Value of American Higher Education: Non-Parametric Analysis of a LinkedIn Survey

Abstract

The costs of a higher education are preclusive for many Americans. This is true despite the trend over the years for legal policy to encourage greater access for underrepresented demographics. This paper reports on the free-education trend via inquiry of a variety of professionals, students, and academics via LinkedIn (n = 621). After conducting a series of Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests on the survey data, the results indicated that higher education holds definite perceptual value, while also suggesting concerns in terms of cost. The true cost of some higher education versus its practical, financial, future-value remains an issue to be balanced by society. This debate will also need to implicate access to education by poor and minority demographics. There is a definable need for further studies comparing policy options; whether they are derived from social media or a conference room is less important than if we fail to have these discourses at all.