a successful team. Many of the best colleges deliberately ensure that students are working as much toward this type of knowledge as their more formal subject matter expertise because they want to produce successful alumni who will reflect well on the college and give back to their alma mater.

A third benefit of college is a chance to establish a social network that can provide a foundation for both lifelong friendship and career networking opportunities. In a well-known TED talk, Robert Waldinger, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, pointed out one of the primary findings from a seventy-five-year-long clinical study on human health and happiness. “Over and over in these 75 years,” he pronounced, “our study has shown that the people who fared the best were the people who leaned into relationships with family, with friends, and with community.” Few places and times in life provide as much opportunity to forge lasting friendships as college does. Many people meet lifelong friends there because they have extended periods of time where they are around others in a variety of settings, bump into interesting new people unexpectedly, and have a chance to meet repeatedly and really get to know someone well.

Finally, a fourth benefit of college is something your child might not yet appreciate, which is the potential exposure to completely new career options. Students frequently change their major. Both of us certainly did, and they were very big changes. Even with all of the thought that your child is putting into such a big decision as college and career, it is presumptuous to assume that eighteen-year-olds truly know everything about themselves until they get to interact more with the real world and get exposed to new ideas. Most colleges offer a wide range of majors. Larger universities in particular provide a vast array of course subjects and potential career connections. By attending college, your child may discover interesting and lucrative career options that never would have occurred to her until she was exposed to them through a chance encounter with another student or a professor.

All of this may sound wonderful, but what if your child will be the first in your family to go to college and will be having these new experiences alone, away from home, without being able to ask you about your own experiences from college when he encounters the inevitable stumble or hiccup? You and your child both may be worried he will fail or get homesick and possibly be embarrassed. Or you may worry that he will feel out of place because most other students on campus are not like him and do not share a common background and cultural experience. Perhaps you wonder if your child can handle that or if you should encourage him to walk into that situation. This is a legitimate concern and something you should discuss with your child openly.

If yours is a lower-income family or one with an ethnic/cultural background that is not very typical at your teen's chosen college, she may face challenges that many other students at that college do not worry about. It can be isolating, overwhelming, and frustrating, especially if your child feels extra pressure to succeed as the first in the family to go to college. But it can also help your child develop self-confidence by proving to herself that she can stick to something important even when it gets challenging or unpleasant. The most effective way for people to build self-confidence is by taking on an increasingly difficult set of challenges and overcoming them.

Many colleges are trying very hard to find high-potential students from more diverse backgrounds, and most provide extra support and advice to those students. Your child will not be completely alone in facing those challenges and can turn to adults at the college for help when needed. In addition, some research studies have shown that students with a demonstrated ability to complete four-year college-level work (from their grade point average or state test scores) will be more likely to finish college and earn a degree if they attend the more challenging four-year college rather than the less challenging two-year college that may be close to home. This may sound counterintuitive, but researchers believe it is due to the effect of increased expectations of professors and peers at a four-year college. Just by being there, everyone around them will assume they are capable of succeeding. Your child may rise to that expectation rather than fall short. Ultimately this will depend on your child's unique goals, strengths, and personality, but we encourage you to have the confidence that if your child has the ability to handle the academic work, is willing to work hard, and will ask for help, she can likely earn a four-year degree and transform her life in the process. And if you still have doubts, don't hesitate to ask the college how it could provide extra support to her in overcoming these obstacles, especially if she has already received an acceptance letter and financial aid offer.

We have discussed the economic and personal benefits of going to college, but we would be naive to state that there is no risk or downside potential in attending college, especially if costs are problematic. As we have discussed in detail, college now costs in real terms far more than it did thirty years ago, and those cost increases do not seem to be slowing down or resulting in any noticeable increase in the quality of the product. Some education analysts and entrepreneurs believe this increasing cost is like the housing bubble prior to the recession of 2008 and that higher education is on the cusp of a massive change in how it is delivered and how much it costs. While it does seem that the cost increases cannot be sustained indefinitely, we believe that the majority of colleges will stick around with a familiar model of doing things, and prices will remain relatively high as long as the best jobs require a college education.

Like any business, some colleges offer a great value for the price and some offer much less value for the same price. There is such a thing as a “good deal” in college education. If you were on a quixotic mission to deliberately find a bad deal, the two places you would look first are private for-profit colleges by far and then, to a lesser extent, private nonprofit colleges. Some of these colleges are quite good and work hard to provide a world-class education, and do their best to offer as much financial assistance as possible to students with need. But some of these colleges are very expensive and do not have a track record of providing greater benefits for that cost than your child could get from a cheaper public college or university. Unfortunately, it will require some good sleuthing on your part to distinguish which colleges or programs are the real deal and which ones are overpriced. Here are some things to consider:

1. Graduation rate. Find out what percentage of students earn a degree. According to the U.S. Department of Education, fewer than 60 percent of first-time, full-time undergraduate students earn a bachelor's degree within six years, however this figure varies dramatically among colleges. Compare this number for each college your teenager is considering, and don't be afraid to ask a college why its number is so low or what advising programs it has in place to ensure that students stay on track and get help when they need it.
2. Employment statistics and earnings. Look for statistics on employment and earnings after graduation. This should include the percentage of graduates who find a job within a year after graduation and any information on average earnings. If your child is considering a private for-profit college (e.g., a nursing school, an IT tech program), you should absolutely be able to get this information from the school; if you do not, cross it off the list. Some private for-profits are notorious for promising gainful employment and then failing to deliver. Over 90 percent of their funding comes from student loans guaranteed by the federal government, so if their students fail to get jobs and cannot pay off their loans, it is no problem for them because Uncle Sam picks up the tab. You should also look at average salaries for the career field your child intends to pursue and have a candid discussion about what he wants to achieve in life in terms of both professional accomplishment and financial means. One of the most common ways that a college education can become a burden instead of a benefit is when there is a large disparity between the cost of that education and the potential earnings from the degree pathway that your child has chosen. If your child is passionate about being a kindergarten teacher in a poor urban community but will graduate with over $80,000 in student loan debt, this is not going to go well for her financially and may delay her ability to obtain a mortgage, get married, or live on her own for years after graduation. Maybe there are other intangible benefits to attending that college that left your child with $80,000 in debt, like living in a lively New York City neighborhood or studying Shakespeare in England for a semester. That may be worth it for some people, but either way, we strongly encourage you to discuss with your child the concept of trying to align the cost of her college education with the long-term value she is likely to realize as a result.
3. Average debt. Try to find the average student debt of a graduate. This can help you get a sense of how well the college is working to help students meet their financial needs. Some colleges offer financial aid packages that consist of a small grant or tuition discount (“merit aid”) and then an opportunity to fund the bulk of their expensive tuition with student loans and a campus job. This is not much of a financial aid package, and money that someday must come back out of your child's pocket is not “assistance.”
4. Average class size. One potential sign of a college that may be providing lower value for the price is average class size, especially if it is a smaller private college. Class size at large public colleges will sometimes be inflated due to big lecture hall–style courses that meet freshman requirements, but this would be unusual at a smaller private college. It's helpful to compare these numbers with other well-known reputable colleges even if your child will not apply just to get a sense of whether the numbers seem off-base.
5. Alumni. Try to speak with graduates to learn more about their experience and, in particular, whether they found the kind of career success they had hoped for from their degree. If your child is hoping to pursue a very specific career field, see if the college will put her in touch with recent graduates from that program.
6. Special assistance. Perhaps a college has reached out to your child because of his diverse ethnic or socioeconomic background and has told your child that it is “looking for students like you.” Some colleges truly work hard to create a welcoming place for diverse students, but others may tell a good story without backing it up with meaningful services and programs. Ask the college what kind of support it offers, if any, for students who may be from atypical backgrounds. Also, many colleges offer specialized support services for students with learning differences. Students with significant learning differences have a higher risk of not graduating and leaving college early with student debt to pay off. You can search online for colleges that have the best programs for these students, and you can ask the admissions office for information as well.
7. Books and online lists. A lot of college counselors and authors over the years have done some research on colleges that offer a great education and interesting experiences, often for a reasonable price because they are not the biggest names out there. A couple that we recommend exploring are Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges by Loren Pope, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania by Frank Bruni, and The Hidden Ivies, 3rd Edition: 63 of America's Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities by Howard Greene and Matthew W. Greene. You can also find several good online resources recommending good-value colleges if you do a search for “best-value colleges.”

If you do the kind of research we recommend, it's likely that your teen will end up at a quality college with a good price, or at least the best price relative to quality that you can find, even if the cost is still a stretch for your family. This still does not guarantee, though, that the college is right for your teen. You also need to help her take a good look inward and explore her attitudes and aptitudes to make sure it is the right choice for her personally. Here are some things to consider:

1. Attitude toward school. Does your teen enjoy school or at least see it as a necessary and natural step in achieving goals? Or does she look at school as a constant battle to overcome boredom and pointless frustration? As we have mentioned elsewhere, many students take longer than four years to earn a bachelor's degree. If your child feels that she was pressured to attend college and is constantly battling her own indifference toward school work, there is a good chance she could end up drifting aimlessly, wasting both time and money, and possibly not even earning a degree while getting stuck with burdensome debt. The employment prospects and the value of a degree for a student who wanders through college are not going to be nearly as good as they could have been.
2. Aptitude for school. College-level course work is generally harder than most high school work. It requires a more intense pace of reading, writing, and studying. And there will be much less formal structure to guide students as they work. Students are on their own to make sure they are keeping up. They need to make choices about how to spend their time that high school students don't have to make. Does your child have self-discipline, time management skills, and solid study skills? If he has learning differences, has he spent time to learn about special programs and accommodations that a specific college may offer?
3. Self-determination. Ultimately the students who get the most out of college are the ones who are goal oriented and proactive about pursuing their career ambitions. They know why they are in college, what they expect to get out of it, and how it relates to their long-term plan in life. They have thought about how much college costs and how much they intend to earn. Most important, they are not wandering aimlessly, hoping that college will somehow lead to good things one day. Does your teen have a strong sense of self-determination and a belief that she can control her destiny and make choices about her future rather than waiting for something to happen to her? College is too expensive to be a passive experience.

In some cases, your child may aspire to a career field that typically requires a college degree but she did not have the academic strengths or other attributes to qualify for a good financial aid package to attend a four-year college. Or maybe your child needs a four-year degree for a certain career, but you are uncertain about whether she has the temperament or academic skills to make it through just yet. There are a couple of options to consider. First, there is community college, and we have dedicated chapter 14 to this topic in which we discuss how community college can be part of a four-year degree plan and some of the potential pitfalls as well. Second, an increasing number of employers are providing specialized training or funding an associate degree in certain fields for their employees. You can search the web for more information about these opportunities with terms like “new-collar jobs” or “gray-collar jobs.” These career fields can be a good way for someone to gain some work experience and firm up career interests while still offering long-term career pathways to workers who go back to college and earn a degree and then return to the field in a more advanced capacity such as a manager or subject matter expert. Another option to consider is a gap year, in which your child takes a year off between high school and college. This can provide time for her to experience life outside of a classroom, possibly working or exploring a career field through an internship. This break from school can provide more time to help her decide if she is really committed to additional education or to develop more emotional maturity and focus before investing in an expensive college degree.

An Important Warning

We hear stories all the time about students who decide to go back to college and pursue a four-year degree after going to community college, earning a certificate, studying at a vocational training program, or getting some partial college credit from a previous attempt at a degree. Often this is because they have found their career choices to be too limited, or they are not earning what they had hoped within a trade or profession. In many cases, these students are devastated to learn that some or all of the credit they earned in their previous education will not be recognized as valid credit toward a four-year degree at the new college they are attending. If your child thinks that a four-year degree might be in the future but wants to try something else first, it is worth spending time to research whether any of the credits he earns now will be transferable to a four-year-degree program later. He may accumulate debt from pursuing these initial studies and then find that he cannot afford to take on the additional debt to complete a four-year degree later because so few credits transfer. Some thoughtful planning and research ahead of time could either help your child avoid this issue or at least go in fully aware of a potential roadblock to switching back to the pursuit of a four-year degree later in life.

All things considered, if your child attends a reasonably good college, pays a reasonably good price, and gets reasonably good grades, it is hard to argue with the likelihood that she will be enriched financially, intellectually, and socially. The key, as with so many other things, is doing the homework. It's important to take the time to research and compare colleges based on how successful their graduates are relative to the price. It's also important that you and your child have an open and honest conversation about her appetite and aptitude for school.