In a few minutes, all of you will march through FitzRandolph Gate as newly minted graduates of this University. Before you do, it is my privilege to say a few words about the path that lies ahead.
It is indeed a privilege, and also a joy, to address you, for all of you who graduate today have accomplished something genuinely important and worth celebrating. You have completed a demanding course of study. It will transform your life in many ways. It will expand the range of vocations you can pursue, increase your knowledge of the world, deepen your capacity to appreciate societies and cultures, and provide a foundation for lifelong learning.
So we celebrate here on the lawn in front of Nassau Hall, as do other college communities in courtyards, auditoria, arenas, and stadia around the country. Graduates toss caps in the air and professors applaud. Families cheer and holler enthusiastically. Yet, even as we do so, we see a strange trend from columnists, bloggers, think tanks, and politicians. In essays, books, and speeches, some of them suggest that too many students are earning college degrees.
Too many college graduates: that is a very odd claim, because the economic evidence for the value of a college degree is overwhelming. For example, in 2014, economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated the average annual return on investment from a college degree, net of tuition paid and lost earnings, at between 9 percent and 16 percent per year for a lifetime (1). For the last two decades, the return on investment has hovered at the high end of that range, around 15 percent per year.
By comparison, the historical average return on investments in the American stock market is around 7 percent per year. That is why my friend Morton Shapiro, the president of Northwestern University and a leading educational economist, says that for most people, the decision to invest in a college degree will be “the single best financial decision they make in a lifetime,” even if judged purely in terms of financial return on investment.
A degree conveys many other benefits as well. For example, college graduates report higher levels of happiness and job satisfaction, even after controlling for income. College graduates are healthier than non-graduates. They are more likely to exercise, more likely to vote, and have higher levels of civic engagement. To these pragmatic considerations we should add the joys that come with an increased capacity to appreciate culture, the arts, the world’s diversity, and the inherent beauty of extraordinary ideas.
The numbers I have quoted are not specific to Princeton. On the contrary, they are averages over all four-year degrees, in all fields, from all colleges in the United States. Think about that for a moment: on average, all degrees in all fields from all colleges generate an annual return between 9 percent and 16 percent, and this return is supplemented by additional benefits to health, happiness, and quality of life. How could anyone think we need fewer college graduates?
Some people answer that you can learn a trade without getting a college degree. Welders, they observe, can make more money than many college graduates. That’s true. There are, of course, reasons why you might want to get a college degree even if you plan to become a welder. You might worry, for example, about what happens if technology renders your trade obsolete, or arthritis leaves you unable to practice it, or you want to move into management or explore other interests. A college degree equips you to respond to the changes — to yourself, and to the world — that inevitably occur over a lifetime.
Still, if pundits and politicians were saying only that America needs better vocational training, I could agree wholeheartedly. It would be terrific if more people could get the training they need to practice a trade. But at the same time it would also be great if more people, not fewer, could receive the extraordinary benefits that come with a college degree.
So I ask again: why would anyone think we need fewer college graduates? I think there is a simple answer. Education requires high-quality teaching. Teaching, in turn, depends upon skilled labor, which is expensive. As a result, the up-front cost for education is real, large, and easy to measure. The returns are equally real and even larger, but they accrue over a lifetime, are hard to measure, and vary from person to person. It is tempting to wish that you could get more certainty at lower cost.
The people who call for fewer degrees yield to that temptation. They emphasize the short-term. They focus almost entirely on the price of college and on the salaries students might earn in their first jobs. That is a mistake.
A college education is a long-term investment. It enables graduates to develop and adapt, and it pays off spectacularly in the long run. The idea that we would be better off with fewer college graduates is a short-term swindle, a swindle that will cheat America’s young people, weaken the nation's economy, and undermine our future. We need to have the confidence to invest in our young people and to ensure that a college education is accessible and affordable for students from all backgrounds and financial circumstances.
I hope that all of you who graduate today, and who experience the power of education in your own lives, will become advocates for the value of higher education in our society. There is a national conversation taking place right now about the value of higher education, and we need your voice in that conversation. We need you, in other words, to help others to achieve in the future what you achieve today.
How can you help more students earn college degrees? Here are three suggestions. First, become advocates for the importance of completion rates. A college education produces a tremendous return—if you get the degree. Returns are much lower if you start college but do not get the degree. The highest default rates on student loans do not involve college graduates with big debts. They instead involve students with small debts who never finish college and so never get the earnings boost that comes with a degree.
A few moments ago, we awarded an honorary degree to President Barbara Gitenstein. Over her nearly two decades leading The College of New Jersey, she raised the College’s four-year graduation rate from 58 percent to 75 percent, a number that puts TCNJ’s on-time completion rate among the top ten in the nation for public colleges and universities. By raising TCNJ’s graduation rate, President Gitenstein has improved the lives of thousands of students who might have left school with debt but no degree. Be an advocate for higher education leaders like Bobby Gitenstein, and for colleges like TCNJ that commit to improving completion rates.
Second, support America’s public institutions of higher education. State subsidies for public colleges and universities have declined precipitously, and state funding represents an increasingly small share of the budget at public research universities. At the University of Michigan, for example, state funding now accounts for only about 9 percent of total revenues. In the 1950s, by contrast, that number was 80 percent. Tuition at state universities has risen not because they have increased their expenditures per student, but because state legislatures have hollowed out their other sources of support.
America depends on its public colleges and universities. They are engines of social mobility and innovation. Princeton and other private universities make essential contributions to the nation and the world — but there is no way that we could ever replace America’s great public institutions. They are a national treasure, and I urge you to support them.
Third, stand up for the importance of enabling more students from low-income families to earn college degrees. Princeton’s Great Class of 2018 graduates today as the most socioeconomically diverse class in the 272-year history of this University. You will not hold that record for long. Other classes already at Princeton will break your record. Our graduate programs are likewise drawing upon new sources of talent: this spring we admitted the most socioeconomically diverse class of doctoral students in Princeton University’s history.
At Princeton we believe in socioeconomic diversity because we know that to achieve excellence as a University and as a nation we must draw talent from every sector of society. We know, too, that a Princeton degree is a rocket-booster for students seeking socioeconomic mobility. If we want to heal the divisions that inequality has produced in this country, we must ensure that students from low-income backgrounds receive the educations they need to develop their abilities and contribute to our society.
As I look out at our extraordinary class of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degree recipients, I take pride in your excellence and your diversity, and I am excited about the contributions you will make in the years ahead. The world needs more college degrees, not fewer. We need more celebrations like the one we hold today, with more proud families and happy graduates ready to go out and make a positive difference in the world. All of us on this platform are thrilled to be a part of your celebration. We applaud your achievements. We send our best wishes as you begin the adventures that lie ahead, and we look forward to welcoming you back to this campus on future visits. To the Great Class of 2018 and all of our graduates, congratulations!
2018畢業典禮致辭
Christopher L. Eisgruber總統
2018年6月5日
再過幾分鐘，你們所有人都會在菲茨蘭多夫門前遊行，成為這所大學新畢業的畢業生。在你這樣做之前，我有幸對未來的道路說幾句話。
對你們來說，這的確是一種特權，也是一種喜悅，因為你們今天畢業的所有人都已經完成了一些真正重要的事情，值得慶祝。你已經完成了一門要求很高的課程。它將在很多方面改變你的生活。它將擴大你可以從事的職業範圍，增加你對世界的瞭解，加深你對社會和文化的欣賞能力，併為終生學習提供基礎。
所以我們在拿騷大廳前面的草坪上慶祝，就像在全國各地的庭院、禮堂、體育場和體育場等大學社區一樣。畢業生們在空中拋帽子，教授們鼓掌。家庭熱烈鼓掌。然而，即使我們這樣做，我們也會從專欄作家、博客作者、智囊團和政治家那裡看到一種奇怪的趨勢。在散文、書籍和演講中，有些人認為太多的學生獲得大學學位。
太多的大學畢業生：這是一個非常奇怪的說法，因為大學學位的經濟證據是壓倒性的。例如，在2014，經濟學家Jay森阿貝爾和紐約聯邦儲備銀行的Richard Deitz估計從大學畢業的平均每年的投資回報，淨收入和損失的收入，每年在9%到16%之間（1）。在過去的二十年中，投資回報率一直徘徊在這一範圍的高端，每年約為15%。
相比之下，美國股市投資的歷史平均回報率每年約為7%。這就是為什麼我的朋友Morton Shapiro，西北大學校長和一位著名的教育經濟學家說，對於大多數人來說，投資大學學位的決定將是“一生中唯一的最好的財務決策”，即使純粹是用FIN來判斷。社會投資回報率。
學位也能帶來許多其他好處。例如，大學畢業生報告更高水平的幸福感和工作滿意度，甚至在控制收入之後。大學畢業生比非畢業生更健康。他們更有可能鍛鍊，更有可能投票，並且有更高程度的公民參與。在這些務實的考慮下，我們應該增加伴隨著欣賞文化、藝術、世界多樣性和非凡思想內在美的能力而帶來的歡樂。
我引用的數字不是普林斯頓特有的。相反，他們是所有四年學位的平均值，在所有領域，來自美國的所有大學。想一想：平均而言，來自所有學院的所有領域的所有學位都會產生9%到16%年間的年度回報，而這一回報是由健康、幸福和生活質量的額外好處所補充的。怎麼會有人認為我們需要更少的大學畢業生？
有些人回答說，你可以在沒有獲得大學學位的情況下學習貿易。他們觀察到，焊工比許多大學畢業生掙的錢多。那是真的。當然，即使你打算成為一名焊工，你也有可能想獲得大學學位。例如，你可能擔心，如果技術讓你的交易過時，或者關節炎讓你無法實踐，或者你想進入管理層或探索其他興趣，會發生什麼。大學學位能使你對改變——對你自己和對世界的反應——一輩子都不可避免地發生。
不過，如果權威人士和政治家只說美國需要更好的職業培訓，我可以全心全意地同意。如果更多的人能夠得到他們需要的訓練來進行貿易，那就太好了。但同時，如果有更多的人，而不是更少的人，能得到大學學位帶來的非凡好處，那也將是很好的。所以我再次問：為什麼有人認為我們需要更少的大學畢業生？我認為有一個簡單的答案。教育需要高質量的教學。教學反過來取決於熟練的勞動力，這是昂貴的。因此，教育的前期成本是真實的、大的和容易測量的。回報同樣真實，甚至更大，但它們終生積累，難以衡量，因人而異。希望你能以更低的成本獲得更多的確定性。要求較少學位的人會屈服於這種誘惑。他們強調短期。他們幾乎完全關注大學的價格和學生在第一份工作中的薪水。那是個錯誤。
大學教育是一項長期投資。它使畢業生能夠適應和發展，而且回報豐厚。
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