Why I'm starting the Worth It! newsletter
Robert McGuire
I build customized storytelling machines to engage audiences for higher ed, edtech and nonprofits. Message me for a client case study with measurable results.
I strongly believe higher education has a better story to tell.
Students, families and employers have reasonable questions and reasonable skepticism.
But colleges, universities and higher ed coalitions have answers -- to the value question. The ROI question. The "is it worth it" question. ?
There is a story to tell.
Even better news, higher ed has a highly attentive audience with ears wide open for this story. The antennae are all the way up. Students and their families are hungry for reassurance that an amazing career awaits at the end of a degree program.
For example, a recent Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation survey found:
Most high schoolers (58%) agree that “these days, a good job requires a college degree.” The main reasons young people want to pursue college are all career connected: to have job security, train for a specific career, or set themselves up for a promotion.”
Among employers, there’s a parallel hunger for stories of how higher ed enables career success. They want what we’re offering . . .
. . . but they are not always convinced.
Put another way, there is plenty of overlap to work with among everyone’s values. For the most part, educators, institutions, nonprofit networks, advocates, students, parents and employers all want the same thing — lifelong career success for students.
Higher ed just needs to start telling the story of how they are delivering it. For a great example, take a look at how Gettysburg College is answering the “worth it” question.?
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Our emphasis on developing these enduring skills has proven successful for generations of Gettysburgians. A survey of 200 employers reported that Gettysburg graduates possess and outperform their peers in what employers define as must-have career skills
Of course college is worth it. But we have to explain how anyway.
I know college isn’t for everyone. I know not everyone has access to it. I know not every professional role does or should require it.
I’m rooting as much as anyone for alternatives to the degree such as skills-based hiring, apprenticeships and micro-credentials.?The paper ceiling needs to come down.
But in the meantime, the most reliable path to economic mobility and wealth is a college degree. The data showing that is overwhelming. Joining the American tradition of a liberal arts education is worth millions.
The story showing how higher ed enables that success happens is hiding in plain sight. Colleges and universities, nonprofit coalitions and their funders are sitting on the story that students, families and employers want to hear about.
It’s in the work that institutions, nonprofit collaboratives and communities are doing to make progress on:
If you’re excited about the opportunity to tell the higher ed story more effectively, please check out my profile. My team and I can help.
In the meantime, I’m running a little experiment — a biweekly newsletter that points out where these stories are being told. I'm publishing the first edition tomorrow. Please take a look at Worth It!, consider subscribing and let me know if it resonates.?
-Robert
#highered #highereducationmarketing #nonprofitmarketing