The following is a slightly edited transcript of a speech by Michael Roth at a conference Weekly newspaper Podcast debate on higher education. You can listen to the podcast here:
Like Jennifer, I think it’s better to ask a less general question: for whom and under what circumstances? I think it is worth encouraging as many people as possible to receive a good university education. I believe. I am not opposed to Jennifer’s view that people participate in higher education in different ways, some people get very little from it, and in the end, as she rightly pointed out, are burdened with debt. Like Jennifer, I had a student loan, but I didn’t pay it off, so I was a faculty member at the time and made an incredible amount of money. Although on the other hand, I don’t think I can believe that I will get paid for doing what I like to do. I don’t know how Jennifer feels, but I think the loan is actually worth it because it earned me a PhD. And pursue what I think is truly important, beautiful and satisfying to share with others.
Unfortunately, many people—here, I think Jennifer and I agree—experience university in a completely different way. They are burdened with debts, are not prepared for work, nor can they discover things that they think are meaningful to life or allow them to engage in purposeful work. Of course, they are constrained by the university industry, which is very exploitative for many people. However, I do want to say that many student debt crises are driven by the for-profit university industry, which uses federally insured student loan guarantees to act as predatory lenders. They are not real educational institutions. Public institutions in many states have reduced public support for higher education, causing students to pay more.
I believe that the price tag far exceeds inflation, because the rich should pay a lot for college. This is one of the only ways we can redistribute wealth-rich people should pay a lot of fees for college. In elite schools, low-income students do not have to pay any fees. I think this is a good thing. Things are better when you don’t ask people to pay and you don’t ask them to borrow. Because for those who have little hope of making a lot of money in the beginning, debt is a terrible thing. It does not have to be an expensive waste of time. And I don’t think learning is a waste of time. I think that only the rich can experience the benefits of learning—whether it is about mathematics and science, or about literature and philosophy—this is a huge mistake.
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In fact, the salary premium for college-educated people will only increase over time. Although it is true that a large percentage of people with college degrees are not doing the jobs they want, when you compare them with people with only high school degrees, you will have a different set of calculations. But I don’t think you go to college The only reason is to wander around. I think this is why many people feel that going to college is not worth it. That is, if you go to college to be able to learn how to better prepare for the worst job you will have—this is your first job after college—it may not be worth giving you.
Even if you have a lot of great parties and then you get a good internship opportunity, I don’t think it’s worth investing in that period of your life. If you go to college and then graduate from college, what is the value of those things that will allow you to take advantage of the education you have already experienced for the rest of your life? You have developed the mental and spiritual habits that you continue to learn, and it doesn’t have to be that expensive. But in the United States, there is a very good place. The peculiar schools with some peculiar things do attract the rich, and sometimes also attract those who try to enter these places through debt. This is a sad incident, but I think if you don’t think of it as a completion school or a trade school, then college is worth it.
Michael Roth is the president of Wesleyan University.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author.
