October 2005

A college degree: The million-dollar difference

As you read this, do a favor for me: Picture your resume in your mind.

If it's like most resumes, it has your name at the top, with your contact information below it. Then it has an "employment history" section that, in a series of bulleted paragraphs, provides an overview of your career. With each job, you include a brief outline of your responsibilities and achievements.

Finally, your resume offers a summary of your educational background: degrees earned, papers published and honors received. This no doubt includes descriptions of campus activities such as student government, athletics or law review, as well as internships and other learning opportunities you've pursued.

Now, do me one more favor: On this resume you have in your mind, delete that last section. Take away the university degrees, the papers and the honors. Cross off the activities and internships. Then take another look at the "employment history" section. How many of the successes listed there would disappear if your college experience had never happened?

On Oct. 4, during a celebration of community partnerships at Eastern Hancock High School, Purdue University President Martin Jischke shared a story that illustrates the real difference a college education can make. He related that, in the late 19th century, a Chicago minister delivered a sermon outlining what he would do if he had a million dollars: open a university that would provide college educations to young people who otherwise could not afford to go to college. In the church that day was a man named Philip Danforth Armour — the "Armour" of Armour hotdogs. He was so moved by the sermon that he told the minister that, if he were serious about his idea, Armour would give him the million dollars.

Thus was born the Armour Institute, later the Illinois Institute of Technology which, many years later, accepted as a student a Chicago neighborhood grocer's son named Martin Jischke.

Why did Jischke tell this story? Because he was talking to a group of community leaders and students who could identify with it: the supporters and recipients of Purdue Opportunity Awards, need-based scholarships that, coupled with other aid, pay for tuition and room and board during students' first year at Purdue. The students also receive monetary assistance as sophomores to cover the gap remaining after all forms of other aid have been applied. They then serve as mentors to the next group of award recipients. Thanks to donors, the university awards these each year to at least one student from every Indiana county who faces exceptional challenges ranging from family situations to financial crises. These bright young people likely would not be able to attend college without this program.

Having considered how different your own resume would be if it didn't have a college education as its foundation, you can imagine the difference a college education can make in the lives of young people entering the work force today. With a college degree, doors open and opportunities increase exponentially. And, of course, earning power goes through the roof. U.S. Census Bureau statistics suggest the average worker with a bachelor's degree will earn — appropriately enough — nearly $1 million more in his or her career than someone with only a high school diploma.

As colleges and universities work to balance increasing costs and declining public-sector support, it's imperative that more and more individuals step forward to support the educational opportunities of young men and women.

That is why the Hancock County Community Foundation supports this Purdue program. But many more students need help. We urge you to call Purdue or other higher education institutions to learn about programs that help underwrite the educational costs of less-fortunate students. And then write a check. And next year, write another one. Because, while we might not each have $1 million to contribute toward the creation of a new university, collectively we can provide the funds to change countless destinies.

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