Noam Chomsky: Modern universities designed to ‘deprive you of your freedom’

[caraher]

24. The NACE numbers don't jibe with what I see happen with new graduates

The biggest problem with the NACE figures seems to be that they reflect not all graduates, but the salaries of those graduates who do receive offers of full-time employment in their respective fields, and not the many who work part-time, go into internships, or settle for other jobs to pay the rent. My own son, with a BSME from a top school and a year of graduate study under his belt, was receiving substantially lower offers for engineering jobs, and recently accepted an offer in line with NACE numbers with a company known for paying exceptionally well for people with high potential but little experience. Even so, getting established financially has been tricky for him - and we made sure he graduated debt-free!

Moreover, it's not as though debt in the amount of a year's salary can be paid off in a year or even 3. Interest accumulates the whole time, and meanwhile one must pay rent, buy food, etc. - and the salary is not your take-home pay, either. $50k in debt paid out over 10 years costs the borrower a lot more than $50k, and extends the time before they're really capable of buying a home, investing in their own business, etc. It has an outsize effect on what creative young people can do, solely for the benefit of banks.