BENNETT AND WILEZOL: Weighing the cost of college

OPINION:

Graduation season is supposed to be a joyful time, but many graduates (and parents) of the class of 2013 find themselves staring down a fact that will surely put a damper on things: The average amount of student-loan debt for a 2013 graduate is about $30,000, an uncomfortable burden to shoulder at the outset of one’s career.

Almost as distressing is the phenomenon that many graduates are working in low-skill jobs despite having a college degree. A 2010 grad in political science described to The Wall Street Journal his employment at a call center: “There are people with master’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees, and even people with law degrees, applying to work for $10 an hour.”

The cost of college has risen more than 1,100 percent since 1978. Driving this has been the ability of elite colleges to raise tuition higher and higher, so that they might be perceived as prestigious by consumers who can pay the full price. Other colleges have followed this model, but the clients (students) are continually going into debt to pay for a quality of education that seems elite but actually isn’t. A never-ending stream of federal and private student loans feeds the system, acting as a river of revenue for colleges who want to build shiny new dorms and other amenities to attract students.

In light of the facts, it’s appropriate to ask the question: “Is college worth it?”

The typical reactionary thinking to the question usually goes one of two ways. The first says, “Yes, of course it is. People with a bachelor’s degree earn the most money. So let’s do everything we can so everyone gets one.” The other side of the argument says, “No way. It’s just a waste of time and money. There’s nothing there you can’t learn on the job.”

Both points have merit, but it’s not that simple in either direction. The answer is: “It depends.”

Many students do still graduate from college and find meaningful and rewarding work. The key word is “graduate.” Nearly 50 percent of students who enroll in four-year colleges do not graduate within six years, if ever. This frequently leaves them with a pile of debt but no academic credential attractive to employers. Many students in college are there for the wrong reasons — following the crowd or prioritizing partying, for example. Many just want a piece of paper to get hired, and aren’t the least bit invested in intellectual inquiry.

Poor academic habits in high school are good indicators of a probable dropout: 76 out of 100 students who graduate in the bottom 40 percent of their high school class do not graduate college within 8 years. Of course, there are socioeconomic reasons for this beyond study habits, but if you do not consider yourself economically disadvantaged, but find yourself in this group, this information should be carefully considered in planning your future academic career.

Second, many jobless or underemployed graduates are majoring in disciplines in which the skill set associated with the disciplines is difficult for employers to evaluate. Employers have a higher demand for rigorous STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines, and degrees in subjects like accounting, information technology and nursing. These jobs generally pay better than liberal arts, social sciences or fine arts like history, journalism, psychology or graphic design. Of course, a liberal arts or social science degree can get you a good job, but the odds are less favorable than in other majors.

Third, it does matter where you go to school. Any student who is accepted into the best schools in the country should go, even if it requires borrowing some money. The return on investment is generally excellent. Payscale.com is a great resource for seeing which schools turn out graduates who have a high career investment return. Much of this is a result of the quality of colleagues a student surrounds himself with and the social connections made. There is an inherent value in better schools, since they attract more-motivated and better-performing individuals, in school and life.

With the number of considerations more numerous than ever, there are real questions about how the American system of higher education can sustain itself. It seems that one of the best hopes for reforming higher education lies with emerging online technologies, such as massive open online courses, which have the ability to deliver superior quality academics much less expensively, and to many more people. Two weeks ago, Georgia Tech announced that it will partner with the online company Udacity to deliver an entirely online master’s degree in computer science for only $7,000. If that kind of offer could gain traction among undergraduates, then we might not be seeing as many tales of student-loan woe.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett and David Wilezol are the co-authors of the new book “Is College Worth It?” (Thomas Nelson, 2013).