Higher Education as a Path to Purpose

Every young American deserves a chance to find purpose. (This is really important to me.) That purpose may come through college, but it can also come through apprenticeships, the trades, military service, or entrepreneurship. My concern, both as a college administrator and as an American, isn’t simply expanding access to education, but ensuring the education we provide—at every level—is rigorous, meaningful, and directed toward preparing young people for lives of responsibility and contribution.

Why It Matters:

  • Not One-Size-Fits-All: Too often, we send a message that the only respectable path is college. That leaves many young men and women feeling alienated or like failures if they don’t follow that route. Purpose should be honored whether it’s found on a college campus or elsewhere.

  • Standards and Substance Over Ideology: Expanding access means little if what students access is watered down. Colleges and universities must resist the temptation to lower standards or focus more on ideological fashions like DEI than on truth-seeking, knowledge, and excellence.

  • A Generation in Crisis: Young people, especially young men, are adrift, falling behind academically and socially, and too often turning to destructive influences for meaning. Education—broadly defined—can and should offer them a healthy path forward.

  • Community Strength: Purpose-driven citizens, whether college graduates or skilled tradespeople, strengthen families, communities, and the nation as a whole.

Policy Priorities:

  1. Support Multiple Pathways: Encourage parity of esteem between colleges, trades, apprenticeships, and military service—so no young person feels their path is “lesser” if it doesn’t involve a four-year degree.

  2. Maintain Academic Standards: Push back against lowering admissions or curricular standards; excellence and rigor must remain at the heart of higher education.

  3. Refocus Higher Education: Incentivize programs that prioritize mentorship, civic education, and personal growth—not just career placement or political activism.

  4. Invest in Trades & Apprenticeships: Expand access to high-quality vocational training and apprenticeships so students graduate into purpose-filled lives, whether or not they go to college.

  5. Affordability with Accountability: Support reforms that make both college and trades training affordable, while holding institutions accountable for student outcomes.


Higher education should not be a one-size-fits-all assembly line. Purpose can be found in a classroom, a laboratory, on a military base, a construction site, or in a garage. What matters most isn’t pushing every young person into the same mold, but giving them the tools, standards, and opportunities to live meaningful lives.

I have made it my mission to fight for strong colleges, strong trade programs, and strong communities—because throwing money at education or lowering standards won’t solve the real problems. Young men and women deserve more than slogans; they deserve a path to purpose.