BE ORANGE VALUE

As prices continue to rise for nearly every product in the marketplace, “value” becomes more meaningful each day.

In the most practical sense, “value” means receiving a product of value at a price that is less than its actual worth.

Most people agree a college education provides value by increasing your earning potential over a lifetime.

A college education also provides less tangible but possibly more important value by enriching your life.

So how does Wartburg deliver value?

For starters, 95 percent of our graduates find jobs or are accepted into graduate school within seven months of graduation.

If you’ve looked at the posters outside the Admissions Office, you’ll see that global corporations like Jaguar, Pella Windows, Target and Hormel hire Wartburg graduates.

Wartburg also provides unique value that students don’t necessarily find at other institutions.

I have worked in higher education my entire life, spending 25 years at four different colleges and universities, public and private. Here are my observations of Wartburg’s special value:

Faculty choose to be at Wartburg, because they want to teach in the classroom.

At larger universities, graduate students may teach many of the introductory courses while Ph.D. faculty concentrate on research.

Full-time faculty advise our students. Another practice that is less common at larger institutions.

Study abroad and internship opportunities are built into our curriculum to insure participation doesn’t delay graduation.

A lot of institutions offer these opportunities, but many with the caveat that “this may delay your graduation.”

Graduating in four years is becoming less common, with only 38 percent of students at public universities completing their degrees in four years.

That additional year results in paying more tuition and also means you lose a year of salary regardless of whether you enter the work force immediately or go on to graduate school.

Successful individuals in today’s world are adaptable, service-minded, technology-savvy, well-rounded and have real life work experience coming out of college.

If you begin to question your college investment–and you will–I challenge you to find better “value” than your Wartburg education