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There is no doubt that our higher education needs a massive revamping and transformation. There is a lot of talk going around about how students and lawmakers are the only ones who can be a catalyst to bring about the necessary change.

Today, college education is no longer affordable for a lot of students. Many of them are even dropping out of college with massive amounts of debts. Something drastic has to be done if we want to continue producing a global workforce.

Thinking about the situation carefully, apart from lawmakers and students, another segment of our society can also do their bit towards turning around our education system – our working women.
In fact, no other segment of people in our country has more power to make a difference in the higher education sector as much as our working women.

According to a 2012 report, at least 53% of our women are working and feeding their families. Surveys show that one-fourth of the married women in our country earn more than their husbands.
When you look at the scenario, today a large number of women enthusiastically pursue higher education with an aim to enhance their earning potential and further their careers. This is a hugely encouraging trend.

A large majority of these women are also bold enough to stand up and demand more affordability and flexibility when it comes to higher education options available.

A national survey was conducted recently among women aged between 22 and 50 that revealed ground-breaking findings.
•    As compared to traditional programs, women of our country increasingly prefer the online degrees
•    Women are now choosing price over prestige while making their degree program choice keeping in  mind the skyrocketing college costs

These findings will certainly make an impression among our discerning population. The reason for this is that these are the very women who are raising daughters and sons who in turn are or soon will be higher education consumers.

All educational values acquired by these women will meticulously be passed on to their children. Inflation in our country continues to be outpaced by cost of higher education in our country. This situation will certainly encourage our financially savvy career women to motivate their children to reach out for achievable and affordable options, options that could lead to lesser college debt burden.

Women are poised to control at least two-thirds of our country’s consumer wealth in the next ten years and already account for 85% of our consumer purchases. Their influence on our economy is certainly undisputable.

It is certainly strange that this segment of our population is completely overlooked by experts debating on the future of our higher education. While devising forward-thinking, executable, smart policies, it is imperative for experts to consider the views of this section of population.

Working women must be placed at the discussion table, women supporters feel. Leaving them out is a costly mistake. The only way to make any significant, long overdue changes to our higher education system is to include our career women and involving them in the process.