When Heads Butt — from kathleendelaski.substack.com by Kathlee deLaski
An actual debate at LinkedIn Headquarters on the value of the college degree
Coincidentally published the same day, our books do take opposing views in parts. Scott is very strong on the value of the traditional degree, but wants to help students see beyond “the major,” telling them not to rely on what essentially amounts to a minority of the courses you’ll take in college to find your path to passion and employment. He urges them to find a “field of study,” to build in a broader range of self-directed experiences and classes to find your purpose and profession. (I love this and recommend his book.)
WhiIe I don’t recommend against college, “Who Needs College Anymore?” points to the growing number of employers and colleges that are offering skills-based career paths, that can be achieved with shorter term programs…that can be a stepladder to a degree, but don’t leave you credential-less if life gets in the way. I call on colleges to embrace all the market share they are leaving on the table, the 60% plus of Americans who are not getting a four-year degree, and to consider providing more modular professional pathway opportunities in addition to degrees.
Also re: higher education, see:
After years of quietly falling, college tuition is on the rise again — from hechingerreport.org
As colleges also pare back services, many students are paying more and getting less
Students nationwide are facing increases in tuition this fall of as high as 10 percent, along with new fees and rising costs for dorms and dining. And as in Pennsylvania, it’s an abrupt change from a period during which something happened that most Americans probably didn’t notice: Tuition had actually been falling, when adjusted for inflation, after decades of outpacing the cost of almost everything else.
That’s among the conclusions of The Hechinger Report’s update of its Tuition Tracker tool, which shows what students pay to go to individual colleges and universities based on their families’ incomes.
Considering the growing skepticism that college is “the magic ticket to the American dream,” said Gillen, raising tuition, for many higher education institutions, “definitely has the potential to be penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
But universities and colleges are confronting unprecedented problems on the funding side.