The word “university” originated in the 1300s. In the 1500s, the word began to appear more and more along with such words appeared the term “institution”, “students,” and “scholars.” The Oxford English Dictionary says universities are “a notable, respectable product of the modern ages.” Universities originally started off with nobles or rich folk who would attend because they could afford it. They went to a university to be a scholar in multiple genres. When we think of old universities, images of Galileo, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and others pop into our heads. It is not because they necessarily went to a university; it is because they were scholars and experts who had undergone some sort of higher learning and contributed to the knowledge of society. Whether it was on their own or with an instructor, those three men all had to learn the foundation of their knowledge somewhere.

In the present day, when most people think of the word “University,” our first thought is one of many things: debt, parties, football, degrees, majors, and jobs. Why is this? At some point in time, the word university has changed. People now associate universities with racking up incredible amounts of debt in loans. They see a university as an institution for partying and football—much unlike that of the scholarly feeling from the earlier usage of the word. Additionally, rather than going to better themselves or advance the world’s knowledge on a topic, most students at a university today focus down on one major and look towards the end goal of getting a job. Instead of learning about multiple topics or becoming an expert in multiple disciplines—like Galileo or de Vinci—students now are extremely focused on a topic of their choice. This is another large differences between universities then and universities now.

On page 31 of Lawrence Lipking’s book, What Galileo Saw, Lipking uses the word, “Universities” and he describes them as being comparable to city-states. Although we all know that Universities are not city-states, this comparison shows how the University was like a self-governing sovereign state which has its own community (Oxford English Dictionary).

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word University was first used in the Thirteenth Century by the Angelo-Normans and the Old French. In the 1200s, the word was used to mean a scholastic guild or corporation. More specifically, it was a group of people—probably all men—who would all practice a trade or the skills to be a merchant. Additionally, an important note is that not everyone during this time period was a part of a guild or University.

On Dictionary.com, the definition of the word University is more modern and up to date. It says that a university is an institution of the highest level of learning. Notice, this definition does not specifically say who the universities are for. In the modern day, universities are open to everyone. It does not matter on gender, age, or their family’s working class.

Two more modern sources, Urban Dictionary.com and Forbes magazine also define the word university. Urban Dictionary uses its modern pop culture views and satirical nature to describe a university as, “Once a mechanism whereby smart people could raise themselves above humble beginnings and obtain a worthwhile qualification indicating a high probability of being employable,” but now it is a “con” to get kids into large amounts of debt and no job security while their “stupid” friends make more money doing illegal activities like selling drugs, committing fraud, and stealing. Clearly, this is satirical and a joke, but in the present time, this actually might seem more true than false to many people. Additionally, Forbes magazine released an article titled, “College And University Accreditation Changes Imminent” in which, after further reading, the word university is closely tied with words like “students”, “taxpayers”, and “loans”.

As previously stated, many people associate colleges and Universities with debt and large fees. This is because it can cost one person thousands of dollars. For example, the University of Michigan charges almost $50,000 for students from different states to attend. Even for relatively rich families, that is extremely expensive. Thus it brings up a current day question and problem.

That problem is being discussed and debated amongst everyday people, students, and politicians. For instance, Bernie Sanders, a self-claimed democratic socialist, has been arguing for lower, to free college tuition for all. This brings up the question of what will happen to the Universities and their degrees. On one hand, more people will be able to afford to go to a university, but on the other hand, if more people are going, everyone will be able to get a degree. The supply will go up, while the demand stays relatively the same. Some argue that the value of the university education will go down and they will need an even higher level of education to distinguish the top scholars from the students there because they can afford it.

The definition of the university has evolved over the years from a guild to a community of scholars and masters to a multimillion dollar organization that is seen as a trap from young people on the outside. Yes, a university’s goals are still to educate its students to a high degree of learning, but at some point in time, universities went from institutions of nobility to corporations which seem to want to make money more than they want to educate their students.