Should I Go to University?

The word “university” can cloud judgment. University can mean so many things, and in this article we will step back to think more carefully about what university is.

You may be thinking about what to study at university, but, consider this: all universities require tuition fees. Next, consider that all degrees must be obtained at universities. Now, you knew both facts already. However, consider the consequences of this for a moment. What the above means is that all degrees must be paid for with tuition fees; you are entering into a financial transaction to obtain something.

It’s easy to shrug off this financial dimension as a necessary sacrifice on your part. “I’ll earn it all back in a few years,” you say, and this may very well be true. However, in universities today, this financial dimension will not go away, even if you choose to forget it. The reason for this is that university departments control the administration and awarding of degrees. If you study in the English department, it will be the English professors, and administrators within the department who will allow you to graduate with a degree in English. Fine, all and well, but to return to our previous point, what this means in practice is that the departments themselves are dependent on tuition fees for funding, which is to say that your experience at university will vary according to how well or poorly a department is funded.

Everything you study about your chosen topic will take place within a department, which will assign you coursework and exams. This dimension of student life is perhaps what you envision most: strolling through campus carrying a pile of books. Stop there, for a moment, and let’s return to what this means in practice. You will be paying tuition fees each semester so that you can write coursework and exams. The short version of this is: you pay to work. This often does not occur to students before they attend university. However, when the C-grade on a paper you worked hard for comes back, it quickly dawns on you that you have paid money for this outcome, whether you chose it or not.

“That’s okay,” you say, because, it was all my own effort anyway, and if I got a C then it’s my responsibility. There is a lot of truth to this, except that in reality, a professor will co-create the coursework with you—in so far as the professor will provide the guidance, resources and feedback necessary to create the coursework. This means that you’re not just paying to work, but you’re also, and to a lesser degree, paying for the work of a professor. If a professor does not work to provide you with what you need, perhaps espousing a ‘sink-or-swim’ philosophy, or if your department is underfunded and overstretched, expect this part of your investment to get burnt, and, expect to pay the same money for working more hours or for lower grades, or both.

There is also another side to this coin. Consider that all professors earn high salaries, which depend on tuition fees. Think about that. You’re paying to work, but you’re also paying somebody else’s salary, and that person may choose not to give you what you need for your coursework. You may not consider this as a factor in your university experience at this stage, but when you enter a professor’s office to enquire about a harsh grade and get brushed off, these kinds of social relations will hit home, and there’s often nothing you can do about them.

It’s just part of the system, which pays out salaries that are, by their nature, hierarchical, because it is status that determines a pay grade. In the end, what university demands from you is that part of a hierarchical social system receive your tuition fees to function. Since hierarchies are unequal, patriarchal constructs, a part of such a hierarchical construct will benefit from your tuition fees. This will be the case whether your professor is a saint or just another brick-in-the-wall.

So, should you go to university? Consider that the tuition fees are your money, and if you’re willing to use some of your money to insert yourself into an unequal, hierarchical and patriarchal social system, then you absolutely should go to university. This is precisely a mirror image of most work environments today, and a degree still helps you get in, or out, if you want to teach English abroad. Additionally, if you enter university with no illusions, so much the better. However, if you envision your time at university as anything outside corporate hierarchy, the bitter truth will be revealed to you, and sooner rather than later.