As Colleges Edge Toward Luxury Status, Gucci Offers A Cautionary Tale

Forbes

Dr. Marcus Collins

April 4, 2024

The rising cost of college has increased so drastically that higher education has been equated to a luxury brand. Like the representative properties of a Gucci label, an undergraduate degree from a top-ranking university can serve as a badge of status and perceived acumen—both of which lubricate the possibilities for professional opportunities and social mobility.

The logic is fairly straightforward: you surely must be “somebody” and have done something to afford such designer wears. Likewise, you must have come from good stock and be pretty clever to have graduated from “fill in the blank” university. Admittance to such an institution alone suggests a vetting process that affixes a good-housekeeping seal on the preverbal lapel of a student’s resume, which increases their candidacy for a good paying job.

Therefore, people are willing to spend upwards to $90,000 a year to attend such universities in hopes of benefiting from what these brands denote much like people are willing to spend a small fortune to own luxury branded products—despite how cost prohibitive they both may be for many of us.

Continue Reading