Students across Canada are into a new school year, committing to post-secondary programs, and the costs and efforts that come with them.

But is getting a degree worth it?

Callers to CBC’s Cross Country Checkup recently gave their views on both sides of the debate.

“It’s not worth it. I think it’s too expensive now,” Steven Gregory, who lives in Montreal, told host Ian Hanomansing, on Saturday.

Many people make significant contributions to society without ever attending university, he added.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, domestic undergraduate students paid an average of more than $7,000 for tuition, according to Statistics Canada, with tuition highest in Nova Scotia ($9,575), Saskatchewan ($9,232) and New Brunswick ($8,706).

Employment can be a concern

The most recent Statistics Canada data also shows the average student loan debt for a university graduate with a bachelor’s degree is more than $30,000.

Other callers to Cross Country Checkup also voiced concerns about the practical value of university degrees in today’s world. Debt is one issue: Finding a job in a relevant field is often another.

LISTEN | What’s the point of university?

Anita McCabe, who lives on Prince Edward Island, said her daughter has struggled to find work, even in a coffee shop, after graduating this year with a degree in biology.

“It’s been really challenging to find employment,” McCabe said.

McCabe still believes getting a degree is worth it, but added some programs, such as nursing, offer a clearer path to paid employment than others.

A report by the Bank of Canada noted workers in Canada with higher education still make more money on average than their peers, but that gap has been narrowing over the past 20 years.

“Although the wage premium earned on higher education has been declining, it remains substantial,” the report says.

“In short, getting a higher education still pays, especially if you land a job that uses your education in your daily activities.”

LISTEN | What should you do once you graduate?

Higher education also benefits society, prof says

Joel Westheimer, a professor in the faculty of education at the University of Ottawa, said finding work is only one way to measure the value of going to university.

He said higher education also encourages people to develop critical thinking skills that contribute to a healthy democratic society.

“We all have a stake not just in educating our children, if we have them, but in being able to live in an educated society. In other words, we all benefit from people being educated,” he told Hanomansing.

“We know that a university education leads to better health outcomes in the long run, lower incarceration rates, other social goods that save the public both money and improve society in the process.”

Westheimer said he went to university for electrical engineering, but switched tracks to become a teacher and, later, a university professor. He said the entire experience was worth it.

“I learned a particular way of thinking. I learned how to think and I learned how to learn things.”

He said he also made lifelong friends and learned how to engage in the community.

Gregory agreed with Westheimer on the value of critical thinking.

“For a democracy, we need people to be engaged. We need thinkers,” said Gregory, who runs an international forum on peace, security and prosperity.

“But to think that you only get that from a university degree is, I believe, false logic. I’ve met a great number of tradespeople, of businesspeople, who never went to university [but] who’ve contributed immensely to democracy.”

Westheimer agreed there is no one road to developing critical thinking skills, “but university still serves a function for a large number of people who want to gain their experiences that way.”