Is University Still a Smart Investment?

University has become the one-size-fits-all solution assigned to students as they approach adulthood and try to decide what they should do with their lives. Despite their lack of real-world understanding or experience, society still expects seventeen-year-olds to quickly come to this conclusion despite how impactful this decision has become compared to older generations.

Why the Standard Exists

Going back 40+ years, educational and career opportunities were more limited and as a result, more high school grads opted to join the workforce immediately. For example, there were only ~400,000 students enrolled at Canadian universities in 1983, which equated to 1.6% of the population at the time. With fewer post-secondary graduates available for hire, this made it easier for non-educated job hunters to apply for higher-skilled positions and move between industries due to a generally lower standard for job qualifications. Fast forward to 2019 and the number of students at Canadian institutions had since risen to 1.4 million (3.7% of the population) with no signs of slowing down. With younger generations being generally more educated, the job market has become highly competitive across industries, putting even more pressure on high schoolers to plan their career paths.

The Pressure on Today’s Students

Unlike in past generations, today’s high schoolers are in a position where not pursuing some form of post-secondary education will severely limit their career opportunities. This requires teens to have a general idea of their career path by Grade 11 to ensure that they take the right course prerequisites and meet the requirements for their university program of interest. With so many possible career options available today, it’s intimidating for teens to decide on what will be one of the biggest investments of their lives without having any real-world experience in their field of study to base their decision on. Yet teens are taught to merely continue going through the education system as their best course of action, committing thousands of dollars across 4+ years on a degree they may regret later. Kids are essentially encouraged to make blind investments without considering all the options to plan their careers, like a home buyer purchasing a house without viewing it first.

University’s (Intended) Role

The purpose of attending university is to prepare young 20-somethings for entry-level employment by equipping them with the required practical knowledge necessary to work in their field. Employers then weed out applicants based on their level of education and evaluate candidates based on their combination of hard and soft skills to determine whether they will be successful at their organizations. While there are many standardized disciplines (i.e. law, accounting, STEM, etc.) where university well-positions students for employment, students in humanities programs may not accrue enough skills that employers will recognize. Every degree has an expected ROI and unfortunately just owning a bachelor’s degree no longer guarantees a job like it used to. While it is important for students to study subjects they’re passionate about, it’s also important to consider the risks associated with their choices to avoid starting adulthood neck-deep in debt with no job prospects.

Being Entrepreneurial

You would think after 4+ years of intensive education that university graduates would be able to contribute to the workplace without needing to be trained by employers from the ground up. This highlights the gap left by some university programs and the need of students of all ages to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset toward education. With knowledge having become free in the digital age, developing skills on your own has never been easier and has enabled perseverant individuals to create their own opportunities instead of relying on what’s already being offered. It makes you wonder that if uneducated individuals can develop the skills to create something out of nothing at a profit, then what value does university really provide?

In Closing

It’s amazing to consider how educated society has become when a bachelor’s degree is only enough to just be considered by an employer. Fortunately, the digital age has removed the cap on the value of continuous learning, unleashing a wave of endless innovation.

Have any contrasting thoughts? GREAT! Let me know in the comments! Let’s start a conversation.