In a few minutes, all of you will walk out of this stadium as newly minted graduates of this University. Before you do, however, it is my privilege to say a few words about the path ahead.

That privilege feels even more special than usual this year. It is an honor to speak to the Great undergraduate and graduate Classes of 2022. Earning a Princeton degree is an exceptional achievement in any year, but you have overcome challenges that none of us could have imagined when you began your studies here.

You, your families, and your friends can be very proud of what you have accomplished. And you can be sure that the strength you have demonstrated will serve you well in the years ahead.

Earlier this year, a Princeton alumnus in Atlanta asked me what quality or characteristic I considered the best predictor for success in college and beyond. I began by saying that I was reluctant to generalize across a very diverse student body with a dazzling array of talents. Princeton students succeed in many and inspiring ways, a fact that all of you have vividly confirmed during your time here.

Still, I said to our alum, if I had to name one quality that mattered across the many dimensions of achievement and talent, it would be persistence: the ability and drive to keep going when things get hard. All of us go through difficult times. To achieve our goals we have to find ways to continue even when—indeed, especially when—obstacles seem insurmountable or endless, and pressing onward feels exhausting, daunting, or just plain dull.

Persistence is, I admit, a rather unglamorous virtue by comparison to, say, genius, creativity, or courage. An old adage, often but perhaps erroneously attributed to the nineteenth century humorist Josh Billings, praises persistence by comparing it to the postage stamp, which achieves success simply by “sticking to one thing until it gets there.”

Modest though it may be, however, persistence is at least as important to achievement, including academic achievement, as are any more celebrated characteristics.

You earned your degrees today in many ways and for many reasons, but not least because you persisted brilliantly throughout your time on this campus andaway from it. You persisted not only through a world-altering pandemic, but through problem sets, writing assignments, laboratories, midterms, finals, senior theses, dissertations, and the personal crises and doubts that are an inevitable part of college life and, indeed, of life more generally.

Getting to and crossing the finish line is hard, which is why we celebrate college degrees so enthusiastically.

The degree you earn today matters tremendously. And it really is the degree that matters most, far more than the honors or other decorations that go with it. I do not know if this comes as welcome news or bad tidings, but I must tell you that there is surprisingly little correlation between grade point average and success in later life.

But getting a college degree? That correlates with everything from higher incomes to better health to greater civic engagement—and the list goes on.

Persisting through college matters, which is why we celebrate Commencement day with admiration and exuberant joy.

At Princeton, students have taken different paths through the challenges of the pandemic. Some took a year off, some did not. One way or another, however, graduation rates for Princeton students remain sky-high.

We should recognize, however, that is not true everywhere. At college Commencements around the country, there are missing chairs and missing students this year, and there will likely be more missing chairs in the years to come.

Some students left school during the pandemic and have not returned. Some high school students who might have gone to college have made other choices instead. Though the data is incomplete, both problems appear to have a disproportionate effect on students from less advantaged backgrounds and those who attend community colleges and other public, two-year institutions. [1]

That is a tragedy. A tragedy because, as I said a moment ago, the degree matters. All of us who attend ceremonies like this one, all of us who celebrate students who have earned a college degree, should recognize the urgent need to bring back those who have found the path to a college degree blocked or unpassable.

It is especially damaging when students drop out of college after incurring debt, even if the amount of debt is small. When media outlets cover student debt, they like to focus on the eye-popping loans some students accumulate. In fact, though, most student loan defaults involve students with small debts who leave college without getting a degree.[2]

If students persist to graduation, their earning power goes up, and they can often pay back even large loans. Without a degree, they see no increase in earning power, and often find no way to pay back even small loans. Half a degree does not get you half the earning power: unfortunately, it gets you almost nothing.

We need policies to help those who have left college. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, for example, has proposed a new “Some College, No Degree” program to assist the more than 700,000 New Jerseyans who left school without finishing. I hope that the legislature will fund the proposal. [3]

At the federal level, a bipartisan group of senators sponsored legislation, called the “ASPIRE Act,” that would have provided colleges and universities with incentives to improve their graduation rates and to increase their representation of low-income students. [4]

That bill did not pass; no proposal is perfect. One way or another, however, we need to make sure that talented students from low-income families get the support they need to make it to and through college.

One way or another, we need to add back the chairs missing from graduation ceremonies around the country.

I hope that today and in the week ahead, as you celebrate your degree, you will take time to thank the friends, family members, teachers, mentors, and others who helped you to persist across the finish line. None of us succeed on our own, in normal times or in difficult ones. And, in that spirit, I hope, too, that as all of you pursue quests and adventures beyond this campus, you will help others to persist across the finish line as you have done so remarkably yourselves.

I know that, whatever you do, you will make Princeton proud, and that you will put your talents, creativity, and character to work in ways that we can scarcely imagine today.

All of us on this platform are thrilled to be a part of your celebration. We applaud your persistence, your talent, your achievements, and your aspirations. We send our best wishes as you embark upon the path that lies ahead, and we hope it will bring you back to this campus many times. We look forward to welcoming you when you return, and we say, to the Great Class of 2022, congratulations!

幾分鐘後，你們所有人都將作為這所大學的新晉畢業生走出這個體育場。然而，在你們走之前，我很榮幸地對未來的道路說幾句話。

今年，這種特權感覺比往常更加特別。我很榮幸能對2022屆偉大的本科生和研究生班的學生講話。在任何一年，獲得普林斯頓大學的學位都是一項特殊的成就，但你們所克服的挑戰是我們任何人在這裡開始學習時都無法想象的。

你們、你們的家人和你們的朋友可以為你們所取得的成就感到非常自豪。而且你們可以確信，你們所表現出的力量將在未來的歲月裡為你們帶來好處。

今年早些時候，亞特蘭大的一位普林斯頓校友問我，我認為什麼品質或特徵是預測大學及以後成功的最佳因素。我首先說，我不願意在一個有著令人眼花繚亂的才能的非常多樣化的學生群體中進行歸納。普林斯頓大學的學生以許多鼓舞人心的方式取得成功，你們所有人在這裡的日子裡都生動地證實了這一事實。

然而，我對我們的校友說，如果我不得不說出一個在成就和才能的許多方面都很重要的品質，那就是堅持：在事情變得困難時堅持下去的能力和動力。我們所有人都會經歷困難時期。為了實現我們的目標，我們必須找到繼續前進的方法，即使是在障礙似乎無法克服或無止境的情況下–事實上，特別是在障礙似乎無法克服或無止境的情況下，繼續前進感到疲憊、令人生畏，或者只是單純的乏味。

我承認，與天才、創造力或勇氣等相比，堅持是一種相當不光彩的美德。有一句古老的格言，常常被錯誤地歸結為19世紀的幽默大師喬希-比林斯（Josh Billings），他把堅持比作郵票，僅僅透過 "堅持做一件事直到成功 "就能獲得成功。

然而，儘管它可能是謙虛的，但堅持對成就，包括學術成就，至少與任何更知名的特徵一樣重要。

你們今天以許多方式和理由獲得了學位，但其中最重要的原因是你們在這個校園裡和離開這個校園的整個過程中堅持不懈，表現出色。你們不僅經歷了改變世界的大流行病，而且經歷了問題集、寫作作業、實驗室、期中考試、期末考試、畢業論文、學位論文以及個人危機和懷疑，這些都是大學生活乃至更普遍的生活中不可避免的一部分。

到達並越過終點線是困難的，這就是為什麼我們如此熱情地慶祝大學學位。

你今天獲得的學位非常重要。而且，最重要的確實是學位，遠遠多於隨之而來的榮譽或其他裝飾。我不知道這是個好訊息還是壞訊息，但我必須告訴你，平均分和以後生活的成功之間竟然沒有什麼關聯。

但是獲得大學學位？這與一切都有關，從更高的收入到更好的健康到更大的公民參與–這樣的例子不勝列舉。

堅持讀完大學很重要，這就是為什麼我們帶著欽佩和興奮的喜悅來慶祝畢業典禮日。

在普林斯頓，學生們採取了不同的途徑來應對大流行病的挑戰。有些人休息了一年，有些人沒有。然而，無論如何，普林斯頓大學學生的畢業率仍然高得驚人。

然而，我們應該認識到，並不是所有地方都是這樣的。在全國各地的大學畢業典禮上，今年有缺失的椅子和缺失的學生，而且在未來幾年可能會有更多缺失的椅子。

一些學生在大流行病期間離開了學校，至今沒有回來。一些本來可以上大學的高中生卻做出了其他選擇。雖然資料並不完整，但這兩個問題似乎對來自不利背景的學生和那些在社群學院和其他公立兩年制機構上學的學生產生了不成比例的影響。

這是一個悲劇。悲劇是因為，正如我剛才所說，學位很重要。我們所有參加這種儀式的人，我們所有慶祝獲得大學學位的學生的人，都應該認識到迫切需要讓那些發現獲得大學學位的道路受阻或無法通行的人回來。

如果學生在承擔了債務後輟學，即使債務數額不大，也會造成特別大的傷害。當媒體報道學生債務時，他們喜歡關注一些學生積累的令人瞠目結舌的貸款。但事實上，大多數學生貸款違約涉及到欠下小額債務的學生，他們沒有獲得學位就離開了大學。

如果學生堅持到畢業，他們的收入能力就會提高，即使是大筆貸款，他們也能償還。如果沒有學位，他們的收入能力就不會提高，甚至連小額貸款都找不到辦法償還。半個學位並不能讓你獲得一半的收入。