The Purpose of Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI

The same students who say college costs too much are overwhelmingly saying it was worth it, and that contradiction is the key to the entire public confidence debate. In Gallup-Lumina polling cited in this episode, 93 percent of bachelor's students called their degree a worthwhile investment. The doubt is about price, not the education, and generative AI has raised the stakes for confusing the two. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Christa Acampora, philosopher and Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, where she is leading the integration of AI into the curriculum, about the purpose of liberal arts education in the age of AI. Acampora argues that the purpose of higher education is human formation, making people capable of authoring their own lives and helping to govern a free society, with preparation for good work as part of that purpose rather than a substitute for it. She and McNaughton separate the public's doubts about cost from the question of value, and discuss how UVA is making student formation visible through its first-year learning experience, the Commonplace Book, and an AI Literacy and Action Lab. Topics Covered Why the public's doubts about a degree center on price and debt, a different question from whether the education was worth doing What AI's capacity to produce competent outputs reveals about what higher education has rewarded World Economic Forum survey findings discussed in the episode on redesigning work and finding people with judgment who can adapt Whether institutions that teach students how to think are helping students recognize that learning in themselves UVA's first-year course sequence built around big human questions, the Commonplace Book, and the AI Literacy and Action Lab How students describe their own use of AI and their concerns about evaluating its outputs Three Key Takeaways for Higher Education Leaders Reframe the case for higher education around formation, for the individual and for society, rather than transferable skills that machines can now perform. Keep cost and value separate: address cost and price transparency directly, and make the value case with confidence, not apology. Make formation visible early and often through pedagogy and instruments that let students see their own growth. This episode offers perspective for presidents, provosts, and board members on articulating and demonstrating the value of a liberal educ