There are plenty of studies, editorials, and news stories bemoaning the rising cost of higher education, but rising costs are only alarming when the quality of the product is remaining constant – who wants to pay more today for the same product you bought yesterday? When a new version of the iPhone or iPad is launched, people happily stand in line to pay more because of the product has significantly improved features, innovation, and benefits. The same is true when we shop for a car or a home – we instinctively associate higher price with higher quality.

So what’s happened with university education? Simply stated, the product has not improved enough to offset the increasing costs. If a parent or high school student was convinced that a particular university experience would absolutely revolutionize one’s life, open doors of opportunity and enrichment, and light a fire of passionate purpose to fulfill his/her potential, they would eagerly search for a way to pay for it, and they would be less likely to complain about the cost.

Universities are quite good at explaining the theoretical underpinnings of behavior, societies, politics, economics, physics, etc. – the “why” – but have not given nearly the same attention at teaching the “how” – i.e., making the knowledge useful or actionable in the real world. As a result, we have graduates with degrees but no deliverables. The education and psychology literature (e.g., Dewey; Kolb) has clearly demonstrated the cognitive benefits from experiential learning, but something deeper happens within students when they convert their interests and passions into projects that benefit others. They begin to get a sense for their place in the world – the very thing they came to college for in the first place.

If universities can teach both the “why” and the “how” of every discipline, they will be closer to offering that transformative experience to students that is truly priceless.