More accolades for the University of Washington, as the Times of London released its latest World University Rankings and the UW is 23rd overall and fourth among American public universities.

No. 1 on the list is Harvard, and 15 of the top 20 universities in the world are from the United States. The top-ranked American public university is UC-Berkeley (No. 6), followed by UCLA (No. 8) and the University of Michigan (No. 12).

So what does this mean? Well, it means there are a lot of amazing things happening here. The UW is a huge economic driver in our region, generating $9.1 billion for Washington state annually. It’s also the third-largest employer in the state behind Boeing and Microsoft, with more than 69,000 jobs supported by the UW. And don’t forget about the students who continue to excel. More than 25% of UW undergrads study abroad at some point, which is the seventh-highest participation rate in the entire country. Stupore!

Alumni everywhere are making an impact. The UW has led the U.S. in total alumni volunteering for the Peace Corps four years running. Costco, Weyerhauser, Nordstrom and countless other businesses large and small have been created by UW graduates. And there are famous faces all across the globe—Joel McHale stars in the hit NBC sitcom Community, Johnson Toribiong is the president of Palau, Cammie Croft is director of New Media and Citizen Engagement at the U.S. Department of Energy.

And that’s just three of the more than 300,000 living alumni who make the UW special. We’ve always known our university was world-class, but it’s a pretty cool feeling to hear somebody else say it, too.

Thanks to everyone who makes the UW great. Yeah, that’s you!

A recent headline in The Washington Post read, “College isn’t the golden investment it once was.” The story argues that higher education is simply a bad financial investment in many cases, that it doesn’t make nearly as much sense as it did 5, 10, 20 years ago. What do you think? Is college what it used to be?

Obviously, this an issue that hits close to home for many of us. I earned a journalism degree at the University of Washington that taught me so much and has paved the way for my professional career. Now, I’m a graduate student here and am getting every penny’s worth out of that investment. For me, this is a great deal.

James Altucher, an author and hedge fund manager, is quoted in the story as saying, “You’ve been fooled into thinking there’s no other way for my kid to get a job,”  arguing that using a college education as a springboard to wealth and prosperity is an outdated way of thinking. He says people should start a business or pursue their travels, but you could easily ask where somebody might get the knowledge (not to mention the money) to do those things if they don’t go to college?

The story also makes note of a Wall Street Journal report calculating that the hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. student-loan debt has actually overtaken the country’s credit-card debt. That’s an amazing statistic, no question, but I’m not sure it negates the need for people to pursue a college degree. Higher ed isn’t for everyone, but it’s a game-changer for many including myself.

I encourage you to read the story if you have time. Then return for a discussion on what the value of college is these days. Please share what you think. Times are definitely changing and tuition is increasing across the board, but is the college experience still something we value as a culture?

Photo by Wonderlane.