“There’s so much more to a college degree than just what your major is. You’re learning how the world works.”

Jackson Wheeland is a third-year student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studying English. Wheeland’s relationship with higher education has gone through a rollercoaster over his three years at UWM. After exploring various fields of study and stepping away from college altogether, he now finds himself more comfortable than ever in his educational aspirations.

Olivia Davis: Did you always know that you wanted to go to college after high school?

Jackson Wheeland: I knew that is what you did. My attitude going into college was like, okay, you go to college after high school, of course, but I don’t know if I ever truly considered it as much as I should have. My parents went to college, all my peers were going to college. It felt correct to seek a higher education. School has never been my thing, but I decided to go. I don’t think I thought it through as much as I could have, or maybe sought out opinions from people older than me as much as I could have, but I did and I found my footing.

Q: Did you always know what you wanted to go to school for?

A: No, when I was applying to colleges, I did not know what I wanted to go for, and I probably should have just done undecided. But I went into communications, initially, and I changed to biomedical science, because I was panicking about not getting a job in communications because everybody said it’s useless degree, which freaked me out. And then I was like, why am I doing this? I’m not a scientist. I’m not someone who should be in STEM. I took a gap semester, and now I’m in English and I feel comfortable here.

Q: How has changing majors influenced how you view the value of going to school?

A: Well, when you switch your major so many times throughout two years, it’s like the clock starts ticking. When you do it, you’re like, I’m just going to switch my major. All I’m doing is gen eds anyway. But then you’re in something for a while and you’re thinking, okay, now I have real credits that are racking up towards this. And if you want to leave it, which I have done in the past, it’s going to be hard to graduate, it’s going to be hard to graduate by the time you want to and the money is going to be racking up as well. I feel like it’s strengthened my value in higher education. They want you to graduate, they want you to be able to find where you’re comfortable. Ultimately, switching majors has it made my value for higher education greater because I’ve realized how important it is for me.

Q: If after you took your gap semester, you decided not to continue attending college, would you have felt confident in your future career without a bachelor’s level of education?

A: No, because I wouldn’t know where to start. In short, it really freaked me out to not go to college. I have so many people tell me that you just need a degree. I think I’d feel stressed, I’d feel lost and aimless. I know that there are so many opportunities without going to college. I would just have no direction. For what I would prefer to be doing with my life, which is writing, you usually would need a college degree, or at least be good at it, which a degree would get you to a place you want it to be.

Q: Do you think it’s a bit pointless to get a degree in something that doesn’t have a lot of jobs that are opening or being created?

A: There’s so much more to a college degree than just what your major is. You’re learning so many things about just how the world works. All my classes are all kinds of different studies, and we’ll look at it through American capitalism, gender equality, sexuality… there’s so many lenses and perspectives that you’re able to gain through getting an education, which I think is important. The point of a degree is to be able to learn how you need to do the thing that you want to do, and practice and practice and practice. I think not a lot of people have the motivation to do that without a degree.

Q: Do you think that there’s more value in what you experience in going to college rather than what your degree specifically is in?

A: Yeah, I think both hold an equal amount of value. Obviously, your degree is what you’re going to be going into, but there’s so many people that get that get a degree and then don’t go into what their degree is. College does feel like a good buffer, even though there’s so much money that you’re putting into it, but you’re learning so many skills and you’re learning so many things about yourself as well while you’re there.

Q: Yeah, I feel like that’s what a lot of people use college for, as kind of in between, like, I’m eighteen and I don’t know what I’m doing. You just keep going because school is all you’re used to doing.

A: It’s familiar. It’s scary to be not in school.

Q: Then, when people graduate, they experience being a real adult for the first time ever, with a nine to five job, and it can be scary.

Q: I remember when I did my gap semester, it was scary. I wasn’t living with my parents or anything. I was just in Milwaukee alone, with a job that I already knew, it was scary. I felt aimless at that time. I felt like I was being a real adult prematurely, which was anxiety inducing.

Q: Would you say that investing in higher education is worth it to obtain higher paying jobs?

A: Yeah, I think getting a degree to get a higher paying job is important. It is an interesting sort of balance between getting a degree or just getting a job straight after high school, because you’ll have loans. I’ll have loans that I’ll need to pay off when I get out of college. For the people that don’t go to college after high school, their job might not be paying as much, but they also won’t be paying the debts that students have. The debts take off a chunk of the student’s salary, but then again, once the loans are paid off, they still have the higher paying job. It’s interesting to think about those things. I feel like there’s uncertainty both ways.

Q: Does the burden of student loans and rising costs of tuition and living expenses create a sense of worry for how financially successful you might be in the future?

A: Of course. I think about it often. It definitely worries me. Everything’s getting more expensive, and the pay isn’t going up for people. I’m sure that I’m sure that this degree will get me a job. That’s what I’m telling myself.

Q: What inspires you to pursue higher education despite these burdens?

A: I’ll be a better candidate than people that don’t have the degree. Even if that just puts me a little bit above whoever else is applying to certain jobs, it brings me some comfort. You’re learning so much other than what your degree is in, you’re learning about how the world works, too.