A Better Question
In reading this article from the Wall Street Journal, I think the better question isn’t: Is a four-year degree worth it?
It’s: What do you want from an education?
For most people, education is partly about learning something specific. Skills matter. Knowledge matters. And yes, education can help you move toward a career. A traditional four-year college experience, especially one that’s immersive, where you’re living away from home and taking on more responsibility, can offer much more than what shows up on a transcript. It’s a transition space. A testing ground.
For many students, college is where they learn how to:
Take care of themselves: set an alarm, eat healthy, manage time, money, health and many other responsibilities
Build new friendships
Navigate different personalities, backgrounds and beliefs
Explore interests that may (or may not) turn into passions
Those things don’t come with a clear ROI calculation, but they shape how someone shows up in the world long after graduation.
When people debate whether a four-year degree is “worth it,” they’re often comparing it to alternatives that are cheaper, faster or more directly tied to a job. And those alternatives can absolutely make sense for people. There are many valid ways to learn. Time and money matter, of course. But how much they matter — and how you weigh them — depends on the person. The same path won’t make sense for everyone, and it shouldn’t. It’s about deciding what tool is best for what you’re trying to build.
Some schools are starting to offer guarantees around internships or job placement, and that can be helpful. A degree doesn’t guarantee a job. And neither does a bootcamp, a certification or a referral. But even then, a guarantee can’t answer the more personal question: What do you want to do with the education?
The more certain you are about what you want, the narrower and more targeted your education can be. The less certain you are, the more valuable it can be to choose an environment that lets you explore, experiment and learn about yourself. Not just a subject. If you don’t know what you want from the education, no guarantee in the world will make the outcome feel satisfying.
The WSJ article focuses on what colleges can do better and that conversation matters. But there’s a broader one we don’t talk about enough: helping people get clearer on what they’re hoping an education will do for them. Because education alone doesn’t guarantee a meaningful life.
