School is getting harder. Achieving meritocracy, in turn, is also getting harder.
Although once seen as a direct path to success, the price to pursue higher education is becoming exceedingly high, with the cost being the death of meritocracy.
Medicine, law, and other competitive fields have always been exclusive. It was the belief that education could level out economic classes or at least lead to upward mobility that urged students to follow that path, despite barriers.
Yet the barriers are only getting taller and more divisive.
If the rich keep getting richer and, at the same time, smarter, then what keeps our country from becoming more and more stratified?
Third-year University of Iowa student, Josh Thomas, condemned the growing gap between socioeconomic statuses.
“It is sad to see the gap between the haves and the have-nots widening and starting to affect metrics as serious as life expectancy,” Thomas said. “America will never be a meritocracy without equal access to education.”
And the numbers support him. Those without college degrees or higher are dying at a younger age than those with. Well-educated people have always had better access to proper resources, from health care to housing. So it is not surprising that as of 2019, the life-expectancy gap increased to about 11 years
Effective in 2026, President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will set a student loan cap at $100,000 for graduate schools and $200,000 for professional programs, like medical and law school. Although intended to curb excessive borrowing and tuition, pre-med and medical students, comparatively, will face the opposite effect.
The average four-year bachelor’s degree already results in $35,530 of debt, and the current total student loan debt exceeds $1.8 trillion. Among these statistics, a doctoral degree leaves a student in an average of $234,587 student loan debt, which is well over the federal limit.
Consequently, many students will be forced to choose between taking out private loans that often come with higher interest rates or, worse, abandoning their ambition altogether.
Lucia Fisher, a second-year at the UI, plans to attend medical school after undergrad, but can’t help but express her concern.
“I can’t say I didn’t think about shifting career paths. It is definitely stressful knowing I may not be able to pay for it, and the years-long journey ahead is daunting. But in the end, it is about why I am doing it, and that is what makes it worth it.”
Tuition is only one aspect of the shifting educational environment that leaves students worrying. Second-year pre-pharmacy student Rebecca Schroeder is thinking about something else.
“With the instability of the job market right now, it is almost impossible to get a job without having connections,” she said.
Thanfully, pharmacology is a growing practice, and is estimated to grow 5 percent within the next decade. But the question remains if the job market even warrants higher education. If institutions keep giving credentials and education without matching job growth, students are left with debt and a degree that won’t make a difference in the long-run.
So the new bill does have logic to it. Now, students won’t be burdened with such a substantial debt and encourage institutions to rethink the value of their resources. Yet, the bill does not differentiate between fields. A humanities or public policy masters program might be doable financially, but not everyone faces the same tuition.
Earning a bachelor’s degree is one thing, but the U.S.’s job market is more about who you know and what they can do for you. Students from wealthy families are more likely to have family, friends, alumni, or paid opportunities to help network, instead of relying on cold job applications.
“It is reassuring to know people from the [UI] Pharmacy School can help me find a post-graduate path,” she said. “I know that if I didn’t, I would be more worried.”