A new paper published by the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy says higher education has been oversold to the public. Many students who are not interested in academic pursuits, the report says, are spending a lot of time and money to get a credential that is much less valuable than they suppose.
The paper, “The Overselling of Higher Education,” was written by Executive Director George Leef and focuses on many of the common themes that dominates higher-education policy. Among the topics addressed in the paper is the common belief that the nation has entered a “knowledge economy,” where it’s important for nearly everyone to go to college. Leef contends that this idea is mistaken, but because it is so widely believed, colleges have been flooded with students who would have been better off if they had chosen to do something else.
“Many students who are neither academically strong nor inclined toward serious intellectual work have been lured into colleges and universities,” Leef writes. “At considerable cost to their families and usually the taxpayer as well, those students sometimes obtain a degree, but often with little if any gain in human capital that will prove beneficial in the labor market or the challenges of life.”
Students receive poor information from guidance counselors and teachers about the importance of a college education and push marginally qualified students to enter college, Leef said. They, and others, tell students that the only way to get a “good job” is to get a degree. One unfortunate result is that academic standards have been driven down to accommodate students who are not interested in studying.
Many politicians and education leaders advocate an expansion of higher education to bring in many more students. In response, Leef writes, “Higher education is already oversold in America, with too many students spending years of their lives taking low-quality courses with little or no lasting benefit. While a college degree is clearly a good human capital investment for some, for others it is a poor investment.”
Among the inefficiencies that are caused by the overselling of higher education is credential inflation, he said. Many employers now insist that applicants have college degrees for jobs that don’t call for any particular knowledge, Leef said, which causes young people either to over-invest in formal education or to be shut out from many jobs they could easily learn to do.
Leef proposes that governments stop subsidizing higher education and that institutions should raise their academic standards.
Shannon Blosser is associate editor of Carolina Journal.