Although mandatory general education is necessary for a comprehensive education, these courses should be offered at a lower cost. Studying and completing endless coursework for classes that are unrelated to your major, minor or concentration can be incredibly tedious, daunting and frankly boring. Many students also view the assignments in these classes as mere busywork rather than meaningful work that will directly help them in their future endeavors. Students are already unmotivated by this extra and oftentimes unrelated work, and they should not have to bear the financial burden of these courses on top of that.
According to the University of Maine’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, “The Core Curriculum (previously called General Education) at the University of Maine makes up one third of a student’s academic experience. UMaine’s Core Curriculum prepares students to enter the world as leaders. The program consists of nine requirement categories that shape students into holistic learners and problem solvers. The competencies exhibited through these requirements help students develop skills that they can take with them beyond graduation as valued community members.”
It is important to understand that to some degree, UMaine’s Core Curriculum is commendable and necessary in preparing students to “enter the world as leaders,” providing graduates with the skills needed to work in a career outside of their initial area of study or employment.
According to a 2024 Lumina Foundation article, “For example, in some professional fields—medicine, engineering, law, and accounting—it’s easy to see the path to a job. But not always: A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that fewer than one in three college graduates work in their field of study. Other sources put the figure higher, but still only 46 percent.”
Though this approach to supporting and ensuring student success is certainly beneficial for recent college graduates who are currently facing unemployment or underemployment, the cost of implementation may not always be financially friendly to the majority of students.
As college students, soon-to-be college graduates, we have all thought about whether spending this much money, time and effort on a course that has nothing to do with our majors, minors or concentrations is worth it. The cost of these courses is a major financial concern that can deepen that financial burden, especially for out-of-state and/or non-traditional students. While higher
education institutions have a valid reason for wanting students to graduate with a well-rounded education rather than just expertise in a single area of study, students should not be required to pay high fees for general education courses that may or may not directly benefit their future careers.
