Higher Ed News & Whatnot 5/20/2024

Student Debt

As the school year ends, and tens of thousands of college graduates make their exit, it’s appropriate to take a look at student debt. To help frame the conversation, here are some of the numbers from the Education Data Initiative:

• Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.727 trillion. The only debt category that is larger is home mortgage debt
• 43.2 million borrowers have federal student loan debt 

According to The College Board:

• Students at public four-year schools graduated with an average of $34,600 in debt, and students at private four-year institutions averaged $44,600
• As of March 2023, 32 percent of borrowers owed less than $10,000 and 21 percent owed between $10,000 and $20,000 in federal loan debt

The SoFi website offers an interesting article on how college debt impacts life choices. According to the site, graduates say that their debt impacts decisions about:

• Homebuying
• Pursuing graduate school
• Employment and career choices
• Marriage and divorce
• Starting a family
• Retirement

Opinion: Any conversation about student debt and its causes is difficult. There are those who believe the problem is the high cost of college. We agree with that assessment. There are also those who believe that some students make poor choices. We agree with that assessment as well. Then there are those who blame poor communication from colleges about the true (and final) cost. Again, we agree. Finally, there are predatory loan practices. And the FAFSA debacle. And uncertainty about loan forgiveness. And a flat job market for recent graduates.

All-in-all there is plenty of blame to go around. To help navigate these tumultuous seas, there are some resources for students and families to help them understand and deal with debt.

For students considering college, we suggest an article by Trevor Carlsen, a Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability. Published in May 2022, the article is entitled, Prospective Students Deserve Real Facts Up Front From Colleges And Universities.

For students with debt, we suggest 10 Tips for Managing Your Student Loan Debt from Investopedia.

For parents of students with debt, we suggest Parents: Managing the Struggles of Student Loan Repayments from Money Management International.

Links:

• Education Data Initiative
• The College Board
• SoFi
• Investopedia
• Foundation for Government Accountability
• Money Management International

Jobs for College Graduates

In a recent blog, we looked at the array of jobs available to recent college graduates. In this issue, we wanted to take a look at the degrees that lead to the 10 highest-paying jobs.

According to Kiplingers, using data drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and compensation research firm Payscale, the 10 majors with the best employment prospects include:

1. Computer engineering: Starting salary: $83,100; mid-career salary: $135,000
2. Computer science: Starting salary: $79,700; mid-career salary: $130,000
3. Electrical engineering: Starting salary: $77,500; mid-career salary: $123,000
4. Chemical engineering: Starting salary: $77,100; mid-career salary: $130,000
5. Aerospace engineering: Starting salary: $76,400; mid-career salary: $131,000
6. Mechanical engineering: Starting salary: $72,900; mid-career salary: $115,000
7. Industrial engineering: Starting salary: $72,000; mid-career salary: $115,000
8. Physics: Starting salary: $70,900; mid-career salary: $125,000
9. Operations management: Starting salary: $70,800; mid-career salary: $107,000
10. Management information systems: Starting salary: $70,300; mid-career salary: $119,000

Opinion: We are both intrigued and troubled by such lists.

While such lists are clearly helpful for solid students with a demonstrated proclivity for math, they are less helpful for those students with an interest in the liberal arts.

Because we value the liberal arts, we have a couple of recommendations.

Liberal arts colleges and programs will need to do a better job showing how a liberal arts degree can lead to both good jobs and satisfying careers. What is ironic, and often overlooked, is that employers place high regard on the qualities and characteristics of a liberal arts degree including the ability to communicate well, work in groups, and lead diverse work groups even as they are wary of the title, liberal arts.

We also suggest that those colleges that wish to serve liberal arts students place a greater emphasis on interdisciplinary education. Interdisciplinary education allows students to develop skillsets and a knowledge base in multiple areas.

While this is not exactly on task, we appreciate the spirit of an article we stumbled across, 7 Principles of Interdisciplinary Working.

Mind the Gap

Some high school graduates, wary of uncertainties about college costs and what they want to study, are increasingly hitting the pause button and opting to take a gap year.

According to a 2020 article in Inside Higher Ed, gap years may be gaining in popularity. While hard to track, there are estimates that three percent of freshmen take a gap year and that internet searches for gap years have skyrocketed.

One of the more reasoned articles on gap years is How a Gap Year Prepares Students for College by Cole Claybourn.

According to the article, gap years are not a lark. The author notes that gap years are less about finding yourself and more about pursuing a specific interest. The Gap Year Association defines a gap year as a semester or year of experiential learning…in order to deepen one's practical, professional, and personal awareness.

Opinion: We believe that student interest in gap years will increase and colleges should anticipate this trend by providing clear information on how gap years are perceived, the implications of deferred admissions, and even testimonies from current students who participated in a gap year.

College Transitions has compiled a list of what it believes to be the 22 Best Gap Year Programs.

Other Higher Education Links Worth Noting

MarketView offers a new study, Enrollment Evolved: A Five-Year Study of Changing Student Behavior. The report is broken down into four sections:

1. Top-Level Trends: Demographic Breakouts by Region, Income, and Race/Ethnicity
2. Enrollment & Timing: How Inquiry Timing Translates to Deposits
3. First-Source Enrollment & Yield: Changes in Enrollment Proportion by Application
4. Enrollment by Decision Round: A Look into the Private Cohort.

As with any sponsored research, you need to be wary of the sales pitch, but all in all we found this to be a valuable resource.

Stephen J. Burd is the editor of a new book, Lifting the Veil on Enrollment Management: How a Powerful Industry is Limiting Social Mobility in American Higher Education. A blurb by the publisher says Burd brings together higher education journalists, researchers, and industry insiders to examine how this industry has evolved to shape US college admissions since its inception in the 1980s. The May 14, 2024 issue of Inside Higher Ed offers a Q&A with the author.

In a previous blog, we talked briefly about the trust issue in higher ed. In March, The New York Times offered an opinion piece by Jessica Grose, How to Fix the Crisis of Trust in Higher Education. We found the article to be on point and much less shrill than others we have read. It is worth a look. Note that it is only available to NYT subscribers.

In March 2024, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation published Student Perceptions of American Higher Education. The most interesting finding centered around students’ interest in higher ed proving its claims that a college degree is worth the time and money.