What Is The Value Of An Education In The Humanities?
In a recent Skype call with a Dutch friend, we discussed her kids and their college experience. Apparently, there had been protests on campus about costs and payments.
"How much are they paying now?" I asked, gritting my teeth in preparation for the answer. "Well," she said, "it's now about 1,800 euro a year."
Wow.
My friend's kids are going to some of the best universities in the world and, in the end, that education will cost them less than $8,000 dollars. Compare that to the U.S., where the average cost of a higher education is more than $128,000 at a private school, $96,000 for out-of-state residents attending public universities and about $40,000 for in-state residents at those same public universities.
These numbers were key data points I held in my mind as I addressed a group of parents and students last week in a talk titled "The Value of a Liberal Arts Education."
