Why the Traditional 4-Year Degree Isn’t Cutting It Anymore
The college-education track rarely challenges students to seek real-world experience (and often creates a mountain of debt). The two cofounders behind MissionU see another way.
Several decades ago, the United Sates’ educational system simply worked. A college degree was affordable, and graduates secured offers for higher-paying jobs by virtue of earning those degrees.
Sadly, this is no longer the case. A college degree isn’t the stepping stone it once was to a better job and a better life. In fact, studies show that while less than 20 percent of college graduates leave campus with a job, a staggering 80 percent leave buried in debt. One student’s experience illustrates the difficulty: Karen Mora Lopez recently had to drop out of a work-study business administration program at Pepperdine University because she couldn’t afford the steep tuition and already had a full-time job.
High-school graduates advance to college for one major reason: They believe a better job will lead to a brighter future. Even as greater numbers of young Americans head to college, fewer are seeing the return on their substantial investments of time, effort and money.
Something has to change.
MissionU CEO and cofounder Adam Braun recently appeared as a guest on the Breaking into Startups podcast to talk about his company’s vision. Braun believes higher education should give more than it takes — and that’s far from the current reality. During the podcast, hosts Ruben Harris and “Die Hard Twins” Artur and Timur Meyster learned how Braun is trying to reinvent the college experience. Braun thinks his solution might just be the fix America needs. Whatever the answer, there are compelling reasons why the traditional four-year degree isn’t cutting it in the modern economy.
College tuition continues to skyrocket year after year. The current “sticker price” of a moderate in-state public college is around $25,000 per year. A moderate private school averages about $50,000 annually. The unfortunate truth is that student-loan debt now outpaces mortgage and credit-card debt combined in the United States.
And that debt is killing dreams. Recent studies have revealed that young adults are delaying major life milestones due to the sheer mental weight of college debt. They’re putting off buying a reliable vehicle or a first home, waiting to get married or have children, and shelving any hopes of traveling to experience new places and cultures.
They’re pushing the pause button on living their lives until they have a better handle on managing their debt. That could be well into their forties, when they’ve built up a career and repaired their credit ratings. Unfortunately, many college graduates never have the means to pay back all the debt they accumulated to pursue higher learning.
Before starting MissionU, Braun founded Pencils of Promise. The nonprofit organization has helped build more than 400 schools worldwide. That experience made Braun realize how broken the U.S.’s education system truly is. “No student or parent should be crushed by debt for wanting a better future,” Braun said.
He designed MissionU with the student in mind.
