Colleges are responding to changes in economics by offering new majors that emphasize the debate about offering students value for their money, from degrees in artificial intelligence to social media influence.
Stephanie Gomez-Sanchez loved video games since third grade. Though she loved video games from a tender, he didn’t see a potential career in it until former president Trump took power and referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists.”
After graduating this fall, the 23-year-old intends to work in the video game industry. Her passion? Stephanie aims to soften the immigration debate in the United States by creating characters that resemble her Mexican-American family.
She stated, “We can all bond over a thing like gaming.”
Gomez-Sanchez is a student of the University of Delaware, one of the many colleges offering new tailored courses that are pushing students into the multibillion-dollar field of esports and online gaming. The university recently graduated its first cohort of approximately two dozen students.
Majors like hers represent a more significant trend of less conventional, avant-garde thinking in fields like artificial intelligence, which takes root in American high schools as colleges deal with declining student enrollment and economic changes.
For instance, the University of Texas at San Antonio will launch its first bachelor’s program in “digital media influencing” this fall. The school’s associate professor in charge of the new program, Chad Mahood, stated that the major will give students an in-depth understanding of how to develop an online brand.
He stated, “That influencer that you just saw on TikTok, they have an intuitive sense of this, and that’s why they’re doing well.” “If you don’t have that intuitive sense, we will help you.”
The trend highlights the unique ways of responding to the increasing concerns over which degree provides the best return on investment. As the cost of college education has risen to new heights in recent years, leaving many students crippled with student loan debts. Higher education is at the risk of becoming more and more competitive.
He stated, “I’m a big believer in the liberal arts, but universities don’t get to print money.” “If enrollment interests are shifting, they have to be able to hire faculty to teach in those areas. Money has to come from someplace.”
