Nearly half of Gen Z and millennials say college was a waste of money—AI has already made degrees obsolete

Fortune vis msn ^ | 5/3/25 | Preston Fore

[RomanSoldier19]

College graduates are calling their degrees worthless. According to new data from Indeed, piling student loans and fears of AI reshaping the workplace are to blame. While experts say higher education is still important, Gen Z should constantly prioritize “upgrading their toolkit” to be successful. College is often advertised as the best four years of one’s life, but many Americans now have regrets.

[Brian Griffin]

Many trades have government restrictions:

backflow installation and testing
split system air conditioning
blower testing of houses and ducts
soil testing
perc testing
septic systems

[Mr. Jeeves]

In the 80's, computers replaced people who used to sit around corporate offices and get paid to "know stuff."

Today, AI is replacing people who sit around corporate offices and get paid to manage lists and schedules and follow well-defined scripts.

Computers were a death blow to the unnecessary layers of middle management created by empire-building Old Boys networks.

AI will be the death blow to the unnecessary layers of technologists and administrators created by empire-building feminist/DEI HR networks.

Thinkers and doers will still be needed. AI may reveal once and for all, however, that - just like the Federal Government - many corporations remain horribly overstaffed.

[XRdsRev]

No problem, sorry about snapping back. I respect people that have skills and I think it is unfortunate that some of them could find themselves on the short end of the stick with technological advancements proceeding as fast as they are now.

[XRdsRev]

“AI can’t weld, do electrical work, carpentry, plumbing; can’t build landscaping, can’t paint a house or put a new roof on it; can’t repair an engine or transmission or even change a tire; can’t cook, can’t care for the sick..... can’t really DO much at all.”

In the next two decades, AI driven robotics will probably do all of those things completely or partially with minimal human guidance/oversight.

As a society, we are totally unprepared for how AI and robots will change our lives for good and bad and how fast it will happen. There will be literally hundreds of millions of people replaced eventually and those people will have nothing to do or any way for all of them to find meaningful work. That should scare everybody.

[dfwgator]

Well nothing a good World War that kills billions can’t solve.

[A Navy Vet]

"One of the sad consequences of the decline of the Boy Scouts is that it truly was a great way for young boys to learn critical life skills."

Yes. It was a sad day when the Boy Scouts went "woke" and now include girls. Never understood the merging of the Boy Scouts and the independent Girl Scouts. I don't know and don't care to know what the new organization is called. Screw them.

[CapnJack]

An additional question that should have been asked of the participants is “What was your major, what did you get a degree in?”

I’m sure that a large percentage would answer “Liberal Arts” or some other useless major. If you are going to college, then you need to major in something that is and will be in demand in the market place. Otherwise you are just going to Adult Daycare.

[laplata]

Thank you.

[nopardons]

I agree that what major one has is a BIG part in the problem/s that most colleges and universities are actively guilty of providing today.

OTOH, the entire education "business", in America, today has been dumbed down and so full of propaganda, that the high school graduate of 100 years ago, was better educated than the vast majority of people who have post graduate degrees today.

And ONLY blaming the IVIES is ridiculous; it's the majority of ALL schools!

And since the people programing AI are products of today's education, then AI is also filled with propaganda, errors, and not better at some things than a human being.

[9YearLurker]

For them, it very likely was.

[Old Yeller]

College is still good for drinking and partying.

[dfwgator]

Then it’s flat top, dirty bob, coppin’ a feel
Grubbin’ on the livin’ room floor, so sore
Yeah, they send you off to college, try to gain a little knowledge
But all you want to do is learn how to score

-Jimmy Buffett

[madison10]

I think commercial plumbing.

[central_va]

Most Free Republic tradesman heros have never worked outside and never worked manual labor in the freezing cold. But hey lets import H-1B visa holders to do the nice indoor work.

[CapnJack]

One report I did see a while back was the increasing interest by young folks in trade schools ... which is great.

I can tell you at the IBEW Local 104 in Lee NH that they have a large amount of young guys at their training facility almost every other weekend. Great job and good money without having to layout or borrow tens of thousands of dollars.

My daughter likes tractors and when I drive her to school we pass by a few construction sites. She like the big excavators and I tell her (she is 10) that maybe you might want to go to a school to learn to run machinery and get your Hydraulics Operator license and get hired by a large construction company. Those guys running Cat 349 and bigger machines get good money and being a girl, a company would probably want to hire you on to make it look good for the company ... it's a thought.

[Sirius Lee]

Well nothing a good World War that kills billions can’t solve.

Or plandemic...