As tuition, fees, housing, food and other expenses approach $400,000 at many colleges and universities, should you and your family assume that debt to buy a credential and four years of membership in a college community?
The Education
A college education once provided access to knowledge that was difficult or impossible to obtain anywhere else. That monopoly on knowledge no longer exists. Although laboratories, clinical education, seminars, faculty supervision and interaction with other students continue to have educational value, should you borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars for access to them?
The distinction between access to information and education itself is fundamental. The classical system of liberal arts education began with the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which provided students with the intellectual tools necessary to understand information, evaluate evidence, reason correctly, and communicate effectively. Those skills remain essential regardless of where or how a student acquires them.
The Credential
Credentials have different values in different occupations. Some employers use them. Graduate and professional schools consider them. Certain occupations require them. A diploma can also matter when someone is beginning a career and has little professional history by which to be judged.
If you intend to become a teacher, engineer, accountant, physician, lawyer, scientist or business executive, ask whether attending an expensive institution will materially improve your opportunities compared with attending a substantially less expensive one. Do not ask whether the expensive school is more prestigious because it probably is. The relevant question is whether the additional opportunities justify the additional cost.
The College Community
The important question is not merely where you spend those four years in college. It is with whom you spend them.
Membership in a college community may have substantial economic value unrelated to classroom instruction. Some institutions bring together unusually large concentrations of students whose families occupy influential positions in business, finance, law, government, and the professions. Their parents may own businesses, manage investments, direct corporations, finance new enterprises, or make decisions affecting employment and professional opportunities.
For a student whose family has few such connections, becoming part of that community may provide access to people and opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to reach. The economic value of those relationships, however, is not limited to the influence of classmates’ families. The classmates themselves may eventually occupy positions of considerable responsibility and influence.
Peers
You meet your roommate at 18. You eat with classmates. You study together. You participate in organizations. You play sports. You argue. You date. You make friends.
At 19, your roommate may have no economic power whatsoever, but their mother may run a company or their father may be an investment banker. Those family relationships may create opportunities while you are young. At 30, your roommate may be building a business. At 40, another classmate may become a partner in an investment firm. At 50, another may run a corporation, manage capital, own a business, or be a senior lawyer, physician, or executive.
The economic capacity of your college peer group can increase as its members grow older. The people with whom you ate breakfast when you were 19 may become the people making consequential economic decisions when you are 45. Your relationships with them begin with the ordinary experiences of college life. A genuine friendship may endure long after the circumstances that brought two students together have disappeared.
A friend may tell you about an opportunity before you would otherwise learn about it. A classmate may make an introduction. A roommate may make sure someone reads your résumé. A friend’s parent may introduce you to someone in an industry you otherwise could not reach. Twenty years later, the classmate may be the person making the decision. Even if you are qualified, first you have to get through the door.
The Colleges Where Community May Have Economic Value
Not all college communities offer the same opportunities. A relatively small group of American colleges and universities occupies an unusual position in the nation’s economic and professional life. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth comprise the Ivy League. Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke and the University of Chicago share many of their characteristics. These institutions bring together academically accomplished students, many from families with substantial economic resources and professional influence. Their graduates also occupy influential positions in business, finance, government and the professions. Research into college admissions and subsequent professional success has established significant differences in career outcomes associated with attending these institutions.
The research does not establish how much of that advantage comes from academic instruction, institutional reputation, professional recruitment, or personal relationships. Nevertheless, the concentration of economically influential families and the subsequent professional success of graduates make the undergraduate community itself an important consideration. A student who becomes an active member of that community may establish relationships with classmates whose future economic influence will be considerable. Those relationships may provide opportunities that academic achievement alone would not make readily available.
For a talented student whose family has few connections in business, finance, law or other influential professions, the opportunity to become part of such a community may be particularly valuable. The question is not whether one of these institutions offers a better education than a substantially less expensive college. The question is whether the additional economic opportunities associated with membership in its undergraduate community justify the additional cost. For a family considering $400,000 of debt, that distinction belongs at the center of the cost/benefit/value analysis.
The $400,000 College Decision
Interest on borrowed money compounds the cost of attending college. Repayment consumes future income. Large monthly payments can affect where you live, what employment you can accept, whether you can buy a home, whether you can start a business, whether you can raise a family and how much risk you can afford to take early in your career. The debt itself can reduce some of the opportunities attending college was supposed to create. Before borrowing anything approaching $400,000, ask these questions.
What will I actually learn that I cannot learn somewhere else or in some other way at less cost?
What economic value will this degree or credential have in the career I intend to pursue?
What is the economic value of becoming an active member of this particular undergraduate community?
Membership in certain undergraduate communities may lead to significant economic opportunities throughout your lifetime and can have substantial value.
Unless the value of attending college justifies borrowing $400,000, do not borrow the $400,000.
Permission to Repost. You may reproduce this article in its entirety on social media, blogs, and other websites without requesting additional permission, provided the article is reproduced in full without alteration, identifies Victor John Yannacone, Jr. as the author, and includes a prominent link to the original article on this website.
The $400,000 College Decision
September 9, 2026 | Colleges
As tuition, fees, housing, food and other expenses approach $400,000 at many colleges and universities, should you and your family assume that debt to buy a credential and four years of membership in a college community?
The Education
A college education once provided access to knowledge that was difficult or impossible to obtain anywhere else. That monopoly on knowledge no longer exists. Although laboratories, clinical education, seminars, faculty supervision and interaction with other students continue to have educational value, should you borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars for access to them?
The distinction between access to information and education itself is fundamental. The classical system of liberal arts education began with the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which provided students with the intellectual tools necessary to understand information, evaluate evidence, reason correctly, and communicate effectively. Those skills remain essential regardless of where or how a student acquires them.
The Credential
Credentials have different values in different occupations. Some employers use them. Graduate and professional schools consider them. Certain occupations require them. A diploma can also matter when someone is beginning a career and has little professional history by which to be judged.
If you intend to become a teacher, engineer, accountant, physician, lawyer, scientist or business executive, ask whether attending an expensive institution will materially improve your opportunities compared with attending a substantially less expensive one. Do not ask whether the expensive school is more prestigious because it probably is. The relevant question is whether the additional opportunities justify the additional cost.
The College Community
The important question is not merely where you spend those four years in college. It is with whom you spend them.
Membership in a college community may have substantial economic value unrelated to classroom instruction. Some institutions bring together unusually large concentrations of students whose families occupy influential positions in business, finance, law, government, and the professions. Their parents may own businesses, manage investments, direct corporations, finance new enterprises, or make decisions affecting employment and professional opportunities.
For a student whose family has few such connections, becoming part of that community may provide access to people and opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to reach. The economic value of those relationships, however, is not limited to the influence of classmates’ families. The classmates themselves may eventually occupy positions of considerable responsibility and influence.
Peers
You meet your roommate at 18. You eat with classmates. You study together. You participate in organizations. You play sports. You argue. You date. You make friends.
At 19, your roommate may have no economic power whatsoever, but their mother may run a company or their father may be an investment banker. Those family relationships may create opportunities while you are young. At 30, your roommate may be building a business. At 40, another classmate may become a partner in an investment firm. At 50, another may run a corporation, manage capital, own a business, or be a senior lawyer, physician, or executive.
The economic capacity of your college peer group can increase as its members grow older. The people with whom you ate breakfast when you were 19 may become the people making consequential economic decisions when you are 45. Your relationships with them begin with the ordinary experiences of college life. A genuine friendship may endure long after the circumstances that brought two students together have disappeared.
A friend may tell you about an opportunity before you would otherwise learn about it. A classmate may make an introduction. A roommate may make sure someone reads your résumé. A friend’s parent may introduce you to someone in an industry you otherwise could not reach. Twenty years later, the classmate may be the person making the decision. Even if you are qualified, first you have to get through the door.
The Colleges Where Community May Have Economic Value
Not all college communities offer the same opportunities. A relatively small group of American colleges and universities occupies an unusual position in the nation’s economic and professional life. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth comprise the Ivy League. Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke and the University of Chicago share many of their characteristics. These institutions bring together academically accomplished students, many from families with substantial economic resources and professional influence. Their graduates also occupy influential positions in business, finance, government and the professions. Research into college admissions and subsequent professional success has established significant differences in career outcomes associated with attending these institutions.
The research does not establish how much of that advantage comes from academic instruction, institutional reputation, professional recruitment, or personal relationships. Nevertheless, the concentration of economically influential families and the subsequent professional success of graduates make the undergraduate community itself an important consideration. A student who becomes an active member of that community may establish relationships with classmates whose future economic influence will be considerable. Those relationships may provide opportunities that academic achievement alone would not make readily available.
For a talented student whose family has few connections in business, finance, law or other influential professions, the opportunity to become part of such a community may be particularly valuable. The question is not whether one of these institutions offers a better education than a substantially less expensive college. The question is whether the additional economic opportunities associated with membership in its undergraduate community justify the additional cost. For a family considering $400,000 of debt, that distinction belongs at the center of the cost/benefit/value analysis.
The $400,000 College Decision
Interest on borrowed money compounds the cost of attending college. Repayment consumes future income. Large monthly payments can affect where you live, what employment you can accept, whether you can buy a home, whether you can start a business, whether you can raise a family and how much risk you can afford to take early in your career. The debt itself can reduce some of the opportunities attending college was supposed to create. Before borrowing anything approaching $400,000, ask these questions.
What will I actually learn that I cannot learn somewhere else or in some other way at less cost?
What economic value will this degree or credential have in the career I intend to pursue?
What is the economic value of becoming an active member of this particular undergraduate community?
Membership in certain undergraduate communities may lead to significant economic opportunities throughout your lifetime and can have substantial value.
Unless the value of attending college justifies borrowing $400,000, do not borrow the $400,000.
Permission to Repost. You may reproduce this article in its entirety on social media, blogs, and other websites without requesting additional permission, provided the article is reproduced in full without alteration, identifies Victor John Yannacone, Jr. as the author, and includes a prominent link to the original article on this website.