Why A Liberal Arts Education Is The Best Foundation For A Career In Finance

Why A Liberal Arts Education Is The Best Foundation For A Career In Finance

The Fall semester opens this week for most colleges and universities in the United States. It is the occasion for what — in a normal year — would be a Serengeti-like migration of millions of students back to their campuses to begin the not-entirely-welcome transition from glorious summer leisure to the buckle-down of classes and schedules and, hopefully, "learning." Covid, of course, has imposed constraints, and some students may still access the college experience online, which will reduce the size of the caravan a little – but most schools seem determined to return to the classical model of in-person education as much as possible. From what I can see, Move-In Day, Fall 2021, is as crowded and chaotic as ever. The cost of college these days – well over $60, 000 a year at my institution – has become a flashpoint for criticism. Education is now a multi-trillion dollar business, in the aggregate, and its producers (universities) have learned the key lesson for any business selling a big ticket item – you have to provide customer financing. Acquiring a college degree is a painful financial challenge for many consumers, second only to buying a home. And inflation rates in the