Worth More Than the Paper It Is Printed On

May 20, 2026

by Dr. Dan Kittle, President of Dakota Wesleyan University

Recently I had the honor of congratulating Dakota Wesleyan University graduates as they walked across the stage at the Corn Palace, a moment celebrated by a near-capacity crowd. It is one of the great joys of my work to witness such an incredible moment of achievement.

In stark contrast, later that same day, I came across an online post from an acquaintance suggesting that college diplomas are not worth the paper on which they are printed.

We hear this sentiment more frequently today, and I find it frustrating for two reasons. First, it is simply not true. Second, it undermines education, the backbone of every thriving democracy.

Part of what is happening is that we are losing sight of how to measure the value of a college degree. Too often, we frame it as a short-term transaction, judging its worth solely by a graduate’s first job or starting salary. In doing so, we fall into a trap, one we often attribute to young people, but that is true of many of us: we prioritize immediate gratification over long-term return.

A college education has never been just a short-term investment. It is one of the most significant long-term investments a person can make.

The data consistently affirms this. Over the course of a lifetime, individuals with a bachelor’s degree earn, on average, approximately $1 million more than those with only a high school diploma. They are also significantly less likely to experience unemployment. Beyond salary, they are more likely to have access to benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid leave. Even when accounting for the cost of tuition, the return on investment remains strong, often estimated at around 10 percent annually, comparable to or exceeding long-term stock market returns. For many graduates, the financial cost of their degree is recouped by their mid-30s.

A fall 2024 survey of college graduates’ long-term outcomes reinforces this point: 84% of graduates reported being satisfied with their higher education experience, 83% were satisfied with their current job, and nearly 80% expected to earn more over their lifetime than the household in which they were raised.

These are not abstract statistics. They represent lives marked by stability and opportunity. They are part of my personal experience.

As I shared with our graduates, yes, they are prepared for their first job or for graduate school. More importantly, they are prepared for every role they will step into in the years ahead, even those that may include career changes. They are prepared to lead in their workplaces, to serve in their communities, to contribute in their churches, and to support the people who will depend on them.

Because of what they have learned, and who they have become, they are ready with judgment, creativity, character, courage, and empathy. These are precisely the qualities we need in the next generation.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that college is the only path to these outcomes, yet there remains a compelling case for a path that includes a university degree. My own story reflects this reality. Two of the people I admire most, my mother and father, did not attend college. Their path led them into the automotive industry as line workers and quality controllers, careers spanning more than 30 years that provided stability and opportunity for our family but were also marked by vulnerability and limitation for them.

They did not have the same range of choices when they entered that work. A college education would have opened additional doors. My mother, for example, had a love for literacy and would have thrived in library science. My father possessed both an interest in and a gift for leadership and team building that could have been expressed more fully in his professional life. Had affordable college been available to them, and had they been encouraged in that direction, their opportunities would have been broader.

In the end, they made sacrifices so that I could pursue a different path. They encouraged me toward an education and a vocation that has been filled with opportunity and purpose.

We should be honest about the challenges facing higher education, including cost and access. But we should be equally honest about its enduring value.

On graduation day, as I watched our graduates cross that stage, I did not see pieces of paper. I saw individuals prepared to lead lives of meaning and purpose, and that is worth far more than the paper on which any diploma is printed.