Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: Santa Clara University

Title of entry: Value Proposition

About this entry: With more people than ever before attending college in the U.S., and more of those students choosing “practical” or high-tech majors in an effort to obtain higher-paying jobs, smaller schools such as Santa Clara University with curriculums grounded in the humanities are grappling with how to stay part of the conversation. In “Value Proposition,” Santa Clara Magazine asks what value, literally, a liberal arts education holds for today’s students. The piece quantifies the return-on-investment of a college degree by pulling national data on points such as average earnings of degree holders versus non-degree holders, typical anxieties of landing jobs with livable wages after college, and shifts in trending majors. The writer also spoke with Santa Clara faculty and staff from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Career Center about preparing undergraduates for jobs that haven’t been created yet, as well as the administrator of a unique internship program that allows students in “unpractical” majors to apply their skills, talent, and education in practical job experiences. She also interviewed students and alumni who shared their experiences of choosing a major they didn’t love, or having to forego unpaid internships because they were financially independent, in order to show that the value of a college degree is not fully quantifiable: We learn so much more than our majors here.