Is a College Education Still Worth the Price? A Dean's Sobering Perspective

Given the current economic climate, obtaining a college degree--or beyond, some would argue--is a requirement for finding quality work. But the value of that education, in terms of both dollars and intellectual importance, has never been more in question.

In this original title published by Now and Then Reader, a former university dean considers the costs and benefits of American higher education, and finds that prospective students face an array of problems that make the value of a college education highly problematic.

Writing with an insider's knowledge and experience, University of Missouri Professor of English Richard B. Schwartz describes the hidden costs behind exploding tuition costs that are creating a two-tiered society and saddling many graduates with staggering debt after graduation. Meanwhile the curricula at so many universities have become so watered down, and grade inflation so rampant, that students who want a solid education will have to be aggressive in seeking it out.

Richard B. Schwartz is Professor of English at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The author or editor of eighteen books, including Samuel Johnson and the New Science and Daily Life in Johnson’s London, he is now at work on a study of American higher education. Mr. Schwartz was educated at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois, and has taught at the United States Military Academy; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Georgetown University; and the University of Missouri, Columbia. Over the course of twenty-nine years he served as an associate dean, dean, and twice as interim provost at Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Missouri.

"Is a College Education Still Worth the Price?" is an original title released by Now and Then Reader, Digital Publishers of Serious Nonfiction. Focusing on writings that are historically based but still have relevance for today, Now and Then publishes original works each week, excerpts from forthcoming books, and reprints of material that otherwise is not readily available for e-readers.