Posted on 05/30/2016 9:19:41 AM PDT by Lorianne
We dont send our young into the wilderness for a vision quest as a rite of passage. There are few things in modern society that signify a transition into adulthood. Going to college is one of them. And in debt addicted America, it is no surprise that for many, college debt is the first debt they will take on. Getting a college education is supposed to give someone a well rounded view of the world and a potential skill set. Some argue that college is not about vocational training. That to some degree is true but when students are going into $50,000 or $100,000 of student debt, then what is this modern day life quest really teaching and why is the price tag so incredibly high? As college graduation season comes into full bloom, many are left with the prospect of having no job lined up. It is also startling to see how many recent college graduates are working in jobs that really dont require a college degree (so clearly the vocational piece doesnt matter here).
The chronically underemployed college graduate
There are over 5,300 colleges and universities across this country from Harvard to beauty schools. The market is enormous and students now carry $1.3 trillion in debt, the biggest debt sector only behind mortgage debt.
Many recent college graduates are severely underemployed and this is for the lucky group that actually finds work:
Nearly 50 percent of recent college graduates are working in jobs where a college education isnt typically required. So that life quest was indeed an expensive one, more so than taking drugs and roaming around in the forest. And the bills are coming due since student loans normally start being sent to graduates six months after graduation.
The underemployment rate is troubling because as the cost of a college education soars beyond the typical inflation rate, the yield in the marketplace isnt very observable. College tuition is up 145% since 2000:
[snip]
Underemployed? If you are a college graduate who is not so great at reading and writing, maybe waiting on tables IS the right job for you.
I’m guessing these are mostly liberal arts majors.
Obama putting in work!!!
I did it for 35 years. Nothing new.
And I was quite happy with what I did.
And another large percentage cannot find jobs, even with degrees in science and engineering.
Education is much more than just going to college because in America we have a huge amount of educated fools thanks to LIEberal, leftist indoctrination’s. Claiming to be smart but definitely not wise.
Fewer than 50% of recent college graduates are educated to BEGIN to learn how do anything useful.
And, without experience and training, NONE are qualified to do anything at all.
I went to business school but wound up in TV production and years later got to a better place in IT.
Everyone we know who was trained in a skilled trade (plumber, electrician) is now making six figures per. Happy men and women. Maybe the jobs don’t have that liberal cachet, but the families are doing well.
Just sayin’.
You mean a degree in Black, Lesbian Studies isn’t useful?
“And many of the others are jobs that don’t require a college degree to perform, the employers just use it as a sorting mechanism (of dubious value IMO). “
IMO Taleo and lazy HR departments are the blame. I ask for every resume unfiltered. I don’t care if 1000 people send me resumes. My screening approach is easy. No one from Ivy League schools. No one with liberal degrees. I take certification and experience first, experience second and companies worked for prior who I can contact third.
Why do I do this? Because I don’t have a degree and got sick and tired of losing jobs to Womyns and black studies majors who had no business getting interviews when I was fully qualified for the position.
It will be valuable, that is, unless you graduated with a worthless degree.
After college I worked for a print company, assembling boxes, for several months before finding a job that required a degree. I worked hard and received a good recommendation from my supervisor which led to that next job.
What? You mean they can’t get jobs that use their Gender Studies degrees?
Every year at this time the colleges and universities pour out thousands of newly minted diploma holders. That there are no jobs awaiting them should be no surprise. A man or woman entering into the job market at 23-25 years of age will still be there 30 years later. The jobs that they have won’t be opening up until they retire, go to prison or die.....................................
I do much the same thing. Though I have a degree, you don’t really need one to do this job. Talent and a work ethic is far more important than a degree in my line of work.
I'm going to guess that's a significant portion.
Next, if you consider how traditional employment works, how many immediately go from college graduation into a mid to high level job?
That was few and far between after I left college, many would pick up a lower level job in a company they wanted to advance into. Graduate engineers would pick up even shipping or clerical jobs at an engineering firm as the first step in their career. I, like a few of my peers, worked through college and left with no debt.
My father started as a salesman for a radio station before advancing into his desired position of being a radio disk jockey. Of course, he worked through college to pay for it as well.
A friend's son just exited college with an engineering degree. He also is leaving with no student loans, as he enjoyed a half scholarship, had some savings, and worked part time. He also would fall under this survey as being ‘chronically underemployed’ as he's working as a runner in an architectural firm. I don't expect him to stay in that position for very long; his work is already award winning.
Wouldn't the real fantasy be someone walking out of college and immediately going into a position of responsibility?
As the article points out, in an off-hand way, the real problem is former students who haven't been working, who got loans to pay for college and for them to not work, and those bills are starting to come due. And I'm going to bet that likely 50% have no job at all after 6 months when that first bill arrives, because ‘they haven't found a good enough job yet.’
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A national scandal if there ever was one. But the colleges are mostly liberal institutions so the sympathetic media sweeps the outrageous price gouging under the rug.
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