saturday, november 16 , 2019. the washington post eZ su A
Politics & the Nation
BY SUSAN SVRLUGAWhen Larry Burrill started col-
lege, his goal was to walk into a j ob
that paid w ell after g raduation. He
was coming from a family of hum-
ble means and knew he would be
paying his way through school. He
chose Maine Maritime Academy,
set in a historic town miles down a
peninsula, because he knew grad-
uates were earning starting sala-
ries d ouble or triple w hat he could
otherwise expect to make.
That was back in the 1970s, but
today, as a senior executive at an
engineering services company he
helped found ( and a s a father who
paid f or his children’s c ollege edu-
cations), that practical approach
makes more sense to him than
ever. Higher education is so ex-
pensive now, he said, that few can
afford the luxury of meandering
through a liberal arts education
without making hard calculations
about employment prospects.
Is c ollege worth it? Researchers
at the Georgetown University
Center on Education and the
Workforce tried to answer that
question, using newly released
federal data to try to calculate
return on investment for thou-
sands of colleges across the coun-
try.
The results — searchable and
sortable online — were released
Thursday, with rankings of 4,
schools.
Some may discount the idea
that the true value of higher edu-
cation can be quantified, let alone
calculated in dollars.
But given surging student-loan
debt nationally, the study’s au-
thors argue it’s a question that
cannot be ignored. The issue has
galvanized national attention,
with many legislators loath to
fund universities that aren’t pre-
paring young people for the w ork-
force. And it’s an issue that is
deeply personal f or many families
as they worry about paying tuition
bills each f all.
Some o f the results w ill come as
no surprise: Among the top 10
colleges with the best long-term
net economic gain are Harvard
University, the Massachusetts In-
stitute of Te chnology and Stan-
ford University. Forty years after
enrollment, bachelor’s degrees
from private colleges have the
highest returns on investment.
But the top three on the top 10
list — eclipsing MIT and Stanford
— are schools specializing in phar-
macy and health sciences. The
only two public schools to make
that top 10 list are maritime acad-
emies.
And the Maine Maritime Acad-
emy? It’s on the top 10 list, out-
scoring Harvard.
“Return on investment is huge,”
said William J. Brennan, presi-
dent o f Maine Maritime Academy,
where the majority of students
come from within the state and
nearly half are the first in their
families to attend college.
“They’re looking to prepare them-
selves for a career that will include
hard work.”
In conversations with parents
of prospective students, Brennan
often casts t he academy as a value
proposition, he said: “It’s expen-
sive to attend college, but... we
will p repare t heir s ons a nd daugh-
ters to be successful in school so
they can be successful in their
careers.”
The academy consistently plac-
es at least 90 percent of graduates
in their chosen career fields with-
in 90 days, Brennan said, and
many of those jobs pay well, lead-
ing to a low default rate on student
loans. “The value of this education
is huge,” B rennan said.
Most people already knew a
Harvard degree confers power.
Many didn’t know it about
pharmacy schools.
Faith Byland worried in high
school in Indiana that she might
have trouble finding a job after
college. But she l earned that phar-
macists tend to have good job
security and earnings. And when
she enrolled at S t. Louis College of
Pharmacy — No. 2 on George-
town’s list of schools with the best
net economic gain — she calculat-
ed her return on investment
knowing she would graduate in
2016 with student debt but also a
job “that makes six figures right
off the bat.”She and her husband, also a
graduate, are able to live comfort-
ably in New York on their in-
comes, she said, and are thrilled
with their choice.
Higher education is a compli-
cated proposition, tricky to mea-
sure. The superintendent of one of
the leading schools on the list, the
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy,
said he doesn’t think candidates
to the academy are applying be-
cause of return on investment,
given the intense, challenging na-
ture of the service academy’s pro-
gram, w hich includes hundreds o f
days at sea and a commitment to
years of service. “Rather, it’s an
investment in themselves to be-
come leaders, and see where that
might take them,” Rear Adm. Jack
Buono said.
For Burrill, l ining u p on his first
day of class at Maine Maritime
Academy, getting issued a uni-
form and having his head shaved
so he looked like everyone else in
the regimental program was part
of an experience he values. So was
getting his hands dirty, using a
wrench and learning to weld —
along with studying calculus for
his engineering degree. So was
crossing the Atlantic on a giant
ship.
Some p eople wouldn’t want any
part of that.
Surveys suggest many students
are motivated to go to college to
learn more about subjects that
interest them — and to become a
better person, said professor An-
thony P. Carnevale, director of
Georgetown’s Center on Educa-
tion and the Workforce. But the
vast majority cite a career as a
primary goal for college, he said.
“This is the point of the spear.”
A drive for greater accountabil-
ity has been gaining momentum
for a long time, Carnevale said,
amid a huge increase in college-
going beginning in the 1980s andrapidly rising c osts that inspired a
demand for data on outcomes.
“This is a train that’s rolling and
will c ontinue to roll,” he said, w ith
political leaders pushing for
greater transparency.
For 16-year-olds thinking about
their futures, Carnevale said, the
rankings can help them — with
good college counseling — to per-
form risk analysis. If they want a
quick turnaround, they can
choose a certificate program with
a successful t rack record, with the
understanding it may be the most
lucrative choice a decade out but
probably won’t be the best valueduring a 40-year career. Or they
could decide that assuming debt is
worth it for f uture potential.
The study concluded that even
after paying o ff h igher a mounts of
debt, the average graduate of a
private four-year college has a net
economic gain of $838,000 over
40 years — compared with
$765,000 for a public college grad-
uate.
Or a student could choose a
theology school near the bottom
of the long-term return-on-invest-
ment list — because salary is not
important.
“This should encourage peopleto think like that,” Carnevale said.
“ ‘What do I want, who am I, what
can I afford, what are my op-
tions?’ ”
The rankings highlight names
that a student or school counselor
might not have considered, with
all the cultural pressure some feel
to attend a prestigious school.
“Most people don’t want to go
to Maine Maritime Academy —
they want to go to Harvard,” Car-
nevale said.
“I wanted to go to Maine Mari-
time Academy,” he added. “My
folks wouldn’t l et m e.”
[email protected]Georgetown study yields unexpected results on college return on investment
Richard A. Vargas, manager of
the Defense Department’s mili-
tary working dog program, told
those gathered that for all the talk
about courage, the canine troops’
service is motivated by two fairly
simple things: praise and r eward.
“The dog doesn’t k now whether
it’s g etting a friggin’ award o r not!”
Vargas said after the ceremony.
“Recognition for dogs is impor-
tant because it spurs public inter-
est.”
The two living animals seemed
to confirm this. Bucca, a former
stray who overcame a rough past
to become a star arson-detecting
K-9 for the New York Fire Depart-
ment, g lanced around the r oom as
her h andler p laced t he shiny gold-
en medal a round her neck.
Bass, a Belgian Malinois who
held the rare position of “multi-
purpose canine” in the Marine
Corps’ Special Operations Com-
mand until retiring a month ago,
was t here w ith h is former h andler,
now pet parent, Staff. Sgt. Alex
Schnell. On the dog’s collar were
four ribbons s ignifying c ombat ac-
tion and deployments in Iraq, Af-
ghanistan and Somalia. They
weren’t official: Schnell said he’d
purchased ribbons meant for hu-
mans and glued them on Bass’s
collar.
“I think dogs should rate
awards, for sure,” Schnell said.
“They’re out there on the ground,
just like service m embers a re. A lot
of times they get put in the most
dangerous positions, because
they’re out in f ront.”
Bass hardly seemed to notice as
Schnell draped the new medal
around his neck before the fawn-
ing crowd. Schnell then went to
the podium, where he spoke of
Bass’s “very special” bravery, and
joked that Bass expected everyone
present to “present him with a toy
and/or some scratches in homage
for his service.”
Bass stood in front of the podi-
um as Schnell spoke. When the
Marine’s speech was finished, he
tossed Bass the reward the dog
seemed to have been waiting for: a
tennis ball.
Bass caught the ball in his
mouth, then sat at his human’s
feet and chewed it contentedly.
[email protected]instead called for the Defense De-
partment t o give a commendation
to Conan and his handler. Legisla-
tion sponsored by Menendez and
signed by Trump in 2018 required
the armed forces to create a
“Guardians of America’s Freedom
Medal” f or military K-9 teams; the
department did not respond to
questions a bout the status of t hose
awards.
“Conan really helped prove our
point,” said Robin Hutton, who
has written books about Reckless
and animals in World War II and
spearheaded Thursday’s event.
“We might do a special ceremony
for him. He’s so big that we
wouldn’t w ant him to overshadow
the importance of the other ani-
mals.”
Hutton said she got the idea for
the awards — called the “A nimals
in War and Peace Medal of Brav-
ery” — after accepting a Dickin
Medal on R eckless’s behalf in 2016
and wondering why such an hon-
or didn’t e xist in t he U nited States.
Her goal i s to o pen a n internation-
al war animals museum in the
Washington region and give med-
als annually. The event was spon-
sored by her charity, Angels With-
out Wings, and the National Ma-
rine Corps League.
In addition to Reckless and GI
Joe, other animals posthumously
given medals were Chips, a pet
husky mix whose family volun-
teered him for service in World
War II; Stormy, a German shep-
herd who helped capture enemy
soldiers during the Vietnam War;
Lucca, who lost her left f ront l eg t o
one of the many roadside bombs
she detected in A fghanistan.
Also honored was Cher Ami, a
World War I pigeon shot down by
Germans while carrying a crucial
message — “OUR OWN ARTIL-
LERY IS DROPPING A BARRAGE
DIRECTLY ON US. FOR HEAV-
ENS SAKE STOP IT.” Wounded,
Cher Ami took to the skies again,
delivering the dispatch with her
right leg hanging by a tendon.
Although the preserved animal is
on display at the National Muse-
um of American History, a muse-
um spokeswoman said Cher Ami
was unable to be brought to the
museum, in part because she is
one-legged and fragile.for a s long a s war has b een w aged.
Dogs are most common now, but
Hannibal used elephants,
Genghis Khan rode horses, and
the U.S. military has recruited
bats, d olphins a nd c hickens. S ince
1943, an animal welfare charity in
the United Kingdom has awarded
the Dickin Medal, a rough equiva-
lent to the Victoria Cross, to war
animals. But while Reckless re-
ceived two Purple Hearts, there’s
not much pomp these days for
nonhuman veterans o n this side of
the A tlantic.
Calls to honor war animals
were energized last month after
Conan, a Belgian Malinois, was
injured while helping U.S. forces
take down Islamic State leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria.
President Trump praised the mili-
tary working dog’s “GREAT JOB”
and tweeted a Photoshopped im-
age of himself placing a paw-print
medal around Conan’s neck. Vet-
erans have called for a real Purple
Heart for the dog, for which the
Pentagon says he is n ot eligible.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
slammed the “fake medal” andBY KARIN BRULLIARDCapitol Hill is divided these
days. Impeachment hearings are
leaving public servants cast as
spies and saviors, connivers and
guardians.
Perhaps that is why applause
for a stuffed pigeon in a plexiglass
case in a House building seemed
particularly vigorous on T hursday
evening. The bird has been dead
for 58 years, but during World
War II, it saved more than
1 00 Allied soldiers by flying
20 miles in 20 m inutes t o deliver a
message that aborted an immi-
nent bombing by friendly forces.
His name was GI Joe, and he was
one o f the eight r ecipients of a new
charity-sponsored medal of brav-
ery for American war a nimals.
Organizers, members of Con-
gress and animal handlers present
said the awards were long over-
due. Some called it a historic day. A
few wept. One of GI Joe’s postwar
caretakers — who said t he pigeon’s
speed on that fateful day was
probably assisted by a tail wind —
teared up as he patted the bird’s
case. Now, as then, GI Joe did not
waver.
Against the backdrop of im-
peachment hearings, that theme
stood out: T he honored animals —
five dogs, two pigeons and one
horse — did not know their na-
tion’s m ission or e nemies. But t hey
knew their jobs and did them with
nary a peep, bark or neigh. Some
speakers mused about why the
animals acted bravely, citing l oyal-
ty to pack, adoration for handlers,
and p rogramming b y training. E v-
eryone said they were heroes.
“Let the record show: Sergeant
Reckless was a lot more coura-
geous t han I ,” f ormer s enator J ohn
W. Warner (R-Va.), a Korean War
veteran, s aid of a horse who served
in that war.
Reckless knew to run for cover
during i ncoming f ire, s hared tents
with fellow Marines, enjoyed beer
and bacon, and most important,
carried 9,000 pounds of ammuni-
tion in 51 round trips over steep,
frozen hills during the 1953 Battle
for Outpost Vegas. The mare was
later named a staff sergeant by the
Marine Corps C ommandant.
Animals have served in battles
Animals honored with new medal for wartime bravery
photos by bonnie Jo Mount/the Washington postABOVE: Former senator John Warner, center, pets Bass during
Thursday’s ceremony on Capitol Hill in which eight animals, two of
which are living, were awarded the new Animals in War and Peace
Medal of Bravery. Bass, a now-retired Belgian Malinois, served in
combat or on deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.BELOW: The preserved remains of GI Joe, a pigeon that saved
more than 100 Allied soldiers in World War II by delivering a key
message, were on display. The medal is sponsored by the charity
Angels Without Wings and the National Marine Corps League.Offer expires 1 2 /1/Red Line’s
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