In many areas around the world, there is a debate about whether or not going to university is still worth the cost. University degrees have become so common nowadays. I remember when I was finishing high school, it wasn’t a question of if you were going to university, but rather which university you were going to. It was basically a taboo to state that you would not be going to university.
And nearly all of my friends from high school ended up going to study at one point or the other. Some started later than others but the vast majority of them have gone or are currently enrolled in some university course. To hear about the few friends I had from school was typically framed in an awkward and concerning manner. The conventional wisdom that we learn from school and our families has been that you need to go to university if you want to have any kind of success in life.
However, the ballooning cost of university tuition, made worse by the current economic reality across Africa (and around the world) coupled with the growing political and ideological divides have led many to come to the conclusion that university is no longer worth it. In the past, older generations were able to go to university and knew that it would guarantee them a successful career once they had graduated.
A personal example is that of my parents, both who went through university and managed to go on to have relatively successful careers and could afford to raise me and my sisters. However, That sort of career path is no longer the case for many young people in our generation. The sorts of opportunities available to us after we have finished our studies are not as promising as the opportunities our parents had and the price of university tuition has continued to climb to enormous amounts.
The price of university tuition has gotten out of control in many areas. An incredibly shocking statistic out of the United States is that all the combined student loan debt has climbed to as much as 2 trillion dollars. According to CNBC, while most Americans do manage to pay off their student debts by the time they reach their 30s and early forties, millions of Americans had their student loan debt hanging over their heads for decades, even going into their retirement age.
While the problem of student loan debts is a major issue in America, at least in the US most graduates can expect to find some form of employment not too long after they graduate. Even if the jobs are not ideal, like the phenomenon of many recent graduates in the US working in service industries like waitering until they are able to secure a better position. The American economy offers workers more opportunities than many of us here on the African continent.
Many African graduates have to contend with the prospect of graduating and having student loans that they are required to pay back, without any job opportunities. The sad reality is that many of us are graduating into unemployment. African economies have been badly affected by the shocks caused by the pandemic and the disruptions in global shipping due to the war in Ukraine. Our countries have been straddled with enormous amounts of debt and many of our countries have struggled to pay back.
We have seen in recent years countries around Africa looking to cut government spending in any way they can. In Nigeria, we have seen our government’s removal of the fuel subsidy that had been in place for decades and the unpegging of the Naira currency to the US Dollar. These moves by our government brought about unprecedented levels of inflation. Likewise in Kenya, we have seen massive anti-government protests after Willian Ruto’s administration put forward a new tax bill aimed at increasing government revenue.
So then, there begs the question: why go to university when the possibility of a job isn’t guaranteed once you graduate? Why would people go into debt, knowing they may struggle immensely when it comes time to begin making payments on their student loans? It could easily be argued that rather than spending thousands of dollars on tuition when that money could easily be invested into a potential business opportunity.
Moreover that brings us to perhaps one of the biggest problems with our current system is just how ubiquitous university degrees have become. While on the one hand, it can be seen as a positive thing that many more people are able to receive an education. However, it has meant that degrees among job candidates have become so common, it is difficult for applicants to stand out. So much so, the meme of “entry-level” jobs not really being entry-level has become widespread.
Because having a degree has become so normalised, the so-called entry-level jobs require candidates to have qualities and experiences to help them stand out. In fact, most “entry-level” jobs tend to require candidates to have between 2-3 years of experience in order for them to apply for their positions. We are faced with a scenario that the degree, that many worked on for four years, is not even enough to apply for job opportunities.
These days employers expect them to have had years of internships under their belt already before they even apply for a position at their company. Likewise, new employees are often expected to have a wide range of skills, often going further than their qualifications, or even the job they are applying to. So prospective students have to think about the extra costs of internships and acquiring new skills in addition to the high tuition fees they are already paying. There are many who look at this situation and all the costs involved and decide university is not worth it if it doesn’t even guarantee a job at the end of it.
Despite this terrible scenario in front of us, millions of Gen Zs continue to enrol in universities worldwide. Even I still went to university, despite knowing about how messed up this current system is. The reason so many of us continue to enrol in high numbers despite whatever genuine qualms one might have is that is just the way our society works. It is unreasonable to think that young people in their early 20s would just be able to completely upend the way the job market works.
The importance of university education is something that has been beaten into us from a very young age. We are essentially fear-mongered into believing that pursuing a career without a university degree is incredibly daunting if not impossible. And there is definitely some truth to those fears. Many job applications tend to require a university degree, even for jobs where one may not even be necessary. Even if these applications did not require one, if a candidate with and degree is put up against one without, companies would be more likely to select a candidate that has the better looking Curriculum Vitae, meaning a candidate with degrees would normally be preferred.
Especially for those of us in third-world countries, our parents want to ensure that we have the best opportunities possible to get ahead in life. And the way that most people can gain any kind of advantage in our job markets is often through whatever qualifications you have. It is easy for social media influencers to refer to getting a university education as a “scam,” when they are not the ones dealing with the pressures felt by so many of us in Generation Z.
Then another reason younger people are discouraged from going to university is to avoid the supposedly “woke” left-wing indoctrination that would receive the hands of university lecturers. Because it tends to be the case that many university lecturers typically have more liberal and left-wing persuasion, conservative influencers love to demonise universities as “indoctrination centres” and many have openly encouraged other young conservatives to avoid universities altogether.
Based on my university experience, while it was certainly the case that many of our lecturers were definitely more of a left-wing persuasion, I definitely was never indoctrinated by any of their political beliefs. However, from an outsider’s perspective, it definitely seems like universities in many Western nations could perhaps do with more ideological diversity in many of their higher education institutions. However, that is from the perspective of someone who has never been to a Western university. That is an observation based solely on the media I consumed concerning their higher education institutions.
However, I think it is important to push back against the idea that university should be avoided because of the political leaning of university academics. Such reasoning, I find to be incredibly hypocritical. If universities are bad (according to conservatives) because of the lack of ideological diversity, how is avoiding them because of ideological differences any better? Wouldn’t you then be doing the same thing, in that you are avoiding having your worldview potentially changed by attending a liberal university environment?
Universities should be a place where ideas are confronted and debated. So choosing to avoid university because you don’t want to have your worldview confronted is just as bad. That’s not even mentioning the detrimental effects that could result in choosing to avoid receiving a university education at all. Because of the reasons mentioned earlier, it is simply what has become expected of us in the modern day.
So, is getting a university degree still worth it? My answer to that would be… probably. The way our current job market system works, it has become essential to even make it through the door at many companies. Degrees are becoming almost as ubiquitous as high school diplomas, so depriving yourself of such a qualification is a decision that should never be taken lightly.
With that said, deciding on whether or not to attend university is a significant decision that requires careful consideration. It definitely shouldn’t be influenced by internet personalities who claim that “college is a scam.” Instead, individuals should thoughtfully weigh the costs and potential benefits based on their own unique circumstances.