Is college still worth it?

Marketplace All-in-One

Marketplace

News, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For decades, going to college has been seen as a reliable path to good jobs and economic success in the United States. But a recent Indeed survey reported that over half of Gen Z respondents beg to differ. As tuition prices continue to rise and the Trump administration takes aim at higher education institutions, is the way we view college changing? On the show today, Bryan Alexander, a higher education writer and senior scholar at Georgetown University, explains why college is still a worthy investment for most students, why more people are considering certificate programs and technical schools, and how President Trump’s attacks on elite universities are a risk to higher education as a whole.

Then, Kimberly breaks down the difference between the reconciliation bill and government spending bills in Congress. And, Casey Johnston, author of “A Physical Education,” answers the Make Me Smart question.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

"Report: 51% of Gen Z Views Their College Degree as a Waste of Money" from Indeed
"Against college for all: the AFT president" from Bryan Alexander
"Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?" from The New York Times
"Good Jobs Project" from Georgetown University
"House considers Trump cuts as Senate Republicans work on reconciliation bill" from Roll Call
"Deal or no deal? Inside reconciliation and gov’t funding" from Punchbowl News
"A muted backlash to Trump’s new travel ban" from Politico
"Have Americans grown numb? Trump’s new travel ban met with muted reaction" from MSNBC
"Finding Strength in a Bigger Body" from The Cut

Got a question about the GOP’s reconciliation bill? Email [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Transcript

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1:34.3	Hello, everyone. I'm Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us.
1:43.9	Hello, I'm Rie McRaece. It is Tuesday, June 10th.
1:47.5	It is the time of the year when students are graduating, figuring out what comes next.
1:51.7	So today we are diving into a big question that may be on some graduates' minds as they try to land a job or think about enrolling in a program.
1:59.7	And that is, is a college education still worth it?
2:04.3	Because it's so expensive and it's getting more expensive. And then, of course, you have the
2:09.0	expenses of living, especially if you go to school away from home. And on top of that, you've got
	...

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