This week’s deadline for some student borrowers to exit a government loan program before their bills could double or triple is likely reigniting concerns about whether a college education brings a sufficient return on investment. This conversation is not new, but the Trump administration raised the significance when the U.S. Department of Education announced new rules this summer that tie a university’s access to student loans to how much that school’s graduates earn.
Even without that announcement, American families are increasingly questioning the value of a college education as an investment, and higher education institutions must address that concern with seriousness and transparency. Families deserve assurance from those of us who lead colleges and universities that what we provide will make their students’ lives better. Those students and their families invest years of their lives and substantial financial resources in higher education, and they have every reason to expect higher education institutions to demonstrate that their investment produces meaningful results.
If we make the salary a graduate earns the principal measure of the value of a college education, then we risk replacing all the benefits of that education with what is easiest to count.
Xavier University of Louisiana, where I serve as president, is one of the Top Four producers of pharmacists in the United States, and our school is also a leading producer of Black graduates who earn medical degrees.
However, if we make the salary a graduate earns the principal measure of the value of a college education, then we risk replacing all the benefits of that education with what is easiest to count.
A paycheck is indeed a good measure of the economic return on a degree, but it cannot tell us everything about the value of an educated person. A graduate’s capacity to purchase a home, support a family, accumulate wealth and expand opportunity for future generations represents one of higher education’s most tangible contributions to society. However, social mobility should extend beyond individual advancement. Its fullest expression involves creating opportunities for others and fostering collective progress. In this context, return on investment evolves into return on societal impact.
Here at Xavier University of Louisiana, we instill in our students that our ultimate purpose “is to contribute to the promotion of a more just and humane society” and that our goal is to prepare our graduates “to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society.”
Recent achievements among Xavier alumni exemplify this impact toward the greater good. Shuana Tucker-Sims, Ph.D., was elected the 19th national president of The Links Incorporated, a prominent volunteer service organization for professional women of African descent; and Sharon Dixon Gentry, Ed.D., was elected the organization’s national vice president. Deidre S. Lindsey, Pharm.D., was elected the 29th president of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Harry E. Johnson Sr., an attorney, entrepreneur and civic leader, was elected Grand Sire Archon-Elect of Sigma Pi Phi, or The Boulé, the nation’ oldest African American Greek letter fraternity. Xavier’s late president (and alumnus) Norman C. Francis chaired the Louisiana Recovery Authority after Hurricane Katrina, was president of the United Negro College Fund and served as a chair on the board of directors of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, then-President George W. Bush presented Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The value of higher education is multiplied when graduates use what they have learned not only to advance themselves, but to strengthen the institutions and communities around them. This should be part of how we understand the return on a college education, whether that education takes place at a public university, a private college, a community college or a historically Black university, like ours.
Colleges and universities differ in mission, history, size and whom they serve. But all should consider what students are being prepared to do with the education they receive. Preparing graduates for employment is essential. Preparing them to exercise judgment, contribute to their communities, lead institutions and create opportunities for others is also part of higher education’s return.
The true return on America’s investment in higher education does not appear simply on a graduate’s paycheck. It appears in hospitals where patients receive care, in laboratories where discoveries are made, in classrooms where children learn from teachers who recognize their potential, in businesses that create jobs, in courtrooms where justice is pursued and in civic and service organizations where members marshal collective influence for the benefit of others.
Education is the gift we offer, and the gift propagates throughout society in the many who benefit from the abilities and compassion of graduates. And the example of first-generation college graduates forever changes the possibilities imagined by younger ones who follow.
This multiplier effect of education is a rich return on investment. Ours is to prepare students to earn a living and build lives of purpose.
As policymakers, families and institutions continue to discuss the cost and value of college, they demand transparency and accountability. They should also demand of colleges and universities the formation of servant leaders ready to build a better society, locally and beyond.
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