by Ella Johnson, class of 2025; published in Public Square Magazine
February 21, 2024
I often attend political conferences with other college students. After meeting colleagues from many different universities all across the states and the globe, I am convinced that few young people have faith in higher education. Often, these conferences are about how we can be a better force for good and truth at our schools.
Americans’ confidence in higher education has fallen to 36%, which is sharply lower than the two prior readings in 2015 (57%) and 2018 (48%). The cost of college tuition is exorbitant, many students struggle to make friends, universities have become increasingly godless, and job placement is often determined more by connections and experience than a college degree. To top it all off, the overall quality of instruction has dropped significantly, specifically for general education.
Accreditation is the recognition from an accrediting agency that an institution maintains a certain level of educational standards. The accreditation model, which has long been the default, no longer represents the same quality as it had. Programs are judged by curricula and degrees held by faculty. Accreditation standards ignore the advantages of having professors who personally know a student and can attest to their quality and skills. Prospective college students are increasingly realizing just this.