Corbett HIX

I don’t usually do long written posts, but some recent news stories have got me thinking on this quite a bit. Comments encouraged!

J. Corbett Hix - 20 MAY, 2012

Recently, I’ve been reading several stories on the rising cost of education, escalating loan debt and some rather pointed discussions on the social and economic value of Art History Majors. I’m well aware of the cost. I pay twice a month for both of my degrees and it affects many personal and professional decisions in my life, including my willingness to take on risk. Recently, I’ve been thinking about what may have truly affected my choices over a decade ago when I started university.

I have a B.A. in American Studies. With no teaching certificate, that qualified me upon graduation for call centers, teaching English abroad, the increasingly competitive coffee shop jobs and graduate school. After dabbling in the caffeine delivery professions for a couple years, I eventually opted to see the world and teach. After a few years of that, I wanted something more personally fulfilling (no jabs at current ESL teachers, it’s not an easy job).

Now I have a M.A in International Development and can continue to work abroad doing work I feel makes a difference in the world. But the education investments combined cost me over $80k and I now work in an industry that often pays moderately, especially if abroad and not attached to the State Department, World Bank or one of the other overly generous Bretton Woods organizations (jabs intended).

When I think back, I wonder what I might have done had their been a more immediate incentive influencing my degree choice, rather than the more abstract, long-term job option incentive. My parents did question me about what job I wanted when I finished with my degree. I considered teaching but I did not give it the thought it deserved and sooner than I expected, I had graduated to realize I didn’t know what real jobs I was qualified for. I could analyze the hell out of the cultural significance of bebop on American social mores and talk about the decline of social capital and its impact on communities; I just couldn’t find a job that was calling for those “skills”. But hey, the cost of my American Studies degree was about the same as my friend’s Engineering degree; it’s all valued the same on the front end. Is it so unfathomable that an invincible 18-year-old consumed with newfound freedom, might think their degree is just as valuable on the other end?

So that is what got me thinking – why don’t we better incentivize tuition? I mean yes, some degrees are more valuable on the financial end. It’s true and given the soaring cost of tuition, we just need to accept that. And while some programs do have nice endowments that allow for more scholarships in the mathematics and sciences, hourly tuition rate largely stay the same at most public schools (I didn’t bother checking private schools since, if you can afford them, you probably don’t care too much about the cost anyway). Here is a sample plucked from the US geographic perimeters of public universities:

So my question is, why don’t universities discount the degrees we need more professionals in?It’s a win, win, win, win -the way I see it. Students have an immediate incentive to save some money on their costs. In return, they get a higher probability of a job when they graduate and the private and public lenders have lower risk of default on repayment. All this and we get more students getting degrees with actual skills in the sectors we need.

I’m not saying I regret my investments, but if I could have a conversation with my younger, blue-haired self, especially when he had dropped out of university for a couple of years to think things over, I would have said kindly, “Get a damned technical degree!” Not that I would have discouraged the B.A. in American Studies, but that if I wanted it, I should have duel majored with something the leaves you with a concrete skills to market and real job opportunities (with my interests as they are now, I would have probably suggested a duel degree in business and industrial design, the latter a field I didn’t really know about at the time, thanks high school).

Had I done this, and managed to find a job that gave me significant experience, I probably could have incorporated the values and goals of international development into the work I was doing, forgoing graduate school and it’s associated costs all together. Having a higher likelihood of a decent paying job out of school, I might have been more willing to take on risk and be an entrepreneur earlier, like my B.A.-holding colleague who left a well paying job in the advertising field to start up a behavior change firm in Cambodia.

I don’t know what made him choose advertising and marketing, but being from Michigan it could have just been old-fashioned Midwestern pragmatism mixed with his innate creativity. But who knows, maybe with less guidance, he would have ended up an art history major and followed a similar path as me.

I’m not blaming anyone for the decisions I made when I was younger. They are mine and I live without any major regrets. The path I took let me meet my wife while I was teaching abroad and I’ve encountered hundreds of amazing people along the way- many of whom can also analyze the hell out of social capital. I do however, wonder how some students might make different degree choices and indeed, bring different values and curiosities to in-need industries if faced with a tuition schedule like this:

View from the smoking area of our new office (Taken with instagram)

Transition to rainy season. (Taken with instagram)

LA Food Highlights.

Sites around LA.

Photos of me and old friends from Texas and Washington, DC on my trip to LA over the past week.

Today is our moving day! We’re actually moving into what was my company’s office until a week ago. As of yesterday, they were still doing a lot of work, our fingers are crossed that the major items are done by this afternoon.

Thanks to Shelby and Eva at Collective Studio for leading the design efforts, we’re excited to finish the place out according to their concepts in the next couple of weeks.

Watch footage of an adorable LEGO space shuttle climbing its way to outer space.

An oldie but goodie.

Thanks! I need to be more regular with my updates but the encouragement is great!

Keiko found the fabric (~$10), took it to the tailor with an example (~$4) and tada! Custom made shirt. Now I just need the right tie. (Taken with instagram)

Finally, the video from our bike ride up the mountain is up after some technical difficulties. Sorry, no HD this time due to a Vimeo mishap.

10k done. Just shy of an hour, good enough for me considering I haven’t run in 6 months. (Taken with instagram)

Keiko ended up getting the women’s third place, me, well, I finished but I’m good with that. Tomorrow I’ll try to do the 10k run having not run a mile in the past 6 months, we’ll see how that goes…

Keiko got 3rd place! (Taken with instagram)

Checked in and hungry. (Taken with instagram)

Hey Folks - I’m doing a fundraising ride this weekend and need to raise some money. If you can help out with $5 or $10 bucks (or less) that would be awesome. I promise photos from the event! Reblog to spread the word!

To support, go here, and then click on my name, follow the instructions from there.

Getting ready to leave for Kampot! Up Bokor mountain tomorrow. (Taken with instagram)

designtank:

Posters by Anneke Short; truer words were never spoken. You should check out the entire set.

Lead thanks to igeniousdesigns