‘Is college worth it stories’ are missing context

On Wednesday, Arit John examined eight stories from several publications that ask ‘is college worth it?’ All reach different conclusions.

The problem with “is college worth it?” stories is that data journalists don’t offer enough context, and trend piece writers are often writing for wealthy, mostly white families — not the people who see college as a chance for social mobility. As the last four years of college valuation journalism shows, college is worth it for most people, as long as you major in something useful, get a job, and aren’t too poor to graduate.