OUR STUDENTS DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. They studied hard, got good grades, worked between classes, paid their tuition, and believed what we told them: that a college degree would lead to a better life. As sociology professors at a large public university, we see this belief unravel every day. Our students are worried — not because they didn’t put in the effort, but because the support they need to transition into the workforce simply doesn’t exist.

Universities invest heavily in corporate-aligned majors and career pathways, while quietly sidelining students who want to pursue work in social impact, public policy, and education. The result? A two-tiered system: one set of students with access to paid internships, tailored job pipelines, and tech recruiters who come to campus to court them. And another set, where women and students of color are overrepresented, left to figure it out alone.

It’s not just the campus buildings that are different. Unlike engineering or nursing majors, our students rarely have clearly marked pathways. Internships in our fields are often  underpaid — which makes them inaccessible to many of our students who are low-income, first-generation, and disproportionately students of color. Career services are largely understaffed and too often fail to adequately promote our majors to our corporate partners. Corporate partnerships tend to favor students in tech and business, leaving sociology students to retrofit their skills to generic job postings and hope for the best. 

In this political climate, it’s not enough to just teach critical thinking. We also have to defend it. As politicians target majors like sociology, ethnic studies, and women’s studies for being “woke,” higher education institutions need to act or they are complicit in their silence.

Modeling an attainable future

Last year, our department hosted a panel of alumni that featured community organizers, social workers, research analysts, mental health clinicians, nonprofit leaders, and market researchers — all sociology majors. Our students were inspired. They saw futures they hadn’t known were possible. But this should be the norm, not the exception. The fact that our students rely on one-off events like this to gain career insight speaks volumes about the broader institutional neglect.

This isn’t just about fairness. It’s about survival of disciplines that are foundational to a functioning democracy. Sociology teaches students how systems of inequality operate. Gender studies interrogates power and identity. Ethnic studies uncovers forgotten histories and empowers students to see themselves as agents of change. These are the exact tools we need in a divided society. Yet higher education — too often chasing market trends — is treating them as disposable.

Sociology teaches students how systems of inequality operate — exactly the tools we need in a divided society. Yet higher education too often treats these skills as disposable. 

Universities are not meant to mirror society’s inequalities; they are meant to trailblaze, to transform, and to dismantle them. But when they prioritize majors with high starting salaries and sideline the rest, they replicate the same inequities they claim to challenge. The average pay gap between sociology and humanities majors and business and computer engineering majors doesn’t have to be as wide as it is. Universities can and should act as a counterbalance to market forces — not an amplifier. 

Here’s what that looks like in practice: build out internship pipelines for social science and humanities majors. Develop partnerships with public agencies, nonprofits, research institutes, and foundations. Train career counselors who understand these pathways and can speak to them with the same fluency they use when advising computer science students. And when companies come to recruit on campus, require them to engage students across disciplines — not just those in business or STEM.

Finding purpose beyond the paycheck

To be sure, universities are accountable to budget constraints and employer demand. And careers in tech, finance, and consulting pay more, offer better benefits, and provide greater financial return.  But the vision of a university extends beyond economics and a career is not just about the paycheck — it is about purpose. Sociology students and those in similarly undervalued disciplines deserve a place in the job market not just because they need to survive, but because society needs them. Our students are not children in need of a helicopter parent. They are the adults who will lead after we are gone. The only way to a balanced future university, to a balanced future society, is if present-day students across disciplines thrive post-graduation. 

If universities believe in equity, they need to support it after students leave the classroom. Degrees alone aren’t enough. Students need social capital, networks, and access to opportunity — just like anyone else trying to build a meaningful life. We tell our students their work matters. It’s time our institutions backed that up.

About the authors

Yolanda Wiggins is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at San Jose State University and a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project.

Megan Thiele Strong is a Professor of sociology at San Jose State University and a Public Voices Fellow at the The OpEd Project and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.