Graduations represent an investment in the future

We have primary and judicial elections this week in Georgia.  As timelines aren’t often convenient, the deadline for this column is before the votes are counted, but most will be reading it as or after the votes are counted.  This gives us an opportunity to look at what others are doing outside the barrage of negative tv ads, overflowing mailboxes, and increasingly unwanted unsolicited text messages.

In the real world, it’s graduation season.  Social media feeds are overflowing with pictures of college graduations. High School graduations are now also in full swing. The pictures posted by parents and grandparents depict pride and accomplishment, with smiles all around.

Beneath the smiles of the newly minted grads often lies at least a bit of apprehension.  Some have their plans fully thought out, with either college acceptances or job offers in hand.  Others may still be figuring things out.  

Either way, big changes are happening. They are marching through an exit door to something new. There are great opportunities ahead. 

There are also new found responsibilities. While the transition from adolescence to adulthood is different for each person, a graduation puts them closer toward real world responsibilities where choices have consequences and opportunity costs.

Opportunity costs are not discussed enough during an education path, at least in future terms. The concept is fairly well understood. It’s difficult for a student to play football and be in the band. The practice schedules usually overlap. So the opportunity cost of playing football is not being in the school band (and all other extracurricular activities that mandate the football team’s practice time).

Students understand money even if not given a formal personal finance course. Too many of us, including adults, fail to account for the value of our time – our opportunity costs. Our time, ultimately, is our most precious asset.  It is impossible to create more of it, and none of us know exactly how much of it we will ultimately have.

College is now an expensive endeavor. The rising amount of student debt outstanding is emblematic of the monetary cost. It’s also a good sign of the opportunity cost.

Too often absent in the choices made in education is the concept of return on investment. Students who choose an AP course in High School or those who choose dual enrollment do at some level.  The extra time and expense for these tracks in high school saves tuition spent at the next stage when getting a degree.  Those savings are usually a lot greater than any nominal expenses incurred in high school.  They’re good investments.

They also save the student time. They can complete their next degree sooner, or spend that time earning a double major, perhaps taking fewer classes to reward themselves with extra leisure time.  Again, that time saved or spent represents opportunity cost.

Opportunity costs in education can also have a downside. A student who chooses a degree without employment opportunities or, perhaps worse, a student spending years paying tuition without a clear focus or major, could find themselves without job prospects and with tens of thousands in new debt. They then have to figure out how to pay their adult bills and make payments on student loans representing the opportunity costs of a delayed or suboptimal decision on a major.

Georgia’s technical colleges are starting to understand how to make this argument more persuasive.  While many will still cite salary statistics which show college grads make more money than non-college grads, most of these studies are using decades old data and don’t reflect either the wide disparities between colleges and majors, nor the recent rise is salaries for those with specific skills taught in our technical colleges.

Many of the programs taught in Georgia’s technical college system offer tuition assistance or waivers similar to HOPE, offer a quicker path to a degree than many university programs. They also provide graduates to employers facing skilled worker shortages, which is good for employment prospects now and into the future. 

University graduates are openly wondering if artificial intelligence will take their jobs away. Some larger companies are blaming A.I. for eliminating many formerly entry level positions – the ones where college grads often get their first corporate experience and opportunities to start moving up the ladder. 

Too many attach a stigma of “blue collar” to jobs from our technical colleges, and project a certainty of “the good life” to university diplomas. The employment and salary data paint a different picture.

The time and resources spent in our education system are valuable. The monetary costs consume roughly half of all state revenues. The time invested by a student from kindergarten to graduation can easily be 20% of a long and well lived life. 

Each family – the parents and the students – needs to take a long look at these investments, consider all costs, and ensure choices made provide the best return on investment for the graduates’ future.