Synopses & Reviews
The college marketplace today is bewildering. Many of the new developments mirror what has happened in healthcare: costs continue to rise with prices all over the map depending where you go, a barrage of advertising making us aware of options we never knew existed (degrees like and#147;sports broadcastingand#8221; are the equivalent of treatments for and#147;restless legand#8221; syndrome in medicine) while confusing us about the quality of schools and degrees. For-profit providers are muscling into the market, and the traditional not-for-profit colleges are acting like for-profits in their pursuit of dollars.
The major concern for parents facing the enormous costs of college may be whether different degrees will pay off in the form of a job for their child at graduation. Reports in the media offer no help. Stories about employers complaining that they canand#8217;t get enough graduates with the right academic background are followed by others where recent grads struggle to find even unpaid internships.
Specialized career degrees designed to get graduates into jobs in a particular industry like hospitality or fields like counseling have exploded in part because of this concern and because of the very real fact that employers have become reluctant to train new hires. It is up to the student, and often their parents, to get those entry-level job skills now.
Business majors already outnumber liberal arts majors in the US eight-to-one, but the trend has been for even more focused programs targeted to ever narrower niches in the labor market. In my home town of Philadelphia, for example, local universities provide degrees in fields like pharmaceutical marketing and hospitality management with concentrations in casino management.
Parents guiding their children through the college application process and#150; and paying for the choices and#150; have to be something of a venture capitalist to think through which programs are worth the money.
How should you navigate these options? Assuming youand#8217;ve decided already that your child is going to college and that you care whether they will have a job when they finish, what I will be showing is what to bear in mind.
Review
and#147;[A]stutely examines the enduring relevance of a college degreeand#133; [I]lluminating statistical and survey dataand#133; Cappelli's eye-opening report card on the current state of American education gives mounting tuitions a failing gradeand#133; Salient reading for students, parents, and educators on navigating toward a coveted college degree.and#8221;and#151;
Kirkus Reviewsand#147;A valuable, commonsensical analysis of an ever-more-important subject.and#8221;and#151;Booklist
Review
and#147;Itand#8217;s precisely the right moment for a book to help 18-year-olds and their parents make this important educational and financial decision... Cappelli offers some good tips: Student loans are stickier than a mortgage: You canand#8217;t escape them with bankruptcy, and you may find your wages garnished if you try to walk away from them, never mind your bad credit rating. Donand#8217;t rely on data released by colleges, particularly employment rates, which are often calculated based on dubious self-reporting surveys. When you visit a school, check out the tutoring center and see if anyone is around to help; itand#8217;s a good proxy for the campus support system. Most important, finish on time. A surefire way to erode your return on college is to graduate late or not at all.and#8221; and#151;
Wall Street Journaland#147;[A]stutely examines the enduring relevance of a college degree... [I]lluminating statistical and survey dataand#133; Cappelli's eye-opening report card on the current state of American education gives mounting tuitions a failing grade... Salient reading for students, parents, and educators on navigating toward a coveted college degree.and#8221;and#151;Kirkus Reviews
and#147;A valuable, commonsensical analysis of an ever-more-important subject.and#8221;and#151;Booklist
and#147;Cappelliand#8217;s well-reasoned and documented answer helps families evaluate their options in terms of their individual financial situation. VERDICT Academic and yet highly readable, Cappelliand#8217;s book provides nothing short of consumer protection to families and their students as he addresses the complexities of the higher education marketplace, the unpredictable job market, and the cost of college.and#8221;and#151;Library Journal
"Cappelli provides sound advice that will help students and families get more for their higher education dollarsand#151;if they decide to spend any at all. His book is a welcome addition to the growing literature that questions the 'college is a great investment' belief." and#151;George Leef, Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
Synopsis
The decision of whether to go to college, or where, is hampered by poor information and inadequate understanding of the financial risk involved.
Adding to the confusion, the same degree can cost dramatically different amounts for different people. A barrage of advertising offers new degrees designed to lead to specific jobs, but we see no information on whether graduates ever get those jobs. Mix in a frenzied applications process, and pressure from politicians for and#147;relevantand#8221; programs, and there is an urgent need to separate myth from reality.
Peter Cappelli, an acclaimed expert in employment trends, the workforce, and education, provides hard evidence that counters conventional wisdom and helps us make cost-effective choices. Among the issues Cappelli analyzes are:
and#149;What is the real link between a college degree and a job that enables you to pay off the cost of college, especially in a market that is in constant change?
and#149;Why it may be a mistake to pursue degrees that will land you the hottest jobs because what is hot today is unlikely to be so by the time you graduate.
and#149;Why the most expensive colleges may actually be the cheapest because of their ability to graduate students on time.
and#149;How parents and students can find out what different colleges actually deliver to students and whether it is something that employers really want.
College is the biggest expense for many families, larger even than the cost of the family home, and one that can bankrupt students and their parents if it works out poorly. Peter Cappelli offers vital insight for parents and students to make decisions that both make sense financially and provide the foundation that will help students make their way in the world.
About the Author
Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Whartonand#8217;s Center for Human Resources. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, served as Senior Advisor to the Kingdom of Bahrain for Employment Policy from 2003-2005, and since 2007 is a Distinguished Scholar of the Ministry of Manpower for Singapore. He has degrees in industrial relations from Cornell University and in labor economics from Oxford where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Cappelli has long been involved in federal government policy-making regarding the workforce and education. He was also Co-Director of the U.S. Department of Educationand#8217;s National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce, and a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Department of Educationand#8217;s National Center on Post-Secondary Improvement at Stanford University. Professor Cappelli has served on three committees of the National Academy of Sciences and three panels of the National Goals for Education. He is the author of several books, including Why Good People Canand#8217;t Get Jobs, and his work has been featured and reviewed in Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Harvard Business Review and most other major business publications. Cappelli lives in Philadelphia, PA.