Trinity’s President Lugo Talks about the Value of a College Education

Is college “worth it”? Trinity College President Daniel G. Lugo recently joined other college presidents for a candid conversation about the value of a college education.

The College Guidance Network event, “CGN Live: Presidents Roundtable — The Value of College,” was held live online on the evening of Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Watch the full recording here.

In addition to Lugo, the panel of college presidents also included Georgia Institute of Technology President Ángel Cabrera and Cottey College President Stefanie Niles. The discussion was moderated by Brennan Barnard, CGN’s director of college counseling, and incorporated live audience questions.

The presidents spoke about what college actually delivers, how students can thrive in college, how institutions are preparing students for a rapidly changing world of work, and what students and families should be asking before choosing a school.

Lugo began by posing a question back to future college students and their families. “What do you want to become, and hence, what are you willing to invest in getting towards that outcome? I think that’s a much more important question to ask than the obvious question of, Is college worth it? Of course, it is,” he said. “For those that have a life dream and career outcome and pathway towards leadership, there is no better way to approach that aspiration.”

Barnard said that questions about return on investment are of great interest for many families with a student applying to college. Lugo said, “We at Trinity College generate incredible outcomes for our graduates’ first year out… And we believe it is our responsibility to have a well-resourced Career Center and life design program that works with every student from day one to connect to alumni [and] to multiple internship opportunities.”

Cabrera added, “For the vast majority of people, the investment you make in time and money to go to college is the absolute best investment you will ever make in your life, and the numbers are there to back it up.”

Niles spoke about faculty mentorship and networking with fellow alumni as some of the top benefits of a college experience. “In college, the skills that one gains allow them not only to prepare for what’s first, but [for] what they will encounter throughout the duration of their career: the ability to think critically, to solve problems, to communicate effectively, to reason well, to work with others,” Niles said. “The transformative impact is tremendous.”

Lugo additionally spoke about how financial aid provides access, and how colleges are addressing artificial intelligence. “I do think it is the job of the university and the college to not ignore those [A.I.] tools, [but] to think of them in perhaps the ways that many colleges thought about the importance of gaining competency in foreign languages, gaining competency in writing,” he said. “This is another area of competency that’s going to be very important to [the students’] future.”

CGN has produced a list of questions it says every family should be asking in order to determine the value of college. There are two sections: questions families should ask themselves; and questions families should ask colleges.

Lugo concluded by acknowledging that finding the right college requires work that ultimately pays off. “It’s going to take some exploration,” he said. “The exploration is worth it.”

See a full recording of the discussion below.