CAS CONNECT 2019

More to Study A degree is vital to success today. But research shows passions pay off in the long run, too STORY JACOB LONGAN | PHOTO GARY LAWSON M ost people reading this understand the value of a college degree. Studies consistently show that higher education is a great investment even when simply considering the cost of attendance compared with higher lifetime earnings. As the PewResearch Center puts it in “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College:” “On virtually every measure of economic well-being and career attainment — from personal earnings to job satisfaction to the share employed full time — young college graduates are outperforming their peers [who have] less education. And when today’s young adults are compared with previous generations, the disparity in economic outcomes between college graduates and those with a high school diploma or less formal schooling have never been greater in the modern era.” Some have suggested that the numbers, especially disparities in starting salaries, mean college students should ignore disciplines they might enjoy studying and instead focus on the STEMfields. For example, an engineering graduate will almost always earn more than a history graduate in entry-level jobs in their fields. So, isn’t it obvious which major is the better choice for modern students? Actually, if a particular student is not passionate about engineering, the answer is no. Richard Detweiler, president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, 12 CONNECT 201 9