tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/graduate-school-20892/articlesGraduate school – The Conversation2024-03-19T12:25:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226912024-03-19T12:25:19Z2024-03-19T12:25:19Z$50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582641/original/file-20240318-20-1k5k0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5618%2C3751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cooks and chefs regularly debate the merits of culinary school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/increase-in-the-price-of-gas-concept-of-problems-in-royalty-free-image/1412088087?phrase=burning+money+stove&adppopup=true">Diy13/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>America’s culinary schools are feeling the heat. </p>
<p>When chef Gordon Ramsay appeared on an episode of the YouTube series “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENhfIeZF_AY">Last Meal</a>” in January 2024, he described U.S. culinary schools as “depressing” places that “sandbag” students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-cooks.htm">into a low-wage industry</a>.</p>
<p>He added that graduates are pressured to select jobs that will put them in the best position to pay off their loans, rather than ones that will give them opportunities to learn and grow as chefs. Ramsay singled out the Culinary Institute of America, one of the most prestigious cooking schools in the country, as it sets students at its New York campus back <a href="https://www.ciachef.edu/cia-tuition/">US$52,090</a> per academic year. </p>
<p>Then, at the end of February, The New York Times published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/dining/chefs-state-of-the-restaurant-industry.html">a compilation of interviews from 30 chefs around the U.S</a>. They chimed in on a range of topics, but they were pretty much in lockstep when it came to culinary degrees: </p>
<p>“People ask me, ‘What’s a good culinary school to go to?’” chef Justin Pioche said. “And I always tell them: Don’t go.” </p>
<p>Chef Robynne Maii added, “I always sing the praises of culinary school, but in community colleges only. All the for-profit schools need to go away. They’re completely unnecessary and they’re predatory.”</p>
<p>These sentiments are not unique to culinary schools. </p>
<p>Trade, technical and for-profit schools are routinely criticized for their lopsided cost-to-benefit ratio, with scholars such as <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lower-ed">Tressie McMillan Cottom</a> and <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11594/diploma-mills">A.J. Angulo</a> arguing that many of them have predatory financial processes baked into their business models. There has been a similar critique – often tinged with political undercurrents – over <a href="https://slate.com/business/2021/07/masters-degrees-debt-loans-worth-it.html">graduate degrees in the humanities, arts and social sciences</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/financially-hobbled-for-life-the-elite-masters-degrees-that-dont-pay-off-11625752773">described by the Wall Street Journal</a> as “elite master’s degrees that don’t pay off.”</p>
<p>Yet thousands of aspiring chefs continue to enroll in expensive culinary schools, rather than learn on the job while being paid. And in <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/making-it/9781978840126/#generate-pdf">the research for my book on notions of success in the culinary industry</a>, I found that many graduates from these institutions actually feel their experiences were worth the price of admission. </p>
<p>What might explain this paradox?</p>
<h2>Beyond dollars and cents</h2>
<p>Cooks and chefs <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/9qzw4g/is_culinary_school_worth_it/">regularly</a> <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/culinary-school-worth-it-four-chefs-weigh-in">debate</a> the merits of culinary school. </p>
<p>It’s also a question I asked 50 U.S.-based kitchen workers during a study I conducted from 2018 to 2020. Of those 50 workers, 22 had attended culinary school. And of those 22 chefs, 17 believed their education was worth the cost – over three-quarters. </p>
<p>They were clear-eyed about how much they would earn after graduation – very little – and they also grasped that the debt would constrain their future work choices. </p>
<p>Yet, to them, the worth of their schooling didn’t hinge on wages and earning power. </p>
<p>Instead, they found immense value in the friendships and connections they forged – and in learning the culture of commercial kitchens. Social scientists have terms for these benefits: <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0076.xml?rskey=fvSHSB&result=1&q=social+capital#firstMatch">social capital</a> and <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0209.xml?rskey=UwFmGz&result=1&q=cultural+capital#firstMatch">cultural capital</a>. </p>
<p>Interviewees described being able to meet mentors through school events, gain experience in award-winning kitchens through internships, form relationships with classmates and always have a degree to point to as proof of know-how.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bird's eye view of culinary students standing around a piece of pork as an instructor demonstrates how to cut the meat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Culinary Institute of America instructor demonstrates how to cut pork chops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CadetsandCooks/635766166c68411b989beb7b1edb3e37/photo?Query=cadets%20and%20cooks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=15&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Mike Groll</a></span>
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<p>Culinary school was particularly helpful for individuals who felt socially disadvantaged in some way. They may have lacked connections and experience, or they were a minority in an industry where <a href="https://restaurant.org/getmedia/21a36a65-d5d4-41d0-af5c-737ab545d65a/nra-data-brief-restaurant-employee-demographics-march-2022.pdf">white men are more likely to serve as executive chefs</a>.</p>
<p>“Because I am a female it was harder for me to get a sous-chef job,” one chef explained to me. “I mean, I saw kids who were not nearly as skilled as I was who got sous-chef positions, and I’d always get passed up. But I really feel that that education [from the Culinary Institute of America] – especially as a woman – really helped me. A lot. I would’ve never got the jobs I got without it.” </p>
<p>In her 2015 book “<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23351">At The Chef’s Table</a>,” sociologist Vanina Leschziner found that elite chefs claim to not weigh academic degrees highly while hiring, <a href="https://www.eater.com/2014/7/28/6184011/chefs-weigh-in-does-culinary-school-get-cooks-hired">a sentiment also found by the food website Eater</a>. At the same time, Leschziner found that 85% of elite chefs in San Francisco and New York were culinary school graduates, with 67% holding degrees from the Culinary Institute of America.</p>
<p>At face value, it’s possible that degrees and certificates are dismissed or overlooked during the hiring process. But social connections are not. So perhaps the networks and friendships formed during schooling are a big reason why most high-status restaurants are staffed by culinary school graduates.</p>
<p>With these industry realities in mind, culinary school doesn’t seem to “sandbag” students; instead, it helps them overcome barriers that they ordinarily couldn’t.</p>
<h2>Not all culinary schools are alike</h2>
<p>Based on my interviewees’ enthusiasm, culinary school degrees seem like a no-brainer. But there are caveats.</p>
<p>First, these largely positive perceptions of culinary school came primarily from students who had gone to the Culinary Institute of America. Attendees of college or for-profit programs, such as the <a href="https://www.eater.com/2015/12/17/10401492/le-cordon-bleu-cooking-school-america-closing">now-shuttered U.S. Le Cordon Bleu campuses</a>, were less pleased about their experience, with just 66% feeling like their degree was worth it, compared with 90% of those I interviewed with degrees from the Culinary Institute of America. While some of this discontent was due to quality of instruction, a large part was related to schools’ prestige.</p>
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<img alt="Blue awning hanging over entrance to three story building reads 'Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Le Cordon Bleu closed all 16 of its U.S. campuses in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-famed-le-cordon-bleu-culinary-school-plans-to-close-all-news-photo/1245992397?adppopup=true">Walt Mancini/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>There are about <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/cip/culinary-arts-chef-training">260 culinary programs across the nation</a>. Schools at the top of the hierarchy, such as the Culinary Institute of America and the Institute of Culinary Education, are seen as places where high-status networks can be honed. This is, in part, a result of filtering out those who can’t afford to pay.</p>
<p>A degree from a top school is associated with the high-caliber restaurants and chefs that Leschziner wrote about; a degree from a lesser-known program likely yields far less social and cultural capital.</p>
<p>Second, I spoke only to individuals who still work in the industry, and that’s just a fraction of the culinary school population. Not all who attend remain in the industry. In fact, my interviewees estimated that only one-third of their classmates still cooked professionally. </p>
<p>Those who stick around likely present a more positive take: They had finished school and had found some measure of success <a href="https://jacobin.com/2020/12/restaurant-workers-covid-coronavirus-food-service">in a notoriously brutal industry</a>. Had I spoken to the two-thirds of graduates who had left the industry, this article might read differently.</p>
<p>Finally, because students devote a lot of time and money to an experience that yields little financial return on investment, adopting a rosy outlook on their schooling may smooth over <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/cognitive-dissonance">any inner turmoil that might arise</a> as they judge themselves and their past decisions.</p>
<h2>A foot in the door</h2>
<p>Determining the value of expensive culinary education is tough. </p>
<p>It can also detract from the very real problem of predatory and overpriced schooling, especially as the cost of higher education – in all forms – <a href="https://educationdata.org/college-tuition-inflation-rate#:%7E:text=The%20average%20annual%20cost%20of,9.24%25%20from%202010%20to%202022.">continues to rise</a>, to the point of excluding large swaths of the population. </p>
<p>What’s clear to me, though, is that finances are not the sole – nor most important – reason why people choose to attend pricey culinary programs. My interviewees viewed culinary school as a social experience, one that provides meaningful networking and cultural opportunities to students and alumni. </p>
<p>As one award-winning chef told me, “If I wouldn’t have gone (to the Culinary Institute of America), I wouldn’t have gotten (my first) job as a personal chef. … Anytime people see (Culinary Institute of America) on the resume – whether it should or shouldn’t – it does open doors. So, I’m really glad I went there.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen T. Meiser attended the Culinary Institute of America's Napa campus from 2008 to 2009, where she obtained a certificate in Baking and Pastry. While she had a positive experience, her own opinions and anecdotes are not included in this article. All findings are derived from 50 in-depth interviews with kitchen workers across the US, collected from 2018 to 2020. Additionally, she did not graduate culinary school with student loan debt.</span></em></p>Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently pilloried these institutions for saddling students with debt prior to sending them off into a low-wage industry. But many graduates have no regrets.Ellen T. Meiser, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at HiloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505252021-02-05T13:05:53Z2021-02-05T13:05:53ZGraduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379769/original/file-20210120-15-16tqhid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3927%2C5890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctoral programs often prepare graduates to become professors, but those jobs are scarce today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-stands-and-reads-a-book-among-the-stacks-in-the-news-photo/586158350?adppopup=true">JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There used to be a time – back in the 1960s – when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2003/we-historians-the-golden-age-and-beyond">brief postwar moment</a>, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them.</p>
<p>But that time is <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c12863/c12863.pdf">long gone</a>. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/bad-job-market-phds/479205/">Professorships are scarce</a> now, and most people with doctorates will end up working <a href="https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/doctoratework/2017/html/sdr2017_dst_12-3.html">outside of academia</a>.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education</a>,” former professor and university president Robert Weisbuch and I argue that graduate programs aren’t preparing doctoral students for the jobs they’ll likely have outside college classrooms or laboratories. </p>
<p>We propose a new design for graduate school that points graduates toward fulfilling work both inside and outside the academy. </p>
<h2>Rethinking doctorates</h2>
<p>Instead of seeking work across society, many highly skilled doctorate holders end up teaching a course here and there – for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year">low wages</a> – in the vanishing hope of full-time jobs as professors. This <a href="https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-89,-issue-4/herbooknote/the-adjunct-underclass">proliferation of adjunct labor</a> devalues the people doing it and the academic workplace together. </p>
<p>We argue that the problem starts with an intense desire to stay in academia no matter what. Professorial jobs are scarcer than ever, but doctoral education <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03191-7">socializes students</a> to want those jobs above all others.</p>
<p>Professors model a rarefied existence without educating students to prepare for the actual alternatives they will face. For example, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-degree-of-uncommon-success/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">scientists are encouraged to narrowly specialize</a> within their subfields, while <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/8845365/manifesto_for_the_humanities">humanities scholars are given few opportunities to collaborate with others</a> in ways that are common in most workplaces. </p>
<p>In both cases, we believe graduate students would be better served by a curriculum that encourages a wider variety of skills and capacities, including working in project teams and translating their work to nonspecialized audiences. <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">Our research finds</a> that such a program would draw more people of color and more women, and that graduates would be <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">more competitive in today’s job market</a>. </p>
<h2>Why should anyone care?</h2>
<p>What happens to the doctorate holder ripples outward. The doctoral curriculum shapes liberal arts curriculum because doctoral programs train most professors who teach liberal arts subjects. And the way universities design and <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/leap_vision_summary.pdf">teach the liberal arts</a> affects colleges, high schools and every other level of the education pyramid.</p>
<p>We’d like to see an academic experience that remains rich in scholarship but is far less hermetic. In “The New PhD,” we offer real-life examples of programs that offer disciplinary expertise while recognizing the diverse career outcomes that students will face. </p>
<p>A new humanities doctoral program at University of Iowa’s <a href="https://obermann.uiowa.edu/programs/humanities-public-good">Obermann Center</a> and the <a href="https://versatilehumanists.duke.edu/internships/">Versatile Humanists program</a> at Duke University are examples. They place graduate student interns in a variety of workplaces outside the university. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/outcomes-based-graduate-school-the-humanities-edition/">Lehigh University</a> and other schools have used alumni career data to redesign their curriculum and prepare graduates for the jobs they will actually encounter. For example, the department recently added a certificate program in writing instruction. </p>
<p>Programs like Lehigh’s admit smaller student cohorts to advise students individually as they progress. We support this curated approach to doctoral education, and believe a program should admit only as many students as it can advise carefully and attentively. </p>
<h2>Valuing people of color and women</h2>
<p>Doctoral students don’t resemble the demographics of the country at large. Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans together make up about <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/AGE775219">30% of the U.S. population</a> but only <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/report/who-earns-a-us-doctorate/race-and-ethnicity.cfm#:%7E:text=Participation%20in%20doctoral%20education%20by,of%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20doctorate">15% of U.S. doctorates</a>. Women are <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201600035">greatly underrepresented</a> in graduate STEM programs.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And once women and people of color get through the door, they often feel a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">lack of support</a> from their institutions. A 2014 study found <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">fewer than half</a> of Black and Latino doctoral students in the behavioral and social sciences earned a doctoral degree within seven years. More than a third left their programs without finishing.</p>
<p>Graduate schools can recruit more diverse students by looking to the undergraduate pipeline and even high schools. Many undergrad programs recruit heavily among students from marginalized groups. But graduate schools compete for a much smaller pool of qualified and interested candidates, and such recruitment can strain departmental budgets.</p>
<p>One way to do this is for graduate faculty to work with teachers at all levels to excite young people about their fields. The City University of New York has done this successfully with its <a href="http://www.diversiphd.com/about">Pipeline Program</a>, which immerses undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in academic culture. Surveys tell us such social engagement helps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021">persuade underrepresented students</a> to pursue graduate study. </p>
<p>At CUNY and elsewhere, on behalf of students from all backgrounds, work is being done to make doctoral education more attentive to the reality that doctorate holders face. Our book describes that work and brings it to light.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonard Cassuto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Graduate programs can be rich in scholarship and still prepare students for real-world careers.Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English and American Studies, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333282020-03-20T12:06:02Z2020-03-20T12:06:02ZAdvanced degrees bring higher starting salaries – but also higher debt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319461/original/file-20200309-58017-164vw9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5014%2C2495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Advanced degrees pay off in the job market.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/business-people-shaking-hands-in-meeting-royalty-free-image/494322995?adppopup=true">Ariel Skelly/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People with a master’s degree or doctorate can bank on a much higher starting salary than those with the same major but only a bachelor’s degree. That’s according to a <a href="https://www.naceweb.org/uploadedfiles/files/2020/publication/executive-summary/2020-nace-salary-survey-winter-executive-summary.pdf">recent survey</a> of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.</p>
<p>We reached the same conclusion about the payoff for advanced degrees in a study we recently published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040719876245">Sociology of Education</a>, an academic journal. </p>
<p>However, as sociologists who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EzoNzxAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">inequality</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WT0vZX4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">disadvantage</a> in education, we also know that the picture becomes more complicated when you see how different kinds of students pay for school.</p>
<h2>Salary and debt comparisons</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.naceweb.org/uploadedfiles/files/2020/publication/executive-summary/2020-nace-salary-survey-winter-executive-summary.pdf">association’s report</a> suggests that a person with a master’s degree in math, science, engineering, computer science or business can expect starting salaries between US$75,000 and $79,000 a year for a job in a related field. Those starting salaries are 10% to 30% higher than projected starting salaries for the typical person with a bachelor’s degree with similar jobs.</p>
<p>Starting salaries are even higher for those graduating with a doctoral degree. For example, the average American with a Ph.D. in engineering, math or science could expect to make slightly over $100,000 a year once they complete their degree, while those leaving college with bachelor’s degrees in the same fields could expect to start out making between $62,500 and $70,000 a year.</p>
<p>We call this gap an “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040719876245">advanced degree wage premium</a>.” It’s the increased amount of money that college graduates who go on to earn master’s, doctoral and professional degrees in law, medicine and other fields can expect to make over those with just a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>We find that Americans who continue their studies after earning their college degrees tend to borrow more for their undergraduate education than those who do not.</p>
<p>We have determined that the typical college student who needs to borrow money for their undergraduate studies and ends their formal education after college takes out <a href="https://wcer.wisc.edu/docs/working-papers/Working_Paper_No_2018_10.pdf">roughly $13,500 in loans</a>. With a constant 6% interest rate, it would cost $500 a month for two and a half years to pay off that amount of debt. </p>
<p>Borrowers who get graduate degrees typically borrow <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040719876245">roughly $25,000 as undergraduates</a>. Some then accumulate even more student loan debt on top of that. A student pursuing an advanced degree typically takes out another $35,000 after completing undergraduate studies. With a $500-per-month payment plan and a constant 6% interest rate, someone taking out $25,000 would take nearly five years to pay off their debt while a graduate student taking out $70,000 would take 20 years to fully repay.</p>
<p>Amounts of debt vary by degree program. For example, the 51% of MBAs who borrowed for their education and finished business school in 2016 owed an average of <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_tub.pdf">$66,300</a>. Grads who earned a doctorate in science or engineering, psychology, business or public administration, fine arts or theology and borrowed to pay for their education owed about twice as much – $132,000. Given a $1,000 monthly payment with a constant 6% interest rate compounded monthly, it would take roughly six years to pay off the principal and interest on the typical MBA amount versus 18 years to pay off the principal and interest of a typical doctorate degree.</p>
<p>These debt burdens are not borne equally by all.</p>
<p>In the starkest example, we have found that African Americans who go to graduate school tend to borrow about 50% more than white students with similar degrees. Under certain conditions, typical African American graduate student borrowers <a href="https://theconversation.com/african-americans-take-on-more-debt-for-grad-school-but-the-payoff-is-also-bigger-130169">could take 11 years longer</a> to pay off their loans than typical white graduate student borrowers. However, African Americans earning master’s degrees see an average 30% jump in salaries compared to African Americans with bachelor’s degrees in similar fields.</p>
<p>And African Americans see a 65% increase in their salaries above their peers who have only a bachelor’s degree if they earn a Ph.D. or similar degree. Those salary jumps are 12 and 10 percentage points higher than their white counterparts, respectively.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>Americans currently owe <a href="https://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloandebtclock.phtml">more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt</a>. Yes, getting an MBA, a law degree or similar credentials usually increases earnings for years. But there are also economic, social and psychological costs associated with wracking up all the student loan debt it takes to get there. For example, those costs could include deferring investments in retirement, starting a family or buying a house and the anxiety that may come with making difficult decisions about finances.</p>
<p>We are in no position to tell individual borrowers whether advanced degrees are worth the cost. However, we emphasize that borrowers cannot focus just on earnings or just on cost to make informed decisions. Instead, students and policymakers should focus both how much a person borrows for an advanced degree – as well as how much they can expect to earn – to consider whether that degree will pay for itself down the line.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new survey shows that people with advanced degrees make more money starting out on the same jobs as those with just bachelor’s degrees. But there’s more to the story, two sociologists note.Jaymes Pyne, Quantitative Research Associate, Stanford UniversityEric Grodsky, Professor, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301692020-01-23T13:52:18Z2020-01-23T13:52:18ZAfrican Americans take on more debt for grad school – but the payoff is also bigger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311186/original/file-20200121-117954-1y8u5xp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African Americans take on greater debt than whites to earn an advanced degree. Does the payoff make it worth it?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/upset-african-american-female-sitting-kitchen-1100063888">Damir Khabirov/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When seeking graduate and professional degrees, African Americans take on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038040719876245">over 50% more debt</a> than white students. On the upside, African Americans also see a bigger payoff to earning such degrees. Whether or not that payoff is enough to make up for the additional debt burden is unclear.</p>
<p>These are some key takeaways from a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038040719876245">study</a> we released in January 2020 in the journal Sociology of Education that examined graduate school debt. We are researchers who study issues of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EzoNzxAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">inequality</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WT0vZX4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">disadvantage</a> in education.</p>
<p>Our findings come at a time when there is an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/6/24/18677785/democrats-free-college-sanders-warren-biden">ongoing public debate</a> about whether higher education is worth the cost. We believe these debates represent a paradox for African Americans who are seeking education beyond a bachelor’s degree. On the one hand, graduate school enables African Americans to climb into higher income brackets. But this upward economic mobility comes at a steep upfront financial cost.</p>
<h2>Large differences found</h2>
<p>For 2016, we estimate that the average white graduate student borrowed about US$28,000 while an average African American graduate student took out $43,000 to pay for their education, even when they had comparable levels of parent income, education and other resources important for educational attainment.</p>
<p>We found that African American graduates with an advanced degree had higher pay increases than their white peers – but not necessarily higher pay.</p>
<p>While a 2016 master’s degree graduate who is white could expect an 18% bump in earnings for their degree, African American master’s degree graduates could expect around a 30% bump in earnings compared to having a bachelor’s degree alone, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038040719876245">our study</a>. </p>
<p>Among doctoral degree holders, white graduates could expect around a 55% bump compared to a 65% increase in earnings for African Americans with doctoral degrees. </p>
<p>Among those with professional degrees – needed to become, say, an eye doctor or a lawyer – white graduates earned 120% more than their bachelor’s degree counterparts who were also white. By comparison, African American graduates earned 142% more than those with a bachelor’s degree who are African American. </p>
<p>It may be tempting to conclude that African American students should aim for an advanced degree. But the reality is more complicated than that. That extra bump African American advanced degree earners get simply puts their pay close to that of their white peers with the same degree. African American advanced degree holders are not typically making more than their white peers, even though they borrow much more to earn those degrees.</p>
<p>Let’s take the case of average white and African American advance degree graduates with identical incomes and identical monthly student loan payment amounts of $300. Given a constant 6% interest rate compounded monthly, it would take the average white student just over 10 years to pay off the principal and interest of their $28,000 in student loans. By contrast, it would take the average African American student 21 years to pay off the principal and interest of their $43,000 in student loans with the same $300 rate.</p>
<p>For these reasons, taking on large amounts of student debt may perpetuate racial inequalities across generations. For instance, debt can make it more difficult for highly educated African American parents to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2332649218790989%22">support their own children’s educational aspirations</a>. If a person who has a child right after graduate school invested $300 per month to their child’s college fund versus paying off their own student debt, with a 4% rate of return they could expect to have roughly $44,000 toward their child’s college education in 10 years.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>With student debt nearing <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/02/25/student-loan-debt-statistics-2019/#8ada29133fb5">$1.6 trillion dollars</a> nationally, people worry that student debt is <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvqw3x/what-a-student-loan-bubble-bursting-might-look-like">the next financial bubble</a> that could <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/04/we-should-all-be-concerned-about-the-student-debt-crisis.html">topple the U.S. economy</a>. They also worry that student loans may be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/us/military-enlistment.html">financially crushing an entire generation</a>.</p>
<p>But our research suggests that when it comes to the nation’s $1.6 trillion student debt problem, it pays to look beyond just student loans for four-year degrees. We found that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038040719876245">nearly half the nation’s student debt</a> is held by households where at least one member has an advanced degree. These are households that typically enjoy relatively high incomes. </p>
<p>For that reason, any talk about student loan debt should take into account the debt held not just by people with four-year degrees. If disparities in student loan debt are going to be addressed, they must be addressed among people who hold graduate degrees, too.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African American students are taking on significantly more debt than white students to earn advanced degrees. Is it worth it?Jaymes Pyne, Quantitative Research Associate, Stanford UniversityEric Grodsky, Professor, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233282019-10-09T22:35:45Z2019-10-09T22:35:45ZPhD students should prepare for careers beyond becoming professors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295902/original/file-20191007-121092-1s6jvje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=581%2C0%2C4161%2C3063&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The burden should not rest solely on graduate students to map out their careers beyond academia. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, a new wave of students begin PhD programs in Canada, often aiming for a future academic career. Yet despite hopeful beginnings, large numbers don’t achieve this goal. <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/margin-notes/phd-completion-rates-and-times-to-completion-in-canada/">Many PhD students do not complete their programs</a>, often dropping out after investing years of time. </p>
<p>Those who do finish face a highly competitive academic employment market, as the number of annual PhD graduates exceeds the number of available academic openings in all but a few specialized areas of study. </p>
<p>Universities are increasingly aware of this imbalance. But their responses are slow and uneven. <a href="http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/188226">Our research helps to explain why</a>, and we argue that PhD students must take their own initiative to prepare for diverse career outcomes.</p>
<h2>One-fifth in academic positions</h2>
<p>A 2015 Conference Board of Canada study <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=7564">found that only about one-fifth of Canada’s PhDs end up in academic positions</a>. Another study found that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/more-phds-finding-jobs-as-tenure-track-professors-study-says/article28367087/">only one-third of recent Ontario PhDs found academic jobs anywhere in the world</a>. </p>
<p>While some PhDs quickly find satisfying work in other fields, many graduates end up in precarious limited-term or part-time teaching positions, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2019/the-phd-employment-crisis-is-systemic/">increasingly disillusioned by the diminishing hopes of landing the full-time academic job they so desire</a>.</p>
<p>This cycle continues year after year with new cohorts. Somewhat perversely, universities and colleges have also become increasingly reliant on this part-time, flexible workforce <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/contract-jobs-now-account-majority-university-faculty-appointments-canada">to deliver more and more of their teaching</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295913/original/file-20191007-121060-oorbxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The picket line at York University in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Youngjin/Wikipedia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This imbalance between the number of PhDs and available full time positions has become disruptive. <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/how-the-longest-canadian-university-strike-in-history-changed-life-at-york/">In 2018, part-time instructors paralyzed York University</a> in a strike over demands for more full-time faculty positions. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-college-strike-what-you-need-to-know/article36598186/">The 2017 Ontario college strike was driven by similar issues</a>.</p>
<h2>PhD competencies still valuable</h2>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/canada-needs-more-phds/">Canada still needs PhDs</a> — just not exclusively for academic jobs. The deep skills and competencies <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/august-2019/end-the-phd-bashing-to-end-the-phd-problem/">developed in doctoral programs are of value in today’s complex workforce</a>. </p>
<p>The challenge is shifting PhD students and programs away from a narrow focus on academic careers. Further, many PhDs need assistance to match the skills that they’re developing to non-academic career paths.</p>
<p>Universities and academic bodies are responding to this challenge in several ways. The Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) has called for a <a href="https://cags.ca/rethinkingphd-dissertation/">rethinking of how PhD programs are designed</a>. <a href="http://www.ca.cags.ca/gdps/index.php">Professional development programming</a> for PhD students has also increased, helping them <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-can-really-help-phd-grads-get-jobs-118241">build their job skills</a> and career aspirations beyond academia. </p>
<p>Some universities are also investing resources to follow where their PhD students end up. The <a href="https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/about/10000-phds-project-overview/10kphds-dashboard/">University of Toronto</a> and the <a href="http://outcomes.grad.ubc.ca/">University of British Columbia</a> tracked the career outcomes of their recent PhD graduates, publishing the results online.</p>
<h2>Slow and uneven response</h2>
<p>But the overall response remains slow and uneven. Our research <a href="http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/article/view/188226">identifies two reasons for this</a>. The first is organizational. </p>
<p>Universities are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2391875?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">decentralized institutions with many autonomous parts</a>.
Even when the motivation for change exists, resources are dispersed and co-ordination is challenging. Departments, graduate faculties, career centres and other bodies, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2019/were-missing-a-potent-plan-to-train-the-next-generation-of-researchers/">including governments and research councils</a>, all hold different parts of the puzzle. With different missions and resources, they struggle to fit them together.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295919/original/file-20191007-121051-1nrjz82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ‘academia first’ mentality dilutes any commitment to making structural changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second factor we find in our research is attitudinal. Since most faculty have spent their own careers inside academia, it is difficult for even the most well-meaning to advise students on other options. This contributes to a mindset, conscious or not, that career success is defined primarily by becoming a professor. </p>
<p>Most professors are aware that the number of PhD students graduating exceeds available academic jobs. But there is still a strong <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/beyond-the-professoriate/addressing-the-academia-first-mentality-in-phd-programs/">“academia-first” mentality</a> that sees other options strictly as Plan B backups. This dilutes any commitment to making structural and programmatic changes. </p>
<h2>No incentive to close admissions</h2>
<p>Even if some institutions or faculty decide that they’re taking on too many students, there’s little incentive to be the first to stop. Universities increase their prestige and rankings by bolstering their graduate research activity. And individual faculty gain status by supervising more students. </p>
<p>Finally, universities are responding to market demand. After all, students continue to apply for PhD programs. As top students who did well in their earlier studies, many believe they can beat the academic job odds. Not until later do they realize that everyone else is thinking the same way. So the system perpetuates itself, but for many reasons, none of which are easy to change.</p>
<p>All this leaves students in a challenging position, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/are-there-too-many-phds-turns-out-maybe-not-a-look-at-where-phds-end-up-after-leaving-the-ivory-tower">because doing a PhD can still be a good option</a>, and Canada needs skilled researchers and a more educated workforce. </p>
<h2>Don’t postpone planning</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295905/original/file-20191007-121065-1fgccim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work Your Career by Loleen Berdahl and Jonathan Malloy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(University of Toronto Press)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consequently, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/work-your-career-2">we argue in our book</a> <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/work-your-career-2"><em>Work Your Career</em></a> that it is critical for PhD students to make the most of their personal opportunities and prepare for a greater diversity of career options. </p>
<p>Students should inform themselves about doctoral job market realities as early as possible — ideally before deciding to start a PhD. They should also be skeptical of any contemporary rosy forecasts, such as those the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada offered in 2008 when projecting a <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/faculty-hiring-boom-likely-to-continue-says-new-trends-report/">faculty hiring boom</a>. </p>
<p>Students must also recognize and resist the pervasive “academia first” culture that lead many to postpone preparing for a broader range of careers until later, and purely as a backup. </p>
<p>Actively seeking and pursuing professional development opportunities as early as possible in their programs, along with conducting <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/03/01/how-network-effectively-opinion">informational interviews</a>, especially through alumni networks, is crucial. So is pursuing non-academic writing and research opportunities. These activities give students options and empower them to prepare simultaneously for both academic and other careers.</p>
<p>Ultimately it is up to universities to create a more sustainable model of PhD education; the burden should not rest solely on students. </p>
<p>Universities and governments also have an opportunity to play a more co-ordinated role, reconciling the demands for ever-greater research intensity and a more educated workforce with the realities and current state of doctoral education. </p>
<p>Yet students cannot afford to wait for this to happen. By exercising their own agency, students can avoid resting their career prospects solely on the fickle academic job market.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Malloy receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loleen Berdahl receives funding from SSHRC and the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies.</span></em></p>PhD students can’t wait for universities and governments to reconcile the demands for a more educated workforce and a scarcity of academic jobs – they should plan their own careers.Jonathan Malloy, Professor of Political Science, Carleton UniversityLoleen Berdahl, Professor and Head, Department of Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/869132017-11-09T04:00:54Z2017-11-09T04:00:54ZHow the tax package would slam higher ed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193664/original/file-20171107-6733-1n0bebq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The proposed tax bill could make higher ed even less affordable.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/California-Budget/04937f3e4aba4065ab245b64ca462439/101/0">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_text.pdf">tax code overhaul</a> pending in Congress is littered with provisions that would make it a lot harder for most Americans to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/where-are-all-the-high-school-grads-going/423285/">go to college or grad school</a>.</p>
<p>All told, the changes proposed by House Republicans would require Americans to spend <a href="http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Statement-by-ACE-President-Ted-Mitchell-on-the-House-Tax-Reform-Proposal.aspx">US$65 billion more to get a higher education</a> in 2027 versus 2018 by increasing costs for both students and universities, according to a projection by the American Council on Education, a trade group that represents colleges and universities, which based its forecast on the <a href="https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/tax_cuts_and_jobs_act_section_by_section_hr1.pdf">House’s own report</a>. </p>
<p>Many of the details and provisions will change as the House and Senate seek compromises on this legislation, which is a top priority for President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>But as an expert on how tax policy affects education and nonprofits, I am concerned that any version of the proposed tax code changes would <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/03/gop-tax-overhaul-would-eliminate-tax-breaks-used-colleges-and-students">undercut higher education</a>, which is increasingly <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/many-college-grads">essential for workers</a> looking for good jobs.</p>
<p>Even if there are a lot of moving pieces, it’s still useful at this stage to zero in on what some of the proposals, including the ones I describe here, would do.</p>
<h2>Charging students more</h2>
<p>The latest version of the tax bill contains many provisions that would drive up higher education costs for students.</p>
<p>For example, Republicans want to end the tax deductibility of education, which currently allows students and parents with matriculating dependents to deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest on their tax forms. In 2015, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-11-08/gop-tax-bill-would-kill-deduction-for-student-loan-interest">12.2 million taxpayers took the deduction</a>, which phases out at higher incomes.</p>
<p>A separate provision would impose new and heavy financial burdens on students who spend more than five years at colleges and universities, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/11/02/republican-tax-plan-seeks-to-shake-up-higher-education-tax-credits-deductions-and-benefits/?utm_term=.d69052426802">especially those pursuing a Ph.D</a>.</p>
<p>It would do that by treating waived tuition payments for school employees and educational assistance provided by any employer as taxable income. Schools routinely waive the cost of tuition or provide other aid so they can recruit highly skilled employees who might earn more in private sector jobs. This is also common way grad students are able to afford their education.</p>
<p>Treating the value of these benefits, which can far exceed the student’s income, as taxable income may double, triple or even quadruple their tax bills, partly because it would push them into <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/03/gop-tax-overhaul-would-eliminate-tax-breaks-used-colleges-and-students">much higher tax brackets</a>.</p>
<p>This change, in other words, would put the cost of graduate degrees out of reach for many Americans.</p>
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<p>The bill also combines multiple tax credits available for education into a single credit that is much less generous because it would not be available after the fifth year of higher education, unlike its precursors. Also, certain tuition payments would no longer be tax-deductible, and Americans would no longer be able to use U.S. savings bond interest tax-free to pay for higher education.</p>
<p>On the positive side, it would remain possible for students to have their debts forgiven without any tax consequences under some circumstances, such as prolonged <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service">public service careers</a>. And for the first time, all student loans would be taken off the books when the borrower dies or becomes completely disabled.</p>
<p>If that provision goes forward, at least student loans would no longer <a href="https://www.today.com/health/after-daughters-death-parents-plead-forgiveness-her-200k-student-loan-1D79996678">follow you to the grave</a> – as is the case now for many private lenders. (Federal loans already are discharged upon death.)</p>
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<h2>Taxing faculty and higher ed leaders</h2>
<p>The same provision that would hammer graduate students would impose new costs on some faculty members as well – or their children. </p>
<p>As a perk to recruit and retain employees, many schools such as the <a href="https://humanresources.uchicago.edu/benefits/tuition/employees/index.shtml">University of Chicago</a> cover at least part of the cost of tuition payments for the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-alimony-tax-20171106-story.html">dependent children</a> of faculty and staff. </p>
<p>The bill would treat that benefit as taxable income.</p>
<p>Other provisions would affect university leaders. Many presidents and other staff in areas with high housing costs currently get free accommodations as an untaxed part of their compensation. The tax bill would restrict the multiple ways schools provide this perk by treating it as taxable income.</p>
<p>And the schools would have to pay a new 20 percent tax on compensation in excess of $1 million to their <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/11/03/republican-tax-bill-takes-aims-college-athletics-stadium-financing/830583001/">five highest-paid employees</a>. This measure is likely to put downward pressure on pay for university presidents, medical and law school deans and <a href="https://deadspin.com/infographic-is-your-states-highest-paid-employee-a-co-489635228">football and basketball coaches</a>, who are typically the highest-paid staffers. </p>
<p>While this could be a welcome change for those who believe that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/06/23/are-college-presidents-overpaid">executive compensation</a> at universities has become excessive, it could also lead universities to hire less prominent leaders. </p>
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<h2>University finances and operations</h2>
<p>More than half of all colleges and universities have endowments – essentially pools of money raised from their alumni, companies and other donors – that they invest in stocks, bonds and other assets. These funds help foot the bill for scholarships, salaries, construction and any other expenses. </p>
<p>Until now, higher ed endowments have operated like tax-exempt nonprofits. Contributions to them are deductible for donors, and they do not pay taxes on their earnings. This bill would change that for some schools, by requiring a few dozen elite schools to pay a <a href="https://theconversation.com/gop-plan-to-tax-college-endowments-like-yales-and-harvards-would-be-neither-fair-nor-effective-86912">1.4 percent tax</a> on their investment income.</p>
<p>The government would levy this new tax only on private colleges and universities with more than 500 students and at least <a href="https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/summary_of_chairman_amendment.pdf">$250,000 per student</a> saved up in their endowment. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/03/tax-reform-hits-college-endowments-and-maybe-tuition-and-scholarships.html">original proposal</a> set that benchmark at $100,000.</p>
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<p>What’s more, universities are worried that the proposed tax changes would reduce the amount of <a href="http://www.case.org/Public_Policy/United_States/Charitable_Deduction.html">money donors give</a> during their lifetime and leave as <a href="http://www.case.org/Public_Policy/United_States/Estate_Tax.html">bequests from their estates</a> in their wills. That is because this bill would reduce two important charitable giving incentives. </p>
<p>First, it would abolish the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-closing-the-door-on-the-estate-tax-could-reduce-american-giving-85166">estate tax</a>, which currently applies only to the inheritances left by one out of 500 people who die each year. Second, it would double the standard deduction.</p>
<p>Philanthropy experts predict that the second change would slash the share of taxpayers who itemize their returns and are eligible to benefit from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-congress-should-let-everyone-deduct-charitable-gifts-from-their-taxes-78323">charitable deductions</a> from 30 percent of all taxpayers to 5 percent. </p>
<p>And a provision in the House bill would cut into the revenue colleges and universities earn from their <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/11/03/republican-tax-bill-takes-aims-college-athletics-stadium-financing/830583001/">sports programs</a>. Currently, taxpayers may deduct up to 80 percent of what they spend to attend football games and other college sports events. The proposed bill would put an end that.</p>
<h2>Savings accounts</h2>
<p>Separately, the bill would change the tax-free savings options available to families.</p>
<p>It would phase out <a href="https://www.360financialliteracy.org/Topics/Paying-for-Education/College-Savings-Options/529-Plans-vs.-Coverdell-Education-Savings-Accounts">Coverdell Savings Accounts</a>, which exempt the gains from qualified savings for higher education from taxation.</p>
<p>At the same time, it would let parents use up to $10,000 per year from 529 plans, which offer different tax advantages, to pay for their children to attend K-12 private schools.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the tax bill would also allow contributions to 529 tuition-savings plans on behalf of fetuses, setting a precedent for supporters of “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/02/gop-tax-bill-abortion-rights-college-savings-244486">personhood</a>” laws who see them as a step toward outlawing abortion.</p>
<h2>Likely outcome</h2>
<p>It’s important to remember that the estimated $65 billion <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2017/11/taxing-university-endowments">increase in tuition costs</a> would follow years of the rising cost of higher ed <a href="http://college.usatoday.com/2017/06/09/private-college-tuition-is-rising-faster-than-inflation-again/">outpacing inflation</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation, <a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/WM_TCJA_PolicyHighlights.pdf">is defending</a> the proposed changes. It denies that they would augment the sticker shock that comes with higher ed.</p>
<p>Instead, the committee says the overhaul would merely “streamline higher education benefits to help families save for and better afford college tuition and other education expenses.” </p>
<p>But I find it hard to foresee any outcome other than an increase in <a href="https://surlysubgroup.com/2017/11/06/gop-raises-taxes-on-graduate-students-or-does-it/">unaffordabability</a> at a time when Americans <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/student-loan-balances-jump-nearly-150-percent-in-a-decade.html">owe more than $1.4 trillion</a> in student loan debt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Afield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Republican lawmakers say the proposed changes to the tax code would ‘streamline’ higher ed benefits. But this overhaul would squeeze many, if not most, students and schools.Ted Afield, Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/749602017-03-30T02:16:55Z2017-03-30T02:16:55ZShould journalism become less professional?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163152/original/image-20170329-8584-1813o3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton has a cup of coffee with newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin in April 1992. Breslin died on March 19.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-ELN-NY-USA-APHS293210-Jimmy-Breslin-/e5c3b489bad64dfd8199d41c3eed1b8c/12/1">Stephan Savoia/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I heard the news of longtime New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin’s death, it felt personal.</p>
<p>I was born in Queens and read Breslin as a youngster. My mom and dad both grew up in Queens, so even though we had moved to New Jersey by the time I started grade school, they would still buy the city newspapers each morning. Most of my relatives remained in Queens. A few of them knew Breslin and his family. I recall how, a few years ago, after one of my cousins unexpectedly passed away, I spoke briefly with one of his sons at a Queens funeral home.</p>
<p>Partially as a result of influence from media icons such as Breslin, I became editor of my college newspaper and later worked at CBS. And when I began to work in Manhattan during the 1980s, Breslin was one of those New York personalities who continued to stand out. He was still writing hard-hitting stories, but he also had a television show, had written several books and gained further notoriety for endorsing a local beer. If you lived anywhere near New York City, you knew Jimmy Breslin. </p>
<p>What made Breslin stand out was his blue-collar point of view. He was dogged in chasing a story. He didn’t kowtow to the powerful, and he often thought about how class and privilege might influence a narrative.</p>
<p>It’s a perspective and approach too often lacking in today’s newsrooms. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/fixing-americas-nearsighted-press-corps/508088/">According to a recent article in The Atlantic</a>, journalists today are more likely to work in metropolitan areas than in decades prior. And in 1960, nearly one-third of reporters and editors hadn’t attended college. By 2015, that number had dropped to 8.3 percent. Additionally, the American Society of News Editors’ most recent data reveal that many newspapers <a href="http://asne.org/files/2016%20Summary%20Report%20for%20each%20news%20organization.pdf">fail to have even one minority hire in their newsroom</a>. </p>
<p>As I reflected on Breslin’s life and career and the state of journalism today, two questions emerged. First, could Jimmy Breslin be as effective today as he was in an earlier era? Second, since Breslin didn’t receive university-based training as a journalist, is the education that many reporters receive today still relevant and necessary?</p>
<p>Today’s media environment bombards us with endless “reality-based” viewing options on televisions, smartphones and tablets. (<a href="http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/us-adults-consume-entire-hour-more-media-day-they-did-just-last-year-172218/">A 2016 study</a> found adults in the United States now consume more than 10 hours of media per day.) Reading the local newspaper is probably less exhilarating for audiences who can watch hip-hop divas, pawn-shop owners, morbidly obese people, football team locker rooms, political rallies, pregnant teens or piano-playing cats. </p>
<p>Still, what Breslin did was powerful enough to be engaging today. In a famous example, instead of covering the people in power at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, <a href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/digging-jfk-grave-was-his-honor-jimmy-breslin-1.6481560">Breslin opted to cover the man who dug the president’s grave</a>. Highly creative journalistic instincts would ensure his status as a respected professional in any era. Nonetheless, I suspect Breslin’s reach would be severely hampered by today’s onslaught of media distractions, and his stature might be further diminished by an increased skepticism that has permeated the journalistic field today.</p>
<p>That skepticism is palpable. <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx">A recent Gallup poll</a> revealed that a mere 32 percent of Americans trust the media “to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly,” the first time ever that this annual measure has fallen below 40 percent. Faith in journalistic institutions has been trending downward for two decades, with no evidence that a turnaround is on the horizon. </p>
<p>Moreover, the recent use of the term “fake news” to attack coverage that doesn’t mesh with someone’s ideological beliefs has left many readers puzzled about the accuracy of news stories.</p>
<p>With such skepticism, one might argue that better-educated journalists are needed now more than ever before. However, the current political climate offers evidence that <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-decline-of-public-higher-education-20150615-column.html">education is less valued</a>, with <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ehrlichfu/2015/03/23/troubling-attacks-on-public-higher-education/#3071551a4e12">cuts to higher education funding</a> now commonplace.</p>
<p>Journalism education, in particular, has been under assault for quite some time. In 1993, before he was a best-selling author, Michael Lewis, then senior editor for The New Republic, penned <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/%7Etstreete/MediaCultureUVM/jschool_critique.html">an article</a> entitled “J-School Ate My Brain,” a brutal attack of journalism education. Lewis asserted that journalism schools fail to teach what is necessary to be an inquisitive reporter, instead privileging the nuances of copy-editing and specialized jargon, mocking the “pretentious science of journalism” as a distraction from the actual practice of journalism. </p>
<p>“The best journalists,” he wrote, “are almost the antithesis of professionals.” For someone like Lewis, with an Ivy League pedigree and an advanced degree from the London School of Economics, learning the nuances of journalism might not be necessary. </p>
<p>However, I would argue that such an education has immense value to a first-generation college student whose parents struggled through blue-collar jobs to put food on the table. I teach at a school with many students who fit this profile, and I just visited another university last week with a somewhat similar student body. </p>
<p>During my visit, students and faculty alike spoke about the importance of learning disciplines beyond basic reporting. Some spoke about history, English or political science as areas that could enrich one’s reporting depth. Others talked about the need to learn social media skills and graphic arts to enhance their news gathering and reporting. When Jimmy Breslin won his well-deserved acclaim, he didn’t have to keep up with the rapid technological and industry changes that are currently taking place. </p>
<p>The faculty I visited conducted research to remain on top of developments in the field. Gaining proficiency with new communication technologies and developing new ways to find credible facts online are among the challenges these faculty confront today. Several of them are members of the <a href="http://www.aejmc.org/">Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication</a>, an organization that connects them to fellow scholars and active practitioners, many of them reporters or editors currently working in the field. </p>
<p>AEJMC is due to release a sort of “state of the educational landscape” report later this year, but <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1045619">its most recent report</a> found that journalism and mass communication programs reported a three-year enrollment decline, from a high of 203,341 students in 2010, to 197,161 in 2013. </p>
<p>I expect that trend to continue, as <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/state-of-the-news-media-2016/">new technologies challenge media profitability</a>, meaning fewer jobs in newsrooms. Regardless, for those who are willing to step up, the need to inform the public may be more important for the future of democracy today than at any time during my lifetime. </p>
<p>Jimmy Breslin was a streetwise journalist with a hardscrabble Queens background. He was a blue-collar, shoe-leather reporter who would dig deep to get stories that did not get covered elsewhere. He seemed more at home on a subway or a neighborhood bar than in a limousine or a swanky restaurant. Nonetheless, he plied his trade when public approval for journalists <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/11428/americans-trust-mass-media.aspx">frequently approached 70 percent</a>.</p>
<p>The next generation of reporters will need a similar grit and sensibility to succeed. As the nation becomes more diverse, more connected to technology and less willing to blindly accept <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/the-mainstream-medias-big-disconnect-why-they-dont-get-middle-america/">heavily concentrated coverage from New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles</a>, reporters will have to push harder to break out of traditional media bubbles. But they’ll also be operating in an environment of widespread skepticism unlike anything ever faced by Breslin. For this reason, they’ll need to learn complex new technologies and develop strong research skills to inoculate their work against accusations of “fake news.” </p>
<p>The stakes couldn’t be higher. At a time when elected officials, corporate titans and others in positions of authority are likely to challenge young journalists, the public will depend on the courageous ability of freshly hired news professionals to hold individuals in power accountable for their words and deeds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Trumpbour has taught communication at several institutions and has been invited to conduct external reviews of university programs that teach journalism and mass communication. He is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was a member of its board of directors for several years. </span></em></p>After the death of legendary New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, some have lamented the end of blue-collar journalism. But in today’s media environment, Breslin’s approach might not be enough.Robert Trumpbour, Associate Professor of Communications, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481412015-09-28T08:43:36Z2015-09-28T08:43:36ZGraduate education is a mess. Shouldn’t universities fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96268/original/image-20150925-17694-1endp65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's the future?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pamhule/5752742624/in/photolist-9LmiXE-pLEgt9-5KFQwp-82BswR-deTMjG-4kbWeV-PrNFu-ujqyxk-5yEcRK-7vFcRJ-kNfdM-ufvnsz-7pUvWd-5KT2T7-nrhMtK-9YUF7a-b355Lz-ei2jH-9JdxjP-wHeKNR-o4ZR6h-7pUw4o-9oRyg5-b355TH-4LfFbq-87NcHX-chFG2h-aJv6Fv-88xR5Z-bSKdMr-kHrkrx-6Zgc8E-7pQB4R-mR5xVW-eAajXU-7PbYgm-8gDbzJ-mz3HXv-7pQBiD-dV5jc-9M3JK9-pg9nXw-6wWpoJ-5Z5r9i-eVHg43-5KT2Qy-5KNN1P-5KT2RQ-e7LRr6-8gDbAb">Jens Schott Knudsen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colleges and universities in the United States remain <a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings">among the most prestigious</a> institutions of higher education in the world. But, concerned about rising costs and the job prospects of young men and women with undergraduate degrees, Americans these days tend to view education as more of a business proposition. </p>
<p>As a result, conversations on the broader value of a liberal arts degree have been overshadowed. Furthermore, an awareness of the shortcomings of graduate education, especially in PhD programs, and its implications for higher education as well as for American society in general have been entirely absent in these conversations.</p>
<p>Graduate programs are, of course, essential to colleges and universities: they produce today’s teaching assistants and tomorrow’s instructors and researchers. But, although <a href="http://www.cgsnet.org/graduate-enrollment-and-degrees-2004-2014">admission and enrollment in some doctoral programs</a> are increasing (health sciences, engineering, education, social and behavioral sciences, biological and agricultural sciences), the dropout rate across all program is about 50%.</p>
<h2>“Disorder” in graduate schools</h2>
<p>The fact is that doctoral students today are <a href="https://mlaresearch.commons.mla.org/author/dlaurence/">spending more and more time</a> getting their degrees (nearly 30% of PhDs take at least seven years to finish; the median for humanists is nine years) and, in the process, accumulating debt. At the same time, tenure-track jobs are getting fewer and fewer. </p>
<p>In 1975, tenure-track and tenured professors were responsible for a majority of the classroom teaching in colleges and universities. By 2005, adjuncts and other “temps” had become a “fixture” in higher education with “regular” faculty doing only one-third of the teaching. That figure has now <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">dropped to below 25%, and is going down even further</a>.</p>
<p>Graduate schools, however, have been slow to address such problematic prospects of PhDs. And this “institutional disorder on a grand scale,” is what <a href="http://legacy.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/faculty/fulltime_faculty/lenny_cassuto_28525.asp">Leonard Cassuto</a>, a professor of English at Fordham University, calls attention to in his recent book, <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">The Graduate School Mess</a>.</p>
<h2>Why shouldn’t universities fix the problem?</h2>
<p>Cassuto reminds us that universities produce both the supply and the demand of the academic job market. So, they can – and should – assume greater responsibility for achieving better outcomes.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">What should universities do to prepare graduate students for jobs?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jin_aili/5824851212/in/photolist-9SHTkb-pRY5m-6BNfMX-euMbG-9SHSMq-9SEZWR-9SF1Q8-9SF1M4-9SF1Rt-9SF1C2-7q6Wip-7q6Wq6-7q6W2T-7q6VZK-7q6W5D-7qaRPm-8a9yNv-7qaRRA-7rtqK9-csTPZY-4gQ1p-7rpuek-7rpunH-8auEms-8a9MBt-8a9LKH-8a9sAn-8aa18g-8acXgW-8acSKL-8a9Xg4-8aa52K-8ad5pd-8acZbA-8aeUn3-8a9vdK-8adhFS-8ada5U-8acYhb-8acRTJ-8a9tp8-fyRuf-fyRto-fqtei-fyRrp-fyRsG-fyRqq-fyRse-fyRpg-fqt5t">Alison</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>They have an obligation, as Cassuto argues, to change the curriculum and dissertation requirements to accommodate graduate students who will not actively seek – or get – positions at research universities. </p>
<p>Research institutions, whose faculty sometimes assume that their PhD candidates “would rather repair dishwashers” than take a job at a community college, he writes, should instead teach their students how to teach. </p>
<p>Although not easy in an age of specialization, faculty should try to provide instruction in other practical, transferable skills relevant to, for example, careers in the public humanities, public relations, advertising or marketing. </p>
<p>They should also be willing to offer alternative careers workshops as well as supply prospective doctoral students with information about the academic and nonacademic first-job placements of recent degree recipients.</p>
<h2>Why change will be hard</h2>
<p>From my own perspective of over a quarter of a century as a professor and university administrator, Cassuto’s recommendations make a lot of sense. I believe that most of them deserve to be implemented right away. </p>
<p>However, they will not solve the problem of supply and demand within institutions of higher education. Addressing this problem head-on will require major structural changes in colleges and universities that without doubt will be highly controversial.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of examples that demonstrate how high the stakes are:</p>
<p>Doctoral programs in many disciplines at many institutions may be forced to accept fewer students. Some doctoral programs may be shuttered. Scaling back, however, will mean that someone else will have to do the work graduate students now do as teaching assistants and research assistants.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of graduate students at a time in which universities are financially strapped might result in greater teaching loads for tenure and tenure-track professors or result in the hiring of more adjunct faculty. It could also mean offering more online courses to undergraduates. None of these options is likely to sit well with faculty.</p>
<p>To make room for the next generation of teachers and scholars, institutions may also try to find ways to induce more senior faculty to retire (<a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28017/title/With-End-Of-Mandatory-Retirement--U-S--Schools-Face-New-Challenges/">mandatory retirement ended</a> in 1994 in the wake of concerns about age discrimination). </p>
<p>At Cornell, where I teach, for example, well over 100 professors over the age of 70 remain on the payroll. Proposals to limit the number of years an individual can retain tenure have not gotten traction at Cornell or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Putting academics first</h2>
<p>Committed to innovation in their own work and in their own fields, professors (and, for that matter, senior administrators) are often wedded to the status quo in their own institutions. </p>
<p>The status quo, however, is not a viable option. </p>
<p>If American colleges and universities are to remain preeminent, faculty and administrators must embrace change, perhaps even radical change. As Cassuto claims, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the current practice of graduate teaching essentially retails expired passports. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colleges and universities must work collaboratively to formulate approaches to admitting and training PhDs and to hiring adjunct professors, lecturers, and tenured and tenure-track faculty. Of course, their approaches must be financially responsible and appropriate to 21st-century realities, but it is important that they be based primarily on academic considerations. </p>
<p>The task is all the more urgent because of the budget cuts in public institutions, the prospect of diminished support for research by federal agencies and an uncertain economy. </p>
<p>All this, as Cassuto indicates, will almost certainly make the next 10 years more challenging than the last three decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn Altschuler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students at American universities are spending more and more years on completing their PhDs, only to find there are fewer and fewer tenure-track jobs.Glenn Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies and Dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions , Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.