Follow the Money: Is a university degree worth the investment?

Hannah Mullane (0:03)

Graduation, it's a big day, a celebration after lots of hard work, a key to opening up job opportunities and potentially the start of a career. At least that's what graduates hope for, and that's why we've seen student numbers rising. In fact, they've more than doubled in the last 20 years. 269 million students around the world are enrolled in higher education. If those students were a country, it would be the fifth most populous in the world.

But are attitudes changing towards going to university? I'm Hannah Mullane, and today on Follow the Money on Business Daily, we're going to be looking at higher education around the world and asking, is it worth it? Today we'll be in the UK, the US and India speaking to graduates about their university experience and whether they feel it was worth it, as well as looking at the numbers to find out whether going to university is still a good financial decision.

Here at Business Daily, we thought the best way to find out whether university was really worth it, was to speak to some graduates that have been through it. So today we head to three different continents to ask just that, was it all worth it?

Anisha (1:11)

Hello, my name is Anisha and I'm based in India. I graduated in 2019

I finished with a Bachelor of Science in International Relations.

Isenu (1:23)

Hey, my name is Isenu. I'm based in New York. I studied Film and Television at NYU and I just graduated last year.

Loramay Nardella (1:30)

Hi, I'm Loramay Nardella in Manchester and I read law at university and graduated in 2016

Hannah Mullane (1:37)

And I started by asking everyone whether it was a given that they were going to go to university in the first place. Did it feel like the only real choice for them?

Anisha (1:46)

Yes, it was because I was pursuing golf as a viable career option. One of the things that I think is different in India from the US in that sense, is that you don't really have the opportunity to put in the time or the effort to do things in parallel with your studies.

Hannah Mullane (2:06)

And it does feel like university is that place where you can do a bit of figuring stuff out. Is that how you felt, Loramay, when you were going? Was it always a given that you would go to university?

Loramay Nardella (2:16)

Yeah, I think for me, at the time, based on what I wanted to do as a career, when I was making choices at school, I had decided that I wanted to be a lawyer, that I wanted to study law. So there wasn't really an alternative, like a viable option. That was really all that there was. And that was what we were encouraged to do at school as well.

Hannah Mullane (2:33)

And I don't know if you feel this is saying you, because your experience is quite recent in comparison to Loramay, but I certainly felt it. It did feel a bit like it was one of the only options going to university and I certainly didn't know what I wanted to do before I went to uni, I just went because I thought it would open some doors. Is that how you felt? Or did you have a bit more of a tunnel vision approach knowing what you wanted to do?

Isenu (2:55)

To be honest, I entered university not 100% sure on where life would take me, but I kind of agree with Loramay and Anisha in that it was definitely like that following step after high school. Like it felt like I didn't really have a choice just for like a natural progression to pursue higher education.

Hannah Mullane (3:16)

And a big question for all of you now, did any of you think about the cost of it when you made that decision to go?

Anisha (3:22)

Yeah, absolutely.

100% coming from India, of course, which is a weaker currency. Grinnell, where I went, was the school that offered me the most scholarship. It was $60,000 just tuition. It just became about taking as much load off my parents as I could.

Loramay Nardella (3:40)

Just to add to that, we're talking about some of the fees. There's so many costs beyond that as well. There's also sort of the living costs. There's taking part in all the experiences, the sports, all the things that you're supposed to take advantage of at university are really expensive.

Hannah Mullane (3:56)

When you got to university, did it feel like good value for money by the time you got to the end of that degree and you'd experienced that education? It's only with start with you. Do you feel like your degree was good value?