There’s a growing narrative that higher education is losing its value.
From my perspective, working directly with students as a faculty member and academic and career advisor in an interdisciplinary program, I’ve seen something different.
The value is there. The missing link is consistently supporting students in understanding how to connect their education to what comes next.
And that distinction matters.
Every day, I work with students who are capable, motivated, and doing what we have asked of them. They attend class. They complete assignments. They pass courses. They earn degrees.
And yet, many still find themselves asking a critical question near graduation:
Now what?
That question is where disillusionment begins.
Not because their education failed them, but because we have not consistently helped them connect it to what comes next.
The Assumption We Keep Making
We often assume that students understand who they are, know their strengths and interests, can translate coursework into skills, and naturally know how to navigate the job market.
Some are able to navigate that transition. Others are still figuring out how to move from education to what comes next.
Take a moment to think about your own experience. How did you figure out your career path?
Was it intentional? Was it based on a clear understanding of your strengths and direction? Or was it shaped by circumstance, opportunity, or even luck?
For many of us, the answer is that we figured it out along the way. Not because we were guided to do so, but because we had to.
And in many cases, we got lucky.
We cannot assume that every student will.
We’ve Built the Resources. But Not the Connection
Higher education has invested heavily in resources such as tutoring centers, career services, advising, and student support programs.
These are valuable and necessary.
But here’s the challenge.
Students often do not fully engage with these resources. Not because they do not exist, but because they lack a clear sense of purpose driving them to use them.
When a student understands who they are, what they are good at, and where they are going, everything changes.
They engage differently. They persist through challenges. They seek out support.
Without that clarity, even the best resources can go underutilized.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In my work within an interdisciplinary program, I have to have these conversations early.
Students are not selecting from a rigid path. They are building one.
That means course selection must be intentional.
One approach I still see used when students are unsure of their direction is to recommend a range of courses and see what resonates.
While well-intentioned, that approach often leaves too much to chance.
When students are still figuring out who they are, asking them to try different courses in hopes that something will click can lead to frustration, disengagement, and in some cases, failure.
Not everything will stick. And each misaligned choice has real consequences.
What I have found is that students do not need more options.
They need better starting points.
Through structured, research-informed questions grounded in psychological theory, I work to understand who the student is at a deeper level. This includes how they think, what motivates them, and where their strengths naturally show up.
For example, instead of asking a student what they want to do, I ask questions that uncover how they approach problems, what environments they thrive in, and what types of work naturally engage them. Those responses give us a clearer starting point for identifying both coursework and potential career paths.
From there, we analyze those responses together.
The feedback students receive is often the first time they see themselves clearly.
And something important happens in that moment.
They begin to believe in their abilities. They begin to see direction. They begin to understand how their education can lead somewhere meaningful.
I wish more people could sit in on one of these conversations.
To watch a student move from uncertainty to clarity in real time is incredibly powerful.
What begins as hesitation turns into engagement. What begins as doubt turns into purpose.
And the most important part is this.
It does not require a complete overhaul of the system.
It requires asking better questions, taking the time to understand the student, and guiding them in a way that helps them discover what they have not yet been able to articulate on their own.
Because when you ask a student who they are, many do not know how to answer that.
But they want to.
And when we give them the opportunity to discover that for themselves, everything begins to change.
This Is Not About Changing Everything
This is not about replacing what higher education already does well.
It is about strengthening it.
We are not missing resources. We are missing integration.
We cannot assume students are connecting the dots on their own.
We have to help them do that.
A Growing Movement Toward This Work
There are others beginning to recognize this gap and work toward solutions.
One resource I often recommend is Hacking College by Scott Carlson and Ned Laff, Ph.D.
What makes this work especially meaningful is not just the book itself, but the community that has formed around it. Institutions and professionals are coming together through book clubs and discussions to explore how we can better support students in navigating their education and future.
If you have been trying to build this kind of engagement, or are unsure where to begin, this is a strong place to start.
A Call to Action
If we want to strengthen confidence in higher education, we need to focus not just on what we offer students, but how we help them use it.
We need to help students understand who they are, connect their education to real-world outcomes, and guide them in navigating what comes next.
Higher education is not broken.
But there is a missing link.
And when we address it, we improve not only student outcomes, but the way students experience their education.
Closing
We cannot just deliver education.
We have to help students understand it, apply it, and move forward with it.
And if this is work you are exploring, or would like to begin, I would be happy to connect and share more about the approach I’ve implemented in my own work.