Are Liberal Arts Degrees Worth It?

[PhuturePriest]

In your opinion, are they worth it, or a colossal waste of time and money? I've flip-flopped on the issue many times, but after a while I have decided that, though debt should be kept in check as it can be debilitating, if you are pursuing what you think God wants you to, rather than just getting a degree for the funsies, God will take care of you and not lead you astray for doing what you think He is calling you to do. As a result, I have been accepted to a Catholic university and I am going to major in theology there. I got a cozy scholarship with lots of pell grants and financial aid, and I can really make it work and not break the bank at the end of the day.

But that's just my opinion. What is yours? What has been your experience?

[Gabriela]

Mine was worthless—in the marketplace. They aren't all worthless. But unfortunately, today, the degrees that actually have the potential to make you a better person aren't valued monetarily.

Still, as you said, if you feel confident God is calling you to that path, you follow it and trust He'll provide for you.

So basically, I agree with you.

[PhuturePriest]

Mine was worthless—in the marketplace. They aren't all worthless. But unfortunately, today, the degrees that actually have the potential to make you a better person aren't valued monetarily.

Still, as you said, if you feel confident God is calling you to that path, you follow it and trust He'll provide for you.

So basically, I agree with you.

​Indeed. But as Peter Kreeft said, is the point of college to get a good-paying job so you can save lots of money so your kids can go to college to get good-paying jobs so they can save lots of money so their kids can go to college to get good-paying jobs, and on and so on until the world ends? What's the purpose in that? Where is the value in that? You should rather pursue what you feel God is calling you to pursue and trust that he'll take care of you, even if you are majoring in something like theology, philosophy, or history.

[Gabriela]

​Indeed. But as Peter Kreeft said, is the point of college to get a good-paying job so you can save lots of money so your kids can go to college to get good-paying jobs so they can save lots of money so their kids can go to college to get good-paying jobs, and on and so on until the world ends? What's the purpose in that? Where is the value in that? You should rather pursue what you feel God is calling you to pursue and trust that he'll take care of you, even if you are majoring in something like theology, philosophy, or history.

​I agree (and said exactly the same thing in my TEDx talk), but the practical side is: You can study theology, philosophy, and history on your own, without dropping $100,000 on a piece of paper that isn't going to get you anything but the theology, philosophy, or history education you could have gotten on your own.

I teach at a university. I know the problem well. I try to tell myself there's a better reason to get a degree than just to get a job. But the truth of the matter is that, today, that's really what they're for. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't get a degree in theology, philosophy, or history. It just means you should pray like the dickens that God is going to help you use it to get a job (or vocation... you know, whatevaz  ).

[superblue]

 I would wager a better way to look at college is so that one can eventually afford to have a family and children or at least a better life, and not the depression go jump off a bridge version that Peter Kreeft suggests.

[Amppax]

​I agree (and said exactly the same thing in my TEDx talk), but the practical side is: You can study theology, philosophy, and history on your own, without dropping $100,000 on a piece of paper that isn't going to get you anything but the theology, philosophy, or history education you could have gotten on your own.

​There's a qualitative difference between what you can teach yourself, and what you can learn in a classroom with a teacher. I think this is especially true of the subjects you mention. 

[Ash Wednesday]

I don't see a clear cut answer here. 

I don't think one degree is more "noble" than another. A man prayerfully decides that he's being called to a particular occupation or degree and wants to be prudent in his finances and future ability to support a family, then there is nothing wrong with that at all. What's more, not everyone is of the liberal arts mindset and fit better into hands-on or degrees deemed practical and geared towards a specific occupation.

That said, as someone who was forced to sweep my artistic abilities under the rug for years because I was told that art wasn't a "practical career" -- there is something to be said for having an appreciation for that which the world does not deem "practical" -- in fact it's a crying shame that great philosophers, theologians, musicians and artists aren't appreciated more. One of my college friends was an older woman who had her masters in art and philosophy and likely had a horrible credit record, but she lived frugally and was happy. I suppose her high debt fit in with her shunning of materialism. (LOL)

I had to find a balance, myself. Part of me is the artistic free spirit, but part of me is a pragmatist raised by a frugal father who was born during the great depression. I guess it's a matter of what someone values and wants out of their education. 

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

I think there is a value to going away to college that goes beyond whatever degree you pursue.

Going away to college allows you to live away from your parents and start developing your own values, and having your own experiences.

Going away to college also broadens your experience of other people who grew up very differently than you did. Even if it is a Catholic college, not everyone had the same home life, parish experience, etc.

Obviously, not everyone can afford to go away to college. And, if you can't, you can't. But, if you can afford it, personally I got as much from what I learned outside the classroom at college as I learned in class.

It's also a time of your life to focus on studying, learning, and growing, before other things get in the way and prevent you from devoting yourself to study.

As to whether to study liberal arts or not, if you graduate from college learning how to write and how to express your thoughts well, that is valuable to many employers. Studying something you don't enjoy just because it will get you a job is probably practical, but sad.

[KnightofChrist]

You're better off eating a steady diet of government cheese, rolling doobies and living in a van down by the river.

Anyway I could have gone to a big expensive arts college for the same degree I earned at the community college ( which was down by the river btw :D )

It's much much cheaper and depending on the degree and field of work it really doesn't make a big difference. I remember many of my classmates transferred to big expensive liberal art colleges, took out big blanking loans, but in the end they don't even use their degree in their field of work. Not only that but their degree has no effect what-so-ever on their field of work. They even had to go back to another college and earn another degree that has something to do with their current field of work.

Anyway my point is if you can get the same degree at a community college I would do that. It's cheaper.

[Era Might]

Some liberal arts degrees are more marketable than others. English can be flipped into a lot of different things, theology not so much.

How do you know what God is calling you to do when you have no real experience of the world? Generally speaking, there are two  important factors to doing some successful work: you're good at it AND there's a need for it. There is not much of a need for theology, unless you want to become a scholar (and even then it's a tough path). And then you have to ask yourself whether you really have the intelligence to be a good scholar...not the intelligence to go to college, but the intelligence to actually do independent, original work in a field where you need to know things like Greek, Latin, complex history of ideas, etc. Just because you like something doesn't mean you have a talent for it.

There's a good saying from Mark Cuban, the guy from Shark Tank: "Don't follow your passion, follow your effort." Your passion is flexible, but where has your effort been, what have you built up to this point, and what will you be building on?

The thing about liberal arts is yes, they can be very useful in the real world, because you gain knowledge about humanity, but the point of college, realistically speaking, is to set you on a career path, build connections, find others who are striving toward the same kind of knowledge, etc.

Two suggestions for you: "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, a great novel about vocation (spoiler: it's not easy for any of the characters). I don't know if you can appreciate the novel at this point in your life (I hated it before, but now I have a context in which to understand it). Also, check out some YouTube videos on Ignatian discernment, the Jesuits have a great tradition here.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Era Might

[Era Might]

​There's a qualitative difference between what you can teach yourself, and what you can learn in a classroom with a teacher. I think this is especially true of the subjects you mention. 

​I'd say that for anyone with a real talent, the teacher will only be a guide for his self-education. If you don't have a real talent for something, then the teacher becomes a more important, because you're never going to be able to do what the teacher does (outside the classroom), you're just taking in information. But regardless of talent, the teacher (should) help you grow as a human being (the most important goal of all, which unfortunately is lost in most schooling).

[HopefulHeart]

I don't have enough perspective to give an informed answer to the poll, but this topic does interest me. I am finishing a liberal arts degree at community college and will be transferring in the fall to get my bachelor's in English literature. English is what I am passionate about, and I am considering different career options.

I will say that I have been very conscious of avoiding debt during my undergrad. Financial aid covered all of my community college tuition for two years, and I have been offered substantial financial aid packages from four-year schools. I will be living at home and bringing my own lunch to reduce costs further. It is likely that I will get my bachelor's with very little or no debt, which I think is important when obtaining a liberal arts degree. Also, my experience at community college enabled me to get into a selective university close to home that I would not have been admitted to straight out of high school.

I am glad that I took the path I did instead of leaving home for an expensive Catholic school. I have 0 regrets, academically, financially, socially, or spiritually, about my choice to go to community college

John Henry Cardinal Newman's Idea of a University has some good points about the value of a liberal arts education, btw.

[Archaeology cat]

Are my degrees worth it financially? Probably not. Archaeology doesn't pay a whole lot, and I can't dig any more anyway. But was the degree worth it to me? Absolutely yes. I got to study with some of the best minds in archaeology. I use that background in teaching my kids, too. My literature classes stay with me in how I teach them, too. I disagree with a degree being seen just for how it pays off in the job market, and I lament that these things aren't more valued by society. 

[Nihil Obstat]

It is not exactly marketable, at least not directly, but the time I spent studying philosophy has vastly benefited my writing and my ability to analyze arguments and formulate my own.

That is one of those less tangible skills that will not necessarily get me a job, but I believe it will help me advance in my career.

[Anastasia13]

This list may not e exclusively liberal arts:

English majors seem to end up teaching or doing administrative work.

History I have seen applied to politics/non-profit advocacy work, law, and teaching.

Theology I have seen applied to teaching and ministry positions.

Philosophy I have seen applied to law and teaching.

I have a book about a guy who studied econ and psychology or sociology and became very successful.

I once met a liberal arts major who became a financial services representative and spoke to a finance club.

Econ majors make more than a lot of majors: they often end up getting a graduate or professional degree-MBA or Law especially. An econ professor I once had said that econ majors have a broad base of soft skills, but sometimes employers do't know what to do with these majors when they first start their careers, so it would be good for these majors to let people know that they know some accounting (courses were required of these majors at this school).