Posted on 06/14/2010 6:16:41 AM PDT by Cardhu
There's good news and bad news in a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The good news: an increasing number of low-income young adults are going to college these days. The bad news: many of those low-income students remain in poverty after they graduate.
The report (pdf) found that 47 percent of young adults whose total household income was near or below the federal poverty level were enrolled in an institute of higher education in 2008, a healthy five percent increase from 2000, and another 11 percent had earned a degree. However, about one in ten of those students “failed to immediately transcend the poverty threshold.” In other words, they passed college but college failed them.
The introduction to the report quotes President Obama's State of the Union Address from January: "[I]n the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education." Apparently, and unfortunately, things don't appear to be that cut-and-dry for many impoverished young adults. Although higher education opportunities are expanding for poor populations, outcomes are not getting any better. Which raises the question: what good is a college education without a positive outcome?
There are a lot of surprising statistics in the report that are begging for explanation. (White low-income students are twice as likely as African Americans and Hispanics to remain poor after graduation? Really?) Future reports in the series, which is being funded by the Gates Foundation, will examine educational aspirations, academic preparation, movement in and between schools, and financial aid and debt burdens among low-income young adults to give all of us a better understanding of what's going on here so we can try and address the problem(s).
Even for young adults not coming from low-income backgrounds, college is expensive and may not be worth it in this economy. If we don't start improving educational outcomes for poor students, college might start to seem like a worthless pursuit for everyone – and I don't think that's a road any of us want the country to go down. Gregory S. Kienzl, director of research and evaluation at IHEP, summed it up best: "If you have a degree, you should no longer be poor."
The most important thing to do while in college is NETWORK...NETWORK...NETWORK.
Find out who the players are in the field you are pursuing, find ways to meet them and let them know who you are, so that when you graduate, you already have connections. As always, it’s now what you know, it’s who you know.
But it's not quite how she thought it was going to turn out. You know...working at Home Depot as a stocker...when she has this high end BA Degree.
Personally I think the parents should have guided her a bit better with her choices.
But what do I know.............
Thank you, a very interesting link
I worked my butt off in school and spent some time in the Navy but when I was finished, I had three degrees and no loans.
I worked for McDonald’s and grocery stores and had no debts when I finished my three degrees and CPA certificate, either.
I can remember who said it (thinking it was Williams or Armstrong), but they said if you follow these 4 rules, you will not be in poverty. 99% of people who follow all 4 of these rules are above the poverty level:
1. Finish High School.
2. Get a job. Any job.
3. Don’t commit crimes, including using illegal drugs.
4. Don’t have children until you are married.
Note that “Get a college degree” is not among the rules.
Thanks for the heads up.
“Not if the degree is in women’s or ethnic studies!”
A couple of decades ago during another recessions, many so called college graduates couldn’t get a job.
One of our younger relatives, who had a real degree with 3 summers of internship, had several job offers.
We asked him why.
His answer, “So many degrees then were based on bs like those based on sex, ethnic bs and other liberal bs. He labeled those degrees as instant unemployment degrees. Noone except the government and colleges wanted to hire anyone with an instant unemployment degree!”
Decades later, his analysis is more accurate in the current economic down turn.
Liberal arts disciplines such as this one train students in thinking and communicating.
Such graduates are likely to be adaptable, innovative, and effective leaders.
It may be more difficult to get one's foot in the door with this kind of major, but the employer that gives those grads a chance will profit thereby.
Too many graduates of pre-professional programs are trained to be nothing more than replaceable drones.
The other is going to college...and will graduate with a degree that you can actually get a good job with.
FRegards,
Michael Medved did a classic interview on his show (wish I had it on tape!) of a Cornell graduate who was working as a barista at Starbucks and trying to organize them for the Wobblies. (did not seem to occur to him that he could be doing something much more worthwhile with his Cornell degree)
Credentialism is one of the diseases of our time: it’s not a college degree that should matter, but a college education
I think you are right on-target there. All of the 60’s radicals in Academia (Bill Ayers types) are pretty open about the fact that they are lucky to have gotten “credentialed” at 1960’s and 70’s prices. (bemoaning the fact that it is much more expensive to train a young LIberal Activist today)
Ambition + Effort=Success.
Ambiton|Effort| Degree
Any two will work.
Three is better, of course, unless the education is in fingerpainting.
I teach at DeVry. The material is there and presented; the question is whether the recipient is inclined to apply it.
MIT gives away education for free at ocw.mit,edu - all courses and all content.
Giving someone a box of tools does not make him a carpenter if he does not apply said tools. Nobody will give you dinner just because you have a box of tools.
Exactly, and after college, if you know you have the ability, find out what conferences, in your field, that are being held all over the world. Organize your vacation to travel to Italy or wherever and, for a fee, you can become a speaker.
Go to a couple of these conferences it will cost you a few hundred dollars but if you are good, you will make a name for yourself with people who matter.
Never waste a vacation, two days at the Conference - a prepared presentation, and ten days having a great holiday.
At least your CV will stand out among the crowd and you will never get such value for the money you spend even if you went to Harvard.
PS. If you are a guy it helps to have an elegant lady with you, she will really help you NETWORK at these conferences. :)
And they themselves have never learned so much as "righty tighty lefty loosey".
Good call, cheers for that...
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