Commencement season is now underway across San Diego. Earlier this month, Point Loma Nazarene University celebrated the Class of 2026 as graduates crossed the stage and stepped into what comes next. In the weeks ahead, universities across the region will mark similar moments of achievement and transition for tens of thousands of students.
It is a moment of celebration, but also one of reflection. As graduates step forward, they enter lives that will ask much of them professionally, personally, and as members of a broader community. That reality raises a fundamental question: how are we measuring whether higher education is truly preparing them for what lies ahead?
Higher education is increasingly judged by job placement and salary outcomes, even as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies rapidly reshape the workforce and redefine the skills graduates need. Many families are right to ask hard questions about cost, access and return. But when we focus only on those measures, we risk missing something just as important.
Recent analyses, including those highlighted in financial media and workforce research, have tried to quantify the value of a college degree by comparing tuition costs to lifetime earnings. The conclusion is often the same: higher education is, at its core, a financial investment. That perspective makes sense, but it is not the full picture.
To be clear, the practical outcomes matter. Students should leave school ready to build stable, meaningful careers. At Point Loma Nazarene University, we see that happen every year, with graduates entering a wide range of professions with the skills they need to serve and the adaptability to keep growing as industries evolve.
But that is only part of the story. The world our graduates are entering does not present challenges in neat categories. It asks them to make decisions when things aren’t clear, to engage with people who see the world differently and to carry responsibility in moments that require both confidence and humility. These are not problems solved by technical expertise alone. They require sound judgment. They require deep character.
At its best, higher education helps form those qualities. It shapes how students think, how they listen and how they engage with the world around them. It helps them learn not just what is possible, but what is responsible.
This kind of formation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires environments where students wrestle with real questions, examine their assumptions and learn to engage perspectives that differ from their own. In a culture often shaped by polarization and outrage, graduates who can engage others with both conviction and humility offer a different kind of witness. It requires an education that values wisdom as much as knowledge.
At Point Loma Nazarene University, this approach is grounded in a Christ-centered understanding of education, one that affirms the dignity of every person and calls students to lives marked by compassion, justice and service. As we look ahead to our 125th anniversary, that mission feels as relevant as ever: preparing graduates not just for careers, but for lives of purpose in a world that is anything but simple.
And that matters here in San Diego. Our region depends on people who are ready not only to contribute professionally, but to lead, serve and respond to real challenges in their communities.
That formation takes shape in tangible ways at PLNU. Students tutor in local schools, support patients through clinical rotations and partner with nonprofits working on issues like homelessness, education and public health. They learn to ask not just what they can do, but what they should do.
And we see it in our alumni — not only in where they go, but in how they show up. In classrooms, hospitals, businesses and community organizations, they lead with integrity and choose paths that reflect both purpose and responsibility.
Commencement is more than a celebration of achievement. It is a recognition of who our graduates are becoming and the light they will carry into the world.
Because the true measure of an education isn’t found only in a diploma or a starting salary. It shows up over time, in the decisions graduates make, in how they treat others and in the kind of communities they help shape. That’s what we see in this year’s graduates as they step forward with conviction and purpose.
Dr. Kerry Fulcher is president or Point Loma Nazarene University
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