Is college worth it? In 2009, more than 70 percent of high school graduates enrolled in college — nearly twice as many as in 1960. Costs have skyrocketed, reports NPR. “Today’s sticker price has roughly tripled since the ’80s.”
College-doom stories are nothing new, says Kevin Carey, policy director for Education Sector.
Carey says he can write a college graduate horror story in his sleep.
“You start with some kind of very alarming, attention-grabbing headline and then you find a recent college graduate in the worst possible circumstances to lead off your story,” he says. “From there you start to broaden the thesis and say something like, ‘People are increasingly questioning whether college is worth it.’ You track down the experts. And then you finish with a quote saying, ‘My life is terrible, I’m in a dead-end job, I’m sad, I’m hungry. What is to become of me?’”
For all the angst, the long-term trends favor college graduates, Carey says. They earn more and they’re more likely to be employed. “College graduates … are the only segment of the economy where employment has actually gotten better during the first five months of this year,” he says.
What’s changed is that “college is much, much more expensive than it used to be,” Carey says. “So when people are wrestling with that cost-benefit equation, the cost part of it has gotten bigger and bigger. So their sense of how much the benefits ought to be has risen as well.”
History? Science? Naw, college is all about future earning power, writes Jill Duman, sarcastically, in the Sacramento Bee.
College isn’t about scholarship, elucidation or even education. It’s about earning potential, about earning top dollar on the investment poured into you since day one. Choose wisely, and you’ll have a shot at a decent car and a multi-bedroom home with a three-car garage and multiple flat screen TVs. Squander your education and you’ll be flipping burgers and asking your peers how they feel about fries with their order.
Only 53 percent of college graduates who got their degree in the last four years are working full-time, according to a Rutgers study, Duman notes.
Their median salary used to be $30,000 in 2006 and 2007 – but it dropped to $27,000 in 2009 and 2010. About half of those graduates said their first job didn’t even require a bachelor’s degree – and that their parents had to help them financially.
Two-thirds of college graduates are now leaving college in debt – typically owing more than $34,000, according to a national authority on student lending. Meanwhile, tuition costs are growing and are projected to increase 8 percent at the University of California this fall. No wonder a majority of Americans recently told Pew researchers that college just isn’t a good deal anymore.
For those set on college, Georgetown has a list of starting pay for various majors. Petroleum engineering is number one with a $120,000 starting salary.
Avoid counseling/psychology at $29,000, or early childhood education at $36,000. Theology and religious vocations are apparently worth about $38,000. (What would Jesus do? Choose another major!)
“College is still a place to learn where civilization has been and from that, where it might be going,” Duman writes. “It is still a place to learn how to research and how to question what researchers have already discovered.” But don’t expect the pursuit of learning to “make you rich – at least not rich in the kind of commodities you’ll be able to trade on the open market.”
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at 6:41 am
[...] College graduates earn more and work more than non-graduates, but the rising cost of college is scaring students. [...]
at 12:13 pm
The Student Loan Corporation had a recent infographic on the ROI of particular majors. At the end of the day, it’s the major that will determine the career, although the school you go to has a lot to do with the type of job you have as well. Take a look at the SLC infographic here: https://www.studentloan.com/pay_for_college/roicollegemajors.htm.