Value of College Degree Declining
This is not surprising.
Employers and career experts see a growing problem in American society - an abundance of college graduates, many burdened with tuition-loan debt, heading into the work world with a degree that doesn’t mean much anymore.
The problem isn’t just a soft job market - it’s an oversupply of graduates. In 1973, a bachelor’s degree was more of a rarity, since just 47% of high school graduates went on to college. By October 2008, that number had risen to nearly 70%. For many Americans today, a trip through college is considered as much of a birthright as a driver’s license. (See pictures of the college dorm’s evolution.)
Marty Nemko, a career and education expert who has taught at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, contends that the overflow in degree holders is the result of many weaker students attending colleges when other options may have served them better. “There is tremendous pressure to push kids through,” he says, adding that as a result, too many students who aren’t skilled become degree holders, promoting a perception among employers that higher education doesn’t work. “That piece of paper no longer means very much, and employers know that,” says Nemko. “Everybody’s got it, so it’s watered down.”
What’s not watered down is the tab. The cost of average tuition rose 6.5% this fall, and a report released on Dec. 1 by the Project on Student Debt showed that the IOU is getting bigger. Two-thirds of all students now leave college with outstanding loans; the average amount of debt rose to $23,200 in 2008. In the last academic year, the total amount loaned to students increased about 18% from the previous year, to $81 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
We’ve spent decades telling every kid that they need to go to college. I think we’ve done a disservice to our society by not making other education options more available and attractive. Not every employer wants a guy with a degree in English. Some of them want someone who can weld. And that’s a great, family-supporting, and vitally important job for our society. But our overemphasis on getting a college degree as the only gateway to a good career is misguided.
So few issues plot themselves on a supply and demand graph so easily.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1231 hrs
A good job as a welder depends on the US having policies that allow manufacturing. Between our economic, environmental, and tax policy that’s becoming less and less the case.
It used to be welding was a good job, and in fact I put myself through undergrad that way. I even turned down internships in the engineering department since the pay was so much better as a welder.
These days with all the outsourcing going on I’m not sure I’d like to be dependent on welding as my pay source.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1232 hrs
I don’t disagree. I do, however, think an issue arises when someone leaves high school, becomes a welder, welds for 30 years, and then our businesses (usually run by people with college degrees) decide they have a reduced need for welders and begin laying them off en masse.
This isn’t unlike what we’ve seen happen with a lot of folks in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s who’ve worked in the manufacturing sector up until the last ten years or so. They’ve been loyal, they’ve been good workers, and then the white-collar folks in administration walk their jobs over to China or Japan or simply replace them with machines that can do the job more effectively. Even if those people acquire new skills to better match employer demand, they often face latent forms of age discrimination in the job market.
You’re right, I’m not sure that college is the answer for everyone. But if we’re going to encourage people to go into vocational fields, our technical colleges probably need to become better at not only anticipating changes in the job market but tailoring re-education programs that can get displaced workers in and out with a new set of job skills as quickly as possible. I think one of the most daunting things about returning to school for many middle-aged breadwinners is the notion of effectively going without a full income for an extended period of time while they go back to school. It’s not something most of them plan for.
I know we can always just say they should’ve planned better, budgeted better, whatever, and that’s not necessarily untrue. But it’s also said from our own perspectives, where many of us don’t necessarily have to worry about these problems because we have college degrees and money in savings and skills that may better allow us to cope in the event our jobs were forever lost to outsourcing/automation.
While colleges hardly have the market cornered on creative thinking, it’s specific knowledge combined with broad-based cognitive skills that tend to make one difficult to outsource these days. Many blue-collar jobs only emphasize the first, and the specific knowledge in question is often a process that can be automated. When that happens, what are these workers left with that makes them employable?
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 10, 2009 at 1245 hrs
Welding is probably not the best example - as I could probably learn to be a good welder in a few months. But there are other jobs that can’t be exported - car repair, plumbers, electricians, and so on.
I think RS makes a good point though - too many people get their training and then think that’s it. If you are in a professional field like IT or Marketing - your world is always changing - you never stop learning. There is no emphasis on that from the vocational side.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1251 hrs
Just wondering how many people with a 4 year degree or extra college credits laying around would be willing to share them with others who did not complete school or need a few more credits to complete there degree. You worked hard to earn these, paid good money no doubt, while others just coasted along, would it not piss you off if the president wanted to redistribute college credits like he does wealth? How many of us went without or made due just so we could save a few dollars for emergencies and I am a jerk because I dont want my hard earned savings split between the masses, would the phd’s and masters people fork over a portion of there degree and continue on there life journey with just an english degree and not hold a grudge or complain?
All hypothetical of course.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1326 hrs
I can speak from personal experience, as I graduate in 10 days. It is not just the value of a degree that is watered down, it is also the quality of education provided. I have not put forth a full effort in many classes, and yet, so many professors are using curves, that Bs turn to As and Ds to Cs…
I know I was blessed with an ability to learn and do well in college, yet so many people I go to class with are struggling even in the easiest of classes. Then, when a professor chooses not to curve, the grades come back and are found wanting, perpetuating the cycle of the curve as they are now encouraged to use the same grade-boosting methods.
The key to increasing the value of a degree is to increase the quality of education to what it once was. Make the classes difficult and stop giving away grades (and degrees). If we can do this, we will see the slackers and bums drop out and have a more limited supply of qualified individuals. Going to college is the best thing I have done, other than marry my beautiful wife. However, far too many students are out of their element and belong elsewhere.
In my humble opinion of course.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1548 hrs
I can speak from personal experience, as I graduate in 10 days. It is not just the value of a degree that is watered down, it is also the quality of education provided. I have not put forth a full effort in many classes, and yet, so many professors are using curves, that Bs turn to As and Ds to Cs…
I know I was blessed with an ability to learn and do well in college, yet so many people I go to class with are struggling even in the easiest of classes. Then, when a professor chooses not to curve, the grades come back and are found wanting, perpetuating the cycle of the curve as they are now encouraged to use the same grade-boosting methods.
The key to increasing the value of a degree is to increase the quality of education to what it once was. Make the classes difficult and stop giving away grades (and degrees). If we can do this, we will see the slackers and bums drop out and have a more limited supply of qualified individuals. Going to college is the best thing I have done, other than marry my beautiful wife. However, far too many students are out of their element and belong elsewhere, in my humble opinion.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1550 hrs
I apologize for the double post, I received an error saying my comment had not been submitted.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1551 hrs
I have been talking about this since my sophomore year at UWM (2003). During my tenure there, the study body increased on the order of 50% in size. In just the last decade there has been a marked increase in the number of kids going to college, and a marked decrease in the number of professors willing to treat college students as adults.
College was easier than high school, and that is a sad sad thing.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1709 hrs
But if we’re going to encourage people to go into vocational fields, our technical colleges probably need to become better at not only anticipating changes in the job market
RS—good sentiments, but good luck with that…
Voc/Tech admin’s can only do a ‘good job’ at anticipating change if their customers (industrials) TELL them what’s going to happen.
And they don’t, really.
Posted by dad29 on December 10, 2009 at 1813 hrs
One of the obvious reasons for the devaluation of a college education is grade inflation. But universities also need to take a hard look at their curricula. Except for serious majors like the hard sciences, math and engineering, much of what passes for a college education today has been dumbed down by postmodern relativism and political correctness. Who would hire a gender studies major? English majors are immersed in the latest p.c. popular “literature” without being required to take a course in Shakespeare. Liberal Arts majors are no longer required to take a single course in American history. (Maybe that’s a good thing, the way the revisionists have corrupted history.) There are many nonsensical degrees. There was recently a serious proposal at Madison to start up a major in hip hop studies.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 1817 hrs
WB
“it is also the quality of education provided.” That’s why employers look to the reputation of the Undergrad institution more than an applicant’s GPA. If you go to a top 20 program, as long as your GPA has a 3 in front you will be more desirable than a second tier grad who graduated with honors.
Roger, I think your point about curriculum is entirely correct. Most college grads today that are seeing devaluation of their degrees are liberal arts majors. (Engineering and Math degrees are still very much in demand.) The problem, as I see it, is that liberal arts teach no real skills. Sure you do some reasoning read a few books, write some papers but learn no real skills that employers are looking for.
In today’s economy, employers are looking for specialized skills. But colleges push the liberal arts majors..probably because they are the cheapest for the university.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 10, 2009 at 2255 hrs
There is a very good treatment of this issue in the recently published book “Real Education” by Charles Murray (of Bell Curve fame).
Posted by Charlie Hillman on December 11, 2009 at 0142 hrs
In the words of Judge Smails, “Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too.”
As many people have already said, it’s become less about education and more about volume through the system…and I think they care little about the end product (graduates). Many employers indicate that they have to train new employees almost from scratch, so what really is the benefit of college? The first few years are remedial high school level courses and then it becomes a contest to avoid as many difficult courses as possible and still get your degree.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 11, 2009 at 0248 hrs
Dad29,
I had a manager at my last client who sat on a board that gave feedback & guidance to MATC on what they should be offering the students.
That goes both ways. There are still data processing shops running on mainframes and it seems there are 0 colleges teaching COBOL, JCL, and the like. This is not due to lack of feedback from industry but distinct distaste for the languages found in college computer programming departments. The former manager I refer to above had concerns about finding people who were at least ready to work in a mainframe environment.
Posted by Marcus Aurelius on December 12, 2009 at 0202 hrs
Total Entries: 19628
Total Comments: 129572
Most Recent Entry: 02/03/2012 09:53 pm
Most Recent Comment on: 02/04/2012 04:57 am
Total Members: 9751
Total Logged in members: 0
Total guests: 94
Total anonymous users: 0
Most Recent Visitor on: 02/04/2012 05:28 am
The most visitors ever was 538 on 12/01/2007 02:11 pm
Protected and licensed under a Creative Commons License (some rights reserved).