Podcast Segment (Hannah Birmingham)

The podcast discusses how the perceived status of educational institutions affects students' engagement, self-identity formation, and the value of education. The host shares her personal experience of choosing a college based on its name and social status. She also highlights how society values the credential of education rather than actual learning. Elite employers prioritize graduates from expensive and prestigious schools, which is unfair to students who prioritize affordability and merit. Research shows that income and job outcomes are not significantly different between graduates of elite universities and smaller schools. The host emphasizes the importance of considering factors like affordability, proximity to home, and available resources when choosing a college, rather than worrying about what others think. Hello, and welcome to Education's Impact, Quality, Identity, and Value in the 21st Century, the show that reveals how the perceived status of educational institutions impacts students' engagement, self-identity formation, and the value of education in the 21st century. For this segment, which is one of four parts, I'm your host, Hannah Birmingham. In today's section of this episode, we will discuss the quality aspect of modern education and how the social status of universities has impacted a student's likelihood of going there and their level of engagement. I'd like to thank you for listening and tuning in to this podcast, and I can't wait to get started going with all of you guys. So let's jump right into it. Do you remember when you chose the college you were going to get your bachelor degree at? Maybe you're choosing it right now. Maybe you already graduated and got your degree. Maybe you're a freshman like me. Maybe you're like my parents and only ever applied to one school because no one really judged where their friends ended up. It was all situational, you know, your location, what your family can afford. And like I said, maybe you're just like me and you committed last year and are finishing up your freshman year of college. And may I say that time goes extremely fast and that I cannot believe freshman year is going to wrap up. And I cannot stress enough the importance of the college you choose, because this has honestly impacted my life greatly, and I'm very happy where I am. But at one point, I did not think I was going to be here, and I would have laughed at myself for going to a public university. All right, so when it comes to choosing a college, students today tend to think about the name of the institution rather than the benefits that the school can bring. Because of modern day advertisements and branding, students tend to focus on big name schools and only know of these larger, more expensive schools. For example, my sister went to BU, Boston University. Average tuition is over $70,000. It's a very well-known school for many reasons. It's a great school, and I thought that I was going to end up there. I thought that I had to end up there and that I could only go to a big school like that. And I remember when it came to committing to college, students in my grade at least and probably the generation below, within Gen Z, would often think about how the school looks on merchandise designs. And actually, the main running joke of it all was how the school looks in your Instagram bio. Because in today's society, on Instagram, which is the profile of us and who we are, we put the school that we attend or where we are. I'm from Cape Cod, and I put UConn, and I actually put the sorority that I'm in here at UConn. So it's like the at of UConn 85. And people would be like, well, I want a good university's name in my Instagram bio because then people will know that I'm cool, I'm smart, I'm elite, I'm better than you. Because I go to Northeastern, Harvard, MIT, Emory College, some of those things. And I was honestly thinking about that, because basically, I was very fortunate enough to get into Northeastern and was accepted on the Boston campus for their six year doctor of pharmacy program, which is the exact program that I'm here at UConn for. They wanted me and my family to pay $65,000 a year. Tuition is about $80,000, and I'm an in-state student, and they only gave me $15,000. We had them look at our FAFSA again, and genuinely, they did not budge from the $15,000 scholarship to $65,000. That is more than one of my parents makes in a year as a nurse on Cape Cod. So we could not afford that, and it was really upsetting for me because I thought I was going to end up there. That's where my dad went. I thought I was smart enough. I was, you know, in the top ten of my class, vice president, things like that. I thought that everyone was assuming I would go to this elite, you know, really low acceptance rate school, and I thought it would determine my worth if I go there or not. Me and my parents were willing to put me in debt and to take out loans to do this, and I just sat back and I was like, why do I care so much about the name of the university I'm going to? UConn has the exact same doctor and pharmacy program for like a less than a third of the price. Why am I not considering or at least accepting the fact that I could attend this school? I was so convinced I didn't want to look at any other school. And I was embarrassed. I couldn't pay for it. I was really embarrassed. But it's the truth. I truly was going to put myself in debt for the approval of other people, and when I was doing my research, I saw that a lot of people feel this way. In an article written by Forbes, author Brandon Busty posted the question, is it education that we value or is it the credential that results from certain types of education? Students do not care about learning as much as they do about making money and running a business. Everything's a business. If they did, you know, they would reward students for their background knowledge or at least attending a single class at their school. And this is what Brandon was arguing in his article. Instead, you have to take a certain amount of credits to be considered enrolled in a school, and there's never any wiggle room in the budget. And I'm going to quote him when I say, they only reward the learning that comes in the form of degrees, two-year, four-year, and postgraduate. They don't even provide recognition and credentialing for just one year of college, nor for those pursuing a bachelor's degree for two or even three years of education. And this is just another way that universities are selected and elite. We, you know, I have to go through all four years, all six years to get the name of that university. If Northeastern cared about me, you know, they would have tried that. I attended their school, but they really didn't. And so while some students only care about what their friends think, others have better intentions and are concerned about the status of the school they go to, not to impress their peers, but to impress their future employees. This is another main point. Young kids graduating high school are not the only ones concerned about what university they choose. Elite employers also prioritize the more expensive elite schools to get their employees from and overlook anyone who can't afford that lifestyle. Northeastern has deals with companies to hire their graduates. They have co-ops, and they're going to hire Strand Northeastern. Why does that degree matter more than any other university with the same degree? This is a common occurrence as some firms only hire from Harvard or are run by alumni who have specific qualifications for the ones they take on. And while this helps current students at such elite schools, this is not fair to most students who prioritize their education and choose a school based on affordability and merit rather than paying an arm and a leg for education. And this is actually looked at, and I thought this was very interesting. In 1999, which I know is a long time ago, but trust me, they do follow-ups, economists Alan Kruger and Stacey Bergdahl conducted research to see if there was a difference in income between those who attended a larger, more elite university compared to those getting the same degree from a smaller school. In a Times article written by Michael Bernix, he quotes their findings and says, Earnings of the two groups 20 years after graduation differed little or not at all. A larger follow-up study released in 2011 and covering 19,000 college graduates reached a similar conclusion. And this is a quote from the article. Whether you went to Penn, like UPenn or Penn State, Williams College or Miami University of Ohio, job outcomes were unaffected in terms of earnings. So, recapping everything that we just talked about for basically the last nine to ten minutes, people today are focused on the wrong things. We care way too much about what people think when it comes to making decisions, especially about when it comes to picking a college. We overlook all of the little aspects that go into, like affordability, proximity to home, and available resources for the specific degree one chooses. People are genuinely less likely to attend a college if it's small or if their friends haven't heard of it, even if it would be a good choice for all of the reasons I mentioned before. I know I was scared when I chose UConn. I thought I was destined for something greater than a state school. But what does that even mean? Am I not getting the exact same education and supposedly the same resources I am as anywhere else? It's also about quality of life at a four-year college, how one feels, and their mental health should be a priority, not the acceptance rate that comes up on a quick Google search when typing in the university's name. I know that I would not be happy in a big city with the very competitive environment that Northeastern has, and that's something that people are not thinking about. So thank you so much for listening. Again, I'm Hannah Birmingham. This was one of four parts in this podcast about education's impact in the 21st century. Be sure to watch my next episode, brought to you by myself, Hannah Birmingham, and the rest of my fellow college freshmen at UConn here as we talk about how society's perception of institutions plays a role in students' education today. So thank you again. I hope you enjoyed.