The value of an education

President Obama announced a new set of proposals Thursday to try to curb the cost of attending college, including linking institutional efforts to do so to the availability of federal financial aid.

It's hard to argue with his overall message. Most of us working on the front lines in higher education share the president's concerns about ensuring access to a college education and the means to pay for it.

At the same time, college remains one of the best investments that students - whether traditional, college-age students or returning adults - can make to achieve upward mobility through an enhanced career path.

While there has been much in the news about the cost of higher education, it is important that students and families carefully weigh all the variables, including the cost of a college, institutional and financial-aid resources, and the prospects for a professional job after graduation.

In fact, students and families can access a wealth of information about colleges and universities that will help them make the best choices: Information on costs, financial-aid resources, graduation rates, job-placement rates, and specific program requirements is widely available at the click of a mouse.

While the "sticker" price of a college can seem daunting for many families, it does not necessarily reflect what students and families pay. At Philadelphia University, for instance, a vast majority of our students receive institutional, federal, and/or state financial aid. Last year, the average PhilaU student received institutional aid amounting to 41 percent of the university's $32,990 annual tuition. I feel strongly that a Philadelphia University education is worth the cost, but we also want to ensure that our students and their families can afford to take advantage of it.

As an economist, I am concerned about student debt and how it may impact the postcollegiate lives of graduates, but if the value proposition of a college or university is valid, taking on reasonable amounts of debt is appropriate for those who will reap the rewards of that degree. Now, consider that those with a bachelor's degree will earn about $1 million more than high school graduates over the course of their working lives, according to 2011 Census Bureau data. The value of a car depreciates as soon as you drive it off the lot. Are those higher-education loans a good return on investment? For most students, I would say so.

While I strongly believe students and families should have access to the information they need to make informed choices, I have some concerns about the president's proposal to enact a ratings system for how well colleges control costs and then tie federal aid availability to the ranking. College is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, and there are many variables that must be taken into account when choosing a college, including access to certain majors and geographic location.

Colleges certainly have a responsibility to manage their budgets well and keep costs in check, and Obama, with the bully pulpit of the presidency, is in a good position to emphasize this message. At the same time, higher education is a labor-intensive endeavor with a highly educated workforce that requires investments in technological advances that are critical to student learning.

It is imperative that we incorporate some of these technologies to deliver education in new ways - particularly through online and hybrid online/in-class courses. It is also important that we continue to develop innovative programs that meet the needs of the 21st-century workplace and result in our graduates achieving professional-level jobs and becoming leaders in their fields.

Ultimately, every institution is responsible for ensuring its value proposition - what it offers to students and the return on investment of that education - is worth the cost.