By Gerard A. Athaide
The cost of a college education is soaring. As a case in point, the average cost of tuition at a four-year, private college now exceeds $35,000 a year (Adam Kirsch, “Stop Worrying about the Death of the Humanities,” The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2019). In addition, student loan debts and defaults are at record high levels. Of the estimated total student debt of $1.5 trillion, $89.2 billion was in default as of June 2019, while another 11 percent, or $160 billion, was at least 90 days behind on repayments (Jean Eaglesham et al., “Soaring Student Debt Opens Door to Relief Scams,” The Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2019). Not surprisingly, parents and students are placing increased emphasis on how a college education can lead to enhanced job and salary prospects. Consequently, there has been a steady increase in the number of students choosing more “job ready” majors—business, engineering, and nursing—rather than the liberal arts.
This trend has important and potentially troubling implications for Jesuit colleges and universities. Rooted in the liberal arts, Jesuit colleges aim to have their students strive for the “magis” and the “greater glory of God” by inspiring them to become women and men for and with others—especially the poor and marginalized. But as the crisis at Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) illustrates, a failure to adapt can place this mission in jeopardy. A potential solution lies in adopting business principles to guide decision-making. The benefits of a liberal arts education are obvious: Effective communication, critical and analytical thinking, and self-discovery facilitate richer appreciation of the world around us and fuller participation in civic life. However, the benefit-cost ratio (or the value) of this education is under increased scrutiny from parents and students alike. In response, admissions officers place great emphasis on communicating the favorable earnings potential—in the long-run—as well as the greater job versatility of liberal arts majors. Additionally, considerable discourse and debate has focused on rightsizing the core liberal arts curriculum to accommodate the acquisition of technical skills that are often regarded as ensurers of career success.
While these approaches are necessary, they are not sufficient. To succeed and grow, Jesuit colleges and universities need to adapt their curricular offerings to reflect the pragmatic realities of the modern world. Fortunately, they are well-equipped to do so. Indeed, innovating and adapting to a changing world have been foundational to the Jesuits’ longevity and success. From a business perspective, long-term success depends on the ability of a product to meet the needs and wants of the market. In an educational context, the curricula, in general, and the portfolio of majors and minors, in particular, represent the product while parents and students comprise the market.
A useful starting point to guide the development of innovative curricular offerings that meet market needs is to identify the technical skills students need upon graduation. In an increasingly global economy, there is considerable agreement that creativity, numeracy, and global awareness are foremost among these needed skills. Fortunately, acquiring these skills requires the interdisciplinary approaches that Jesuit colleges and universities are well equipped to provide. For example, addressing the creativity skill requirement via a major or minor in innovation and entrepreneurship requires the ability to think across disciplines and avoid siloed approaches to problem solving. Courses from the arts, sciences, engineering, and business can make much needed contributions to such a field of study. Similarly, acquiring global awareness skills with a global studies major or minor would require courses in history, languages, and international business among others. If developing and offering new, interdisciplinary majors and minors is challenging, a more viable approach may be to identify and market major-minor combinations that can increase the appeal of the liberal arts to the more pragmatically oriented parents and students. For example, a languages/international business combination or a psychology/marketing combination offers the promise that blending education-oriented and more training-oriented offerings will lead to increased enrollments in both the liberal arts as well as the more professional courses—in other words, a win-win situation.
Loyola University Maryland alumni of ALANA (African, Latino, Asian and Native American) Services celebrate the conclusion of an ALANA alumni reunion event. Photo courtesy of the Loyola University Maryland Alumni Association.
Because the cost of a college education is an important consideration in parents’ and students’ college choice, Jesuit colleges and universities face a challenging future. Their historical commitment to a liberal arts-based education is under siege. Fortunately, the thoughtful incorporation of a business orientation via innovative curricular initiatives can provide a path forward that does not compromise the mission.
Gerard A. Athaide is Busch Scholar and professor of marketing at Loyola University Maryland. He teaches and writes in the area of innovation management.
The featured cover photo (above) is courtesy of the Office of Marketing and Communications at Loyola University of Maryland.