In 2024, rising tuition, the increased cost of living and the student loan debt crisis have left students frightened to pursue the traditional four-year bachelor’s degree that has represented the foremost means of advancing in the workforce for generations. Nowadays, college degrees are not only essential for advancing in many careers, but for those with the financial means, they are also a benchmark in becoming an adult.
I am no fan of student loan debt. Neither is President Joe Biden, but 43 million Americans currently have student loan debt of some kind, and it is slowly, but surely, damaging universities’ public image. The New York Times reported that the percentage of young adults that believe a college degree is very important has gone from 75% all the way down to 41%. A large portion of this belief comes from the fact that a college degree does not guarantee the financial stability in life after college that it once did. These are scary things, and Mississippi State Auditor Shad White has been outspoken about the ill effects of liberal arts degrees in the state.
It’s worth questioning: Why get a liberal arts degree when a large portion of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck?
As a student majoring in a liberal arts discipline, public policy leadership, I feel I cannot answer that question for everyone, but I am confident in why I made that decision. I have experienced opportunities and internships and developed personal relationships, knowledge and critical thinking skills that would not have been possible without my ongoing liberal arts education.
Many business moguls, conservatives and industry workers are quick to demonize liberal arts degrees as a waste of time, framing the issue as young students paying sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to play around for four years only to learn very little in terms of practical skills.
It is safe to say I could not effectively engineer a new Baltimore bridge or build a hypersonic missile, but I have been given an education.
College degrees in practical fields like STEM, accounting, law and medicine are truly valuable, and I do not wish to undermine their importance. They provide a future for millions of Americans and help make the world a better place.
This, however, is no reason to degrade the value of the liberal arts. A liberal arts education is essential to navigating our complex world. Learning how to think, adapt to change and effectively deal with coworkers is an essential part of any job. While the future career of a liberal arts student may not be as easy to map out, the work of creatives is essential to the advancement of society. If we all designed bridges for a living, who would write the press release when they were finished?
Liberal arts majors must forge their own path with the skills they have been given, which can be trickier than pursuing a straightforward job in computer science or engineering right after graduation.
I will note that finding affordable college options in today’s economy is essential. College is not for every American, and unaffordable college is not for any American. It is important to be mindful of future debt when deciding which university and major best suits one’s needs.
The value of a college degree is more than what job it gives you immediately after college. The value lies in how your degree teaches you how to think, how it teaches you to grow up. College is the purgatory between adolescence and adulthood, and undergoing this challenge is essential to become not only an effective member of the workforce but also a well-developed individual.
David Ramsey is a junior public policy leadership major from Madison, Miss.
