If you are reading this article, you've undoubtedly heard the debate: Is college still worth it? Is the traditional degree still relevant when talent shortages, skills gaps, and changing workforce expectations repeatedly challenge our assumptions?
The national conversation is noisy—and complicated. Research shows widespread doubts about cost, access, and relevance, even as a strong majority of Americans still believe higher education pays off. For example, PRRI's 2025 American Values Survey shows that 70% of Americans still consider college a smart investment even amid long-term concerns about tuition and outcomes. And while confidence in higher education hit historic lows in 2023 and 2024, recent Gallup and Lumina Foundation polling shows confidence is climbing again as Americans increasingly recognize the economic and social value of a degree.
This push-and-pull—skepticism about cost paired with belief in value—is echoed in another recent study. The Lumina Foundation found that although most Americans believe tuition is unfairly high, 70% still say a bachelor's degree is extremely or very valuable, and 86% believe it pays off within ten years. And the Federal Reserve Bank of New York notes that while returns vary by major and circumstance, the economic benefits outweigh costs for most graduates, with outcomes depending on factors such as major choice, time to degree, and financial aid.
All this makes the story I'm about to tell both personal and universal.
Because my own education, the one that set me on a fulfilling career path in HR, coaching, culture work, and leadership development began not with a grand plan but with a bit of luck.
The Random Brochure That Changed Everything
I still remember the college fair. I was wandering between tables with my friends at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, collecting pamphlets without much conviction, when I picked up a brochure from Ohio University. In bold letters it said: Interpersonal Communication.
I didn't even know what that meant or that such a thing was a major. But it sparked my interest and the more I read the more I knew it was mine. It spoke to everything I cared about — understanding people, navigating conversations, shaping interactions, and helping others thrive. The words I would have used then would have been I like talking to people and figuring out what makes them do what they do.
That one brochure set the trajectory of my entire career.
At Ohio University, I pursued a degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication, added a focus in HR, and rounded it out with a minor in English Language and Literature. At the time, I couldn't fully articulate why these disciplines felt like home. I just knew they came easy to me and were the perfect blend of human insight, organizational understanding, and the power of language.
Now, decades later, those studies are the backbone of everything I do.
Why My Education Was Worth the Investment
When I look at the research on higher education today, I don't see myself as an anomaly. What I see is a validation of something important: Education has the greatest return when it aligns with who you are and what the world needs.
My degree didn't just give me knowledge—it gave me a framework for understanding:
- How people communicate
- How organizations function
- Where breakdowns occur
- How leaders influence
- How culture is shaped
- How trust is built
And that has shaped every part of my HR and leadership work.
I learned to listen for what is not being said.
To translate between perspectives.
To read a group dynamic the way an analyst reads a spreadsheet.
To help organizations solve problems rooted not in process—but in people.
These are not "soft skills." These are power skills. The ones shaping the current and future workforce.
And they're exactly what organizations today are struggling to develop.
What My Story Means for HR and Business Leaders
While the debate rages about whether college is "worth it," the deeper question for organizations is this:
How do we develop employees and leaders who communicate well, navigate complexity, and build cultures where people can thrive?
The answer isn't just technical training. It isn't certifications alone. It isn't one-time workshops.
It's developing humans.
And that is where degrees like mine matter and why the research still shows such strong belief in the value of education. Humans learn to lead, collaborate, adapt, and relate through exposure to ideas, challenging conversations, and guided practice.
The exact kind of learning environments higher education at its best was meant to provide.
Why I'm Uniquely Equipped to Help Organizations Develop Their People
Because I've lived both sides of the question.
I've experienced firsthand how transformational the right educational foundation can be.
And I've spent my career inside organizations witnessing the consequences when leaders lack the interpersonal, communication, and relational skills today's workforce demands.
My background uniquely equips me to:
- Facilitate conversations that move teams forward
- Coach leaders through conflict and change
- Interpret organizational culture with nuance
- Build learning programs that address root causes, not just symptoms
- Help people connect, understand, and trust one another
The brochure I found by happenstance didn't just lead to a degree. It put me in a situation where I could shine and lead the graduation process of the College of Communication as its 'outstanding senior'.
It led to a life's work helping people and organizations communicate better, lead better, and work better together.
And that's why my college investment was worth it.
Not because it "paid off" in a financial sense—though research shows it typically does—but because it equipped me to make a meaningful impact on the lives and careers of others.
The Universal Lesson Hidden in My Personal Story
There's a larger message here for HR and business leaders:
People thrive when they are developed in alignment with their strengths, their purpose, and the human skills organizations can't function without.
The conversation about the value of college shouldn't scare us. It should guide us.
Education, formal or otherwise, is at its best when it helps individuals discover who they are and prepares them to contribute meaningfully to the world.
Ohio University did that for me.
Our organizations must do that for others.
And I'm here to help them do exactly that.
