With an epidemic of college students dropping out before graduating, administrators are scrambling to find ways to retain financially strapped scholars.

UCLA student Ramsey Ugarte questions the sense and logic behind a new program recently developed jointly by numerous institutions that is designed to enhance degree completion rates.

There’s a scene in “Good Will Hunting” in which Matt Damon’s character challenges a Harvard student, saying he is paying $150,000 for what he could get for $1.50 in library fees.

Judging by the recently announced Project Degree Completion, the recent pledge by almost 500 public universities to help 3.8 million more students earn college degrees by 2025, not enough people have watched this movie.

Given that the United States has fallen to 14th place in the world in the proportion of citizens to degree holders and the fact that university graduates have significantly higher salaries than non-degree holders, sending more kids to college seems like an obvious bonus.

But not so fast – there is distinct merit in the Good Will Hunting argument. After all, tuition has inflated by leaps and bounds while the true value of a degree remains questionable.

The relationship between the jobs we get and how we actually use our degree in that setting is often unclear and sometimes nonexistent. There is little emphasis in technical training and the current price tag on a “conventional” degree is unreasonable given the largely intangible nature of our degrees.

Project Degree Completion focuses on bumping up graduation rates and ensuring that students who start bachelor’s degree programs are able to finish their studies.

The organization’s pledge to drive up graduation numbers should be refocused to address more pertinent issues, like a pledge to decrease the cost of attendance, increase the actual value of a degree or shorten the time it takes to obtain a degree so students are not wasting their time or money.

After all, with UCLA’s almost 90 percent graduation rate, should public universities like those within the University of California system be focusing so intently on this statistic?

Though the pledge is largely symbolic and nonbinding, it plays into the movement to encourage a reverse in the disinvestment in public higher education by state governments.

Leading the charge are the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, which will hold schools accountable by publishing their progress toward these goals.

As you’re probably sitting somewhere on UCLA’s campus reading this, you know well the reasons to go to college: financial security, better job placement rates and personal development.

You want that banking job, research position or just the time to explore your options. After all, didn’t our high school counselors tell us that getting great jobs requires an equally impressive degree?

In theory, this is correct, assuming entry into universities is widely accessible and the cost of attendance is at a reasonable level.

So has Project Degree Completion accurately diagnosed the root of the U.S.’s public higher education crisis?

Not quite. More people and more degrees is not the answer.

Changing this mind-set will take a momentous cultural re-evaluation of the value and efficacy of college.

While a traditional four-year degree might be the right path for many disciplines, in other pursuits a college career could be four years better spent accruing hands-on work experience, technical training and apprenticeships.

More than anything, diplomas are ultimately just a broad signifier of intelligence and likely work ethic at an institution.

The lesson learned from Project Degree Completion may be that if any pledge is necessary, it’s one for more competition in how employers select a candidate beyond university reputation and grade point averages.

As it stands, universities have very little reason for overhaul because of the cultural emphasis on attending college – students will keep matriculating no matter what.

The personal development through intellectual pursuits and academic rigor that college elicits are things of great worth, but it is hard to be convinced that foundations for certain careers cannot be adequately acquired at the high school level or even learned on the job.

The answer is never simple but the conversation needs to change.
Attending college will forever be a noble feat, but after two years here at UCLA, it remains difficult to see whether it was entirely necessary.