This is my favorite topic! What is the purpose of a university with respect to undergraduate education?
Is it an embodiment of the Victorian notion of the value of being educated or is it a pathway for individual economic empowerment? Of course, it's not black and white like that because the answer depends a lot on who you are.
If you talk to university administrators and professors they will tell you that the university is not in the business of training folks to get jobs. But at the same time, nearly every student I ever spoke to along with and many, many articles about higher education talk all about the economic benefit of a university education. Indeed that is the implicit value of attending a prestigious university - better job opportunities.
Often I like to propose the following thought experiment. What do you think would happen to a university's enrollment numbers if they no longer offered any proof of attendance or graduation? Would they stay the same? Would they fall? By how much? If the value is in education by itself, I would expect the numbers to stay the same. But if not, then I'd expect a dramatic decline in enrollment.
The truth of the matter is that no matter what side of the fence you're on, it's a very expensive investment. And for many, they have to take on student loans in order to gain the benefit of a university education. Student loans are perhaps one of the cruelest financial instruments ever created. If you end up not realizing the economic value of higher education but are still under the burden of paying off your loans, you're in an awful, awful place. Mislead into believing you'd make money, but now drowning in student debt. For you see, there is nearly no forgiveness for student loans. You can't even bankrupt a student load. I cannot tell you how many students I know who suffer from this cruel fate.
The decision to attend a university and what to study is an important and personal decision. The least we can do is provide folks with information to help them make this important choice.
(Also we should make student loans bankruptable)
Confession: I worked in higher education for over 10 years.
