Founded in 1868, Wayne State University is located in Detroit. It’s no insight to write that it’s a lesser-known Michigan college relative to University of Michigan, Michigan State, and perhaps even Eastern, Central, and Western Michigan.
What’s interesting about Wayne State is that despite it being not as well-known as other Michigan schools, it can claim more than a few famous alums. There’s Ernie Hudson of Ghostbusters fame, the late Casey Kasem (arguably the most famous voice of the U.S.’s radio era), actor Tom Skerritt (Top Gun, among others), actress Lily Tomlin, musician extraordinaire Jack White, and even a billionaire in real estate developer Stephen Ross (Related Cos.).
A conclusion that some might come to with its prominent alums in mind is that while not very well known, it must offer a good education. Maybe, maybe not. More realistically, Wayne State’s impressive list of alums is indicative of how things used to be when it came to getting into college, and paying for it.
Wayne State is a commuter school. Then and now more than a few attended while also living at home to save money and also working part-time to earn the money necessary to pay for a college education. Which is the point of this opinion piece.
Back before the federal government arrogated to itself an outsize role as financier of college education, the Wayne States of the world were where ambitious people who didn’t have a lot of money, who wanted to save money on college, or both, got their degrees. With four years at the more prestige types of schools much more expensive to finance, commuter schools to some degree filled the void.
About these schools, it wasn’t the education that lifted their alums any more than a degree at Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford elevated the career-relevant knowledge of those students. College was and is always a signaling device. Attendance at Yale did and does signal smarts sufficient to be accepted, and that would logically appeal to employers. For those who got and get in based on family ties, connections to high-end employers similarly did - and presumably do - the job.
With a school like Wayne State, the signaling from a degree there was surely different, but no less important. A Wayne State diploma was evidence of ambition against tougher financial odds, a desire among individuals to make big sacrifices to go to college. Call “working my way through school” a resume builder that no fancy degree or family tie could top. What a story to tell a potential employer.
Federal student loans didn’t raise tuition at the prestige schools contra the consensus, but they did raise the cost of not attending those prestige schools. Only for the college-minded to go heavily into debt to buy a prestige name while getting an education that wouldn’t be much different than that offered at Wayne State.
Now, since federal student loans make the financing of college education a foregone conclusion, it could be argued that those harmed the most by the federal government’s generosity with the money of others are the individuals least situated financially when it comes to going to college. Their degree comes with lots of debt, but minus the story of impressive efforts gone to just to get the degree.