Whether you’re a sophomore in a 3am cram session for tomorrow’s organic chemistry midterm, a high school senior hoping your spring break trip to build houses will impress the admissions committee (or, worse, their parent), or a recent grad discovering how big a chunk of your paycheck goes toward paying off student loans, college can cause a lot of stress.

No one is debating the intellectual value of education or the life-enhancing joy of spending four years living with your friends while your biggest responsibility is making it to class on time. But with rising tuition and degrees that once appeared to be a straightforward path to white-collar success looking less able to secure a good career, some people are wondering whether a college degree is worth it.

So, today, we’ll give it the old college try and look into some answers.

Why do colleges cost so much?

For decades, US high school students have worked to impress colleges with SAT scores, honor society membership, volunteer hours, and personal essays about what being the lead in The Pirates of Penzance taught them about grit. But as tuition rises, student debt balloons, and cash-strapped schools gut academic programs, some students question how much a four-year degree is worth.

College enrollment became more mainstream in the ’80s, as well-paying blue-collar jobs started to disappear and the promise of high salaries for attending Scrum meetings enticed young people.

• But getting the credentials for an email job has only become more expensive. From 1963 to 2021, the average total cost of a four-year institution shot up 155%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
• The current sticker price for tuition, fees, housing, and food at a four-year college is on average $24,030 a year for in-state students at a public university and $56,190 at a private, nonprofit university, according to the most recent data from College Board. (Not everyone pays those prices after scholarships and financial aid.)

How did college get so expensive? Demand? Inflation? Decreased state funding? Schools scrambling to stay competitive and fill campuses with hot new amenities and administrators to manage and market them? Declining enrollment numbers since 2010? All of it combined to create the perfect storm of budget shortfalls that have to be made up somehow.

And it’s only going to get worse

Most four-year institutions still haven’t rebounded from the pandemic. And many likely won’t. The enrollment cliff, which higher-ed experts have been warning everyone about for years like a Shakespearean fool, is right in front of us. Following the 2008 Great Recession, birth rates dropped and never really picked back up again. The number of high school grads is expected to peak within the next two years, and colleges can’t court new prospects who don’t exist.

Looking ahead…the highly competitive Ivies and other universities with massive endowments will probably be fine, while many small liberal arts colleges are already cutting programs or disappearing all together. Even high-profile schools aren’t completely safe. Last September, the board of governors at West Virginia University, the state’s flagship public university, voted to cut 143 faculty members (some of them tenured), 10 undergraduate academic programs, and 18 grad programs, citing serious budget concerns.—MM

Some college graduates have major regrets

If you could go back in time, what would you do differently in college? Schedule fewer morning classes? Do a semester abroad? Eat fewer ramen noodles? Eat more ramen noodles?

For some, their big regret is their major: 35% of the more than 11,000 graduates surveyed by the Federal Reserve in 2023 wish they’d chosen a different area of study. The grads’ dissatisfaction stems from the perceived return on their investment. “The share who would change their field of study…is broadly consistent with patterns for how people see the relative costs and benefits of their education,” the Fed’s report said.

In other words, most people who majored in engineering and computer sciences likely found it hard to lament their decision from inside their house with a two-car garage, while others with majors that provided a less straightforward path to a lucrative career may have been sending their regrets from a studio apartment while their two roommates argued about their upcoming DJ set.

Which majors have created the most remorse?

The majors with the highest percentage of regrets are:

• Social/behavioral sciences (44%)
• Humanities/arts (43%)
• Life sciences (43%)
• Law (41%)
• Education (38%)

And, in a hint about that elusive ROI, the Education Data Initiative says the major with the largest median debt is behavioral sciences ($42,822).

The Fed isn’t the only organization hearing from disappointed graduates. A ZipRecruiter survey of 1,500 graduates from 2022 painted a picture similar to the Fed survey, although journalism (87%) was the major respondents regretted most, even though it can one day lead to a rewarding job at a newsletter.

Paying for the choice: The majors that have the lowest median salaries five years after graduation, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are all between $38,000 and $40,000 and include the arts, education, and various sciences that don’t involve computers.—DL

Colleges look to co-ops to put students to work

An increasing number of college students are getting first-day-of-work jitters before they even graduate. Cooperative education programs, better known as co-op programs, are on the rise at universities across the US as schools try to figure out how to actually prepare students for a career in order to justify their high price tag.

Co-op programs entail school-arranged internships during the school year. One of the most well-known programs is at Northeastern University in Boston, which has attracted so many applicants that its acceptance rate decreased from 32% to 5.6% over the last decade. The program places qualified students at top companies, including Google and Tesla.

Drexel University in Philadelphia also has a popular co-op program that offers two paths to graduation: three co-ops over five years or one co-op over four years. Other well-known universities participating in co-op programs include Georgia Tech, Berea College in Kentucky, the University of Cincinnati, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

What are the benefits? Aside from helping students realize they don’t want to go into B2B SaaS marketing, co-op programs connect students to companies that often offer them full-time jobs upon graduation. There’s also a financial upside for students during the program as they make an hourly wage from their jobs and typically don’t pay university tuition for the semester(s) they’re working as part of the program.

But…that doesn’t mean it’s cheap. As schools with co-op programs become more competitive, they also become more expensive. Northeastern now costs $90,000 a year, making it out of reach for lower- and middle-income high school students who the co-op program was originally designed to help.—CC

Yes, you can get a job with a humanities degree

When they’re not expatiating about the poetics of Dostoevsky at a local dive bar, humanities majors often field the awkward question: “What do you plan to do with that?”

But majoring in literature, history, or philosophy is not the road to destitution that many pragmatic parents fear.

Converting arts and letters to dollars

Humanities majors do just fine selling their skills, according to a recent study of US Census data from 2017 to 2021 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• Americans with a humanities bachelor’s degree were only as likely to be jobless as their peers who studied business or engineering: The unemployment rate for all three groups was 3%.
• And they are far from counting pennies, since they earn a median salary of $72,646. Though they made less than those who majored in business ($82,144) and engineering ($107,051), they significantly out-earned people without a college degree, whose median salary was $41,538.

However, most humanities majors don’t end up employed as experts in the human condition. The census data showed only 4% of humanities majors were teaching at the college or graduate level, while 15% worked in management, 10% were grinding in business or finance, and 9% were in sales. Per LinkedIn, at least 653 English majors currently work at Goldman Sachs.

An undergrad thesis on The Tale of Genji can also be a gateway to a graduate degree with lucrative career prospects. Humanities majors have among the highest rates of admission to law school, according to the Law School Admissions Council. For instance, 80% of history majors got an acceptance letter in 2023, compared to 69% of criminology grads.

Big picture: Ultimately, employers care about skills rather than words on a diploma. Humanities majors might not have heard the term ROI before graduation, but college administrators say they’ve got marketable skills, like critical thinking, persuasive writing, and a knack for verbal communication.—SK

Sorority sisters are basking in #RushTok brand attention

Being in a sorority usually means spending money, not making it, but thanks to TikTok, women in Greek Life are finally getting paid for the fall tradition they treat like work. Sorority recruitment—the annual tryout for social groups—is attracting online attention from enough businesses to fill a mall.

Why? The Gen-Zification of sorority rush has essentially broadcast an exclusive spectacle to the masses: On TikTok, there are more than 86 million videos tagged #RushTok, and the most popular fit checks or srat house dance routines and meme-inspired hype videos attract millions of views.

And they’re monetizing: The University of Alabama is a hotbed for #RushTok content, and Zeta Tau Alpha junior Kylan Darnell—who first went viral in 2022 for her recruitment OOTDs (outfits of the day)—told Fox she’s graduating without student loan debt thanks to sponsored posts with clothing companies and other businesses.

Brands want a bid

One big #RushTok sponsor: nonalcoholic beverages.

• Two Crush soda cans cheersing kicks off an orange-outfitted dance routine by Alpha Xi Delta at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington.
• Poppi stars in an “if loving ___ was a crime” video from Alpha Chi Omega at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
• Logan Paul sent his Prime energy drink to the University of Tennessee’s Alpha Chi Omega chapter and commented, “Y’all ate” on the sponsored video, which also promoted the athleisure brand Gymshark.

For free exposure…the #RushTok comments section gives local businesses and national brands a low-lift opportunity to welcome to town the 100,000+ young women who join sororities each school year.

• “Ummm GET IT GIRLS” is one of the many comments that a clothing store near the University of Alabama’s campus left on sororities’ TikToks as recruitment ramped up last month.
• A grandma-themed TikTok with nearly 7 million views posted by Alpha Phi at the University of Florida got the equivalent of a “yas queen” from Intuit TurboTax, Famous Footwear, Pantene Pro-V, Claire’s, European Wax Center, Squishmallows, OxiClean, and Edible (Arrangements).
• A Sharpay Evans-themed clip from Bama’s Darnell elicited an “Icon behavior !!” from Microsoft Surface, which probably didn’t convince many freshmen to ditch Apple.

Fire emoji-ing too close to the sun: The Tennessee-based retailer Altar’d State spent 24 hours in “TikTok jail” this year after commenting on so many #RushTok videos that it triggered TikTok’s spam detectors, Inc. reported.—ML

Reader advice

We asked you what advice you’d give your college self. Here are some of our favorite responses, whether you’re looking to heal your inner 18-year-old or getting ready to turn 18.

• “If your roommate’s asking you to go out on Monday night right before your midterm, just go to that party.”—Anonymous from San Francisco, CA
• “Perhaps a bit trite, but you should treat office hours as mandatory, especially in harder courses and those with large class sizes. That 1-on-1 face time with your professor (or at the very least a TA) is invaluable.”—Griffin from NC
• “It’s okay to switch majors to find out what you’re good at, and more importantly, passionate about.”—Zack
• “Join the hip-hop dance crew—you will not get that opportunity as an adult.”—Tay from Phoenix, AZ
• “Get a rice cooker. Like those big ones that basically just have a switch to turn it on/start and that’s it. There are SO many things you can make in it. You deserve better than ramen 24/7”—Woody from MD
• “If you think you might ever like to travel, do study abroad—it’s an experience you can never replicate! I didn’t, and it’s what I tell my students! College isn’t all about book knowledge. There are some very unique opportunities to discover who you are and who you want to be!”—Megan from MO
• “Go to that 8am Shakespeare round table discussion, even though, right when you wake up, it feels like you’d rather only eat the dining hall’s breakfast biscuits (which also aren’t that bad!) for one month. Those discussions are what you remember and miss once you’re out of college and deep in your career.”—Daniel from Los Angeles, CA
• “Go to the cheesy events and make friends. College can be lonely when you’re homesick. Find your people.”—Jaquelyn from Colorado Springs, CO