Is college really worth it?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

49. May 2011: "Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply...

This is just one of tens of dozens of articles that I've read on this matter since 2007. I posted it, not because it's special, but because it was at the top of the page when I searched "employment rates for college grads."

...in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.

snip

The median starting salary for students graduating from four-year colleges in 2009 and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who entered the work force in 2006 to 2008...That is a decline of 10 percent, even before taking inflation into account.

Of course, these are the lucky ones — the graduates who found a job. Among the members of the class of 2010, just 56 percent had held at least one job by this spring, when the survey was conducted. That compares with 90 percent of graduates from the classes of 2006 and 2007.

Even these figures understate the damage done to these workers’ careers. Many have taken jobs that do not make use of their skills; about only half of recent college graduates said that their first job required a college degree.

The choice of major is quite important...Among all recent education graduates, 71.1 percent were in jobs that required a college degree; of all area studies majors, the share was 44.7 percent.

An analysis by The New York Times of Labor Department data about college graduates aged 25 to 34 found that the number of these workers employed in food service, restaurants and bars had risen 17 percent in 2009 from 2008, though the sample size was small. There were similar or bigger employment increases at gas stations and fuel dealers, food and alcohol stores, and taxi and limousine services.

This may be a waste of a college degree, but it also displaces the less-educated workers who would normally take these jobs.


Meanwhile, college graduates are having trouble paying off student loan debt...

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(2011) College seniors who took out loans to fund their college education owed an average of $25,250, 5% more than the class of 2009...Students attending schools in the Northeast and the Midwest left school with the biggest debt burdens, while students in the West carried the least amount of debt... Debt loads varied dramatically depending on the state -- anywhere from an average of $15,500 in Utah to $31,050 in New Hampshire.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/03/pf/student_loan_debt/index.htm
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/economy/19grads.html