Is university still worth it? – 10/02/2023 – Michael França

At the beginning of September 2023, an article published in The New York Times drew attention to a significant change in the perception of the United States population regarding the prospects of the university trajectory.

Recent public opinion polls show that Americans’ feelings about higher education are not very good. This contrasts with the scenario experienced in Europe. There, several countries are considerably increasing the rate of young adults with university degrees.

There are several factors that help explain this scenario. One of them is linked to the potential salary premium that completing this training stage can confer compared to other possible paths. This premium can be measured by the difference between the average salaries of those with higher education versus those who do not have a college degree.

However, the return generated by university education is influenced by forces that go beyond the walls of educational institutions.

Universities can help provide more qualified labor; however, demand in the labor market represents another vector that will not only affect wages, but will dictate the magnitude in which supply will be absorbed. This demand can be impacted, for example, by the institutional environment, public policies and economic growth of each region and country.

In this context, looking only at the return generated by higher education leaves the account incomplete. When you take into account all the costs involved, the financial returns of attending college may not be very clear.

This is the case in the United States, a place where university education is not usually cheap. This helps explain why for many Americans higher education is no longer considered a blue-chip investment as it was in the recent past.

In Brazil, it is also not uncommon to see someone contesting the value of the university. Although the salary premium for attending certain courses and universities is relatively high in the country, reports of cases of Uber drivers with university degrees, something recurrently explored by the media, can discourage thousands from continuing studying and tends to leave the debate about educational returns in a gray area.

In this debate, much emphasis tends to be placed on the university degree as if it were an automatic credential for greater returns in the job market. However, in the midst of this discussion, it is common to forget that several universities are in an inglorious struggle to correct learning failures arising from deficient basic education.

There is also little discussion of the fact that the most prestigious universities and private educational institutions of the rich are not only places of learning, but also spaces in which one can have access to a select network of contacts that will impact future returns. As the New York Times text highlights, in many elite occupations, the price of admission is now an elite degree.

Furthermore, several universities, both public and private, offer courses with little demand from the job market. In the case of those with less prestige, many are of poor quality. In several situations, the social return of these institutions is doubtful. Many of those who were not born with a silver spoon are making considerable efforts to obtain a degree from these universities only to discover that it will be of almost no use.

The text is a tribute to the song “Jovens”, composed and performed by the band Onda Vaga.

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