A Higher Education: The Bottom Line

Photo by Dom Fou

During the epic times of the baby boom generation cohort coming of age, the humanities were burgeoning fields of study. They were popular on college campuses. The liberal arts flourished. Students looked forward to having rewarding work lives, but learning about the world and the intellectual development of humanity through the arts, languages, history, literature, the social sciences, and philosophy was popular.

This definition of the humanities includes learning or literature concerned with human culture, especially literature, history, art, music, and philosophy. Many students combined the study of the subjects in the humanities with business courses, education, or the sciences. Some studied the humanities for the pleasure of learning and learning how to think critically. Many students wanted to learn about the world with a measure in depth. Others augmented the humanities with so-called practical subjects so they would be employable after graduation.

In 2012, a good year for the humanities, there were 235,966 bachelor degree graduates with a concentration of study in that area of study. By 2018, that figure had dropped to 202,665 humanities graduates.

By the end of the 2021-2022 academic year there were 2,123,000 graduates, and of those graduates, 437,302 were in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, the so-called STEM concentrations, with 146,573 humanities graduates. The trend of subjects studied and the number of graduates in those fields tells an obvious story of career/vocational choices and fewer and fewer humanities students. The impact on college and university departments is apparent with fewer liberal arts professors and departments and more STEM professors and departments.

Many college students, burdened with ever-expanding tuition and skyrocketing living costs for study, chose to study STEM subjects. Many graduates, even if humanities majors as undergraduates, turn to graduate studies in medicine, law, business, or other professional courses of study.

Here is an assessment of humanities programs:

Informal discussions with students at one of the larger campuses of the State University of New York system in Albany, New York revealed that most students studied math, business and other STEM subjects, concentrations that could provide them with employment after graduation.

Average student debt ranges from the $30,000+ range for public colleges and universities to $50,000+ for private schools. Many students report far more debt after four years of college than the figures above. A professional degree can add multiples of thousands of dollars to a student’s debt burden.