Student Voices on the Value of a Degree

Students at Morgan State University, Northern Virginia Community College, and the University of Mary Washington recently answered four questions from The Chronicle. Their answers, in the following videos, help bring to light the many complexities involved in deciding if attending college is worth the cost.

“Self-discipline,” “depression,” “FAFSA, and forms.” Those are just a few of the many barriers the students said they had hit in applying to college. And securing a spot at a college does not guarantee a smooth academic career; the students said they’d faced continuing challenges while pursuing their degrees, such as paying college costs and managing their mental health. One student pointed out that college is a good path only for those who “know where they want to go and how to get there.”

Students want to discover their place in the world, they said in the videos, and hope that colleges can foster that goal by offering mentors, providing financial support, improving access to resources, and connecting them with diverse peers. By listening to their students, and the communities the students come from, colleges can help answer the public’s concerns about whether a college education is worth the cost.

These videos originally aired live on the first day of the Chronicle Festival of 2022 as part of The Chronicle’s efforts to elevate student voices in conversations about higher education. However, the students’ insights are evergreen; we hope that by hosting them on our website, readers and watchers of Chronicle content can learn from the students for many years to come.