The Value of a College Degree: Dean Christine Carrino Gorowara Commencement Remarks

Remarks for January 2026 Commencement
Dean Christine Carrino Gorowara
School of Education

Welcome and congratulations, graduates!  And welcome families and loved ones who are here to support them!

Today we celebrate our graduates, because you have done something special and important – you have earned a college degree.  This is something only about one in three Americans have done.  Some of you have actually earned a second college degree, something fewer than one in six Americans have done.

Now it seems like we have been hearing more questioning in recent years about whether a college degree is worth it.  And mostly when people ask that, they mean is it financially worth it – will the time and effort and money you invested in getting a college degree pay off in the form of greater earnings in the future.

By the way, the answer to that question is still, in most cases, yes, a college degree is worth it financially.

But we might think about whether a college degree is worth it by other measures.  Here’s what I would ask:  how did earning this degree change your life?

I saw this interesting thread on Reddit that asked people to describe their life in five words.

Some people chose five things they were or things they did, like:

1. Wife
2. Mother
3. Teacher
4. Swimmer
5. Reader

Some people chose five adjectives, like:

1. Adventurous
2. Love-filled
3. Authentic
4. Messy
5. Hopeful

Some made a five-word phrase, like:

1. Work
2. Eat
3. Sleep
4. Rinse
5. Repeat

Or:

1. Bad
2. Jokes
3. And
4. Awkward
5. Moments

Some were kind of meta, like:

1. I
2. Never
3. Finish
4. Anything

So how is the five-word description of your life different because you have earned a college degree?

Maybe as of today, your five words would be the qualities you discovered in yourself as you were studying for your degree while balancing school with work and family responsibilities:

1. Resilient
2. Persistent
3. Intelligent
4. Disciplined
5. Resourceful

Maybe they describe how you now see your future:

1. Doing
2. A
3. Job
4. I
5. Love

Or:

1. Life
2. Is
3. Full
4. Of
5. Possibility

Maybe they reflect ways you have come to see yourself:

1. Learner
2. Analyzer
3. Professional
4. Leader
5. Expert

Think about your five words, and how they are different today from what they would have been before you came to Trinity.  Whatever they are, know that from this day forward, they will be linked in some way to these five words:

1. I
2. Earned
3. A
4. College
5. Degree