Felecia Commodore
The Atlantic recently published an article titled “These U.S. Colleges and Majors are a Big Waste of Money.” We noticed the article being posted on Facebook and shared on Twitter at a fairly rapid pace. Unfortunately, neither the article’s authors nor those sharing the article provided any context and this resulted in yet another negative story about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Five of the top eleven “biggest wastes” were HBCUs, although the author Derek Thompson didn’t point to this fact.
From our perspective, there are a number of problems with The Atlantic’s list:
First, college outcomes cannot be measured solely by income. Of course no one would argue that being able to work post graduation is important. Nor would one argue that a college education is a large monetary investment that should be taken lightly or entered into flippantly for students or their families. However, this capitalism-tinged, simplistic, business model approach to an individual’s higher education leaves much to be desired and many unanswered questions.
The top 5 colleges on the “biggest waste” list are HBCUs and small public institutions. PayScale, on whose data the article is based, looks at the cost of the institution and the income of graduates 20 years out based on self-reported income. However, the institution’s cost is based on sticker price and not actual price. Let’s take a deeper look at this number and the students that are paying it. The top 5 institutions on the “biggest waste” list looked this way:
Average Net Price After Grants
