This past Tuesday, I attended my roommate’s deliberation which discussed the value of a modern college education. Attending college after high school has become so normalized, that almost all students coming out of high school intend to further their education by attending college. There has been an evident shift in the idea behind attending college. Over the past thirty or so years, the question has transitioned from “Are you going to college?” to “Where are you going to college?” This deliberation discusses in detail as to if going to college is worth it, and if not, how it can be made worthwhile.
The first approach that they took was to create a lock-in or balance the increase in tuition rates per year. By doing so, students will have, relatively, the same tuition every year for their four years attending the university. This could be very beneficial because students would be choosing their majors based on interest rather than if they can afford it or not. Tuitions for different colleges within a university vary as well. For example, it costs more to be a nursing major because of all the equipment and lab costs that need to be covered, rather than a communications major which requires little equipment use. If the costs are the same for every major and they are locked in for the four years, students will be more compelled to choose a major that interests them. The major drawback to this program is the university will have to scale back on other programs and make budget cuts so that the costs are the same university wide, which would limit the resources available to students.
The second approach doesn’t deal with the financial aspect of college, but rather making the experience more worthwhile. Approach two states that students should be required to complete a community-service project regardless of degree or major. This would certainly give students an edge when going to apply for a job. Having a community-service under your belt, especially if it pertains to your intended major, would most certainly look fantastic on a job application. Not only this, but it will strengthen the relationship between community and university. If students of the university are actively going out and helping to create a better community in the surrounding area, the community will most likely return the favor to the school, creating a very healthy relationship between the community and university. The major drawback to this approach is that students might see it as another assignment rather than a valuable lesson. If students have this mindset going into the service project, they may not work as hard as they probably should.
Approach three doesn’t really address any financial burdens, but rather makes the life of a student much less stressful. Approach three discusses the idea of general education classes being pass/fail rather than having such a heavy weight on a student’s GPA. Students come to college with the intention of focusing their education on something they are genuinely interested in, they don’t want to be burdened with work for a class that they will never think about again after taking it. Therefore, to relieve this stress, it has been thought to make general education course pass/fail rather than a letter grade. There are some serious benefits to this approach, as it certainly relieves stress on the student, and students would be more willing to take classes that interest them rather than taking that “easy A.” While a major drawback might be that the professors who teach these courses will be much less motivated to teach a higher level if the grades the students receive don’t matter, making the classes rather dry and unappealing.
All these approaches certainly have their benefits, but every single one of them has a huge vice in their drawbacks. I’m sure the college experience could be improved financially and academically, but it is key to find the perfect balance between these three approaches in order to make college more worthwhile.
