The choice to attend college is a catch-22 for American students. Even though university has its merits — it fosters maturity, helps students learn valuable skills and is a major stepping stone into a well-paying job — it’s also becoming increasingly expensive and even graduates with sought after majors are subject to underemployment. Many students feel that they have to go, even though the time, money, and even their major can hinder their success in the workforce. When considering the positives and negatives, students have to ask, is the current American university system more of an asset or a liability to them?
As of May 2019, 41% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that do not require a degree or are unrelated to their major, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Since the start of the century, these figures have stayed relatively consistent, signalling the trajectory of graduates’ success in their fields has stayed stagnant. The consequences are also becoming more severe as “two-thirds (of graduates) still underemployed after five years, and just over half remain so after ten years” (Cooper). Even though many of the non-degree jobs that college-educated workers occupy pay quite well, (43% earning upwards of $45,000/year) (Cooper) their degrees are essentially worthless to the workforce. If students are still being well paid without college, their money spent over four or more years on ineffective qualifications questions if is even worth it for recent graduates.
Although there are a significant amount of students that are underemployed, it’s worth looking at the student’s who aren’t and what their majors are. Overall, engineering fields have the highest employability and pay, with chemical engineering coming out on top. On the bottom, “early childhood majors had the lowest median earnings” (Guo), next to theatre and art. This discrepancy of pay and employability between STEM, the arts, and education makes sense, though. The pace of technology and science is skyrocketing. Even elementary school children are being taught how to code, manoeuvre electronics and use social media because the necessity for people skilled in STEM fields is growing. The demand for specific majors signifies that a student’s financial and career achievement is not solely a result of a college attended or whether or not they have any degree. In order for graduates to be able to pay off college debt and avoid underemployment, it’s advised that they choose a major that is targeted towards a marketable job.
However, according to Jordan Schwarzenburger, a successful 22-year-old digital marketer who went directly into his desired profession, attending university “is a massive waste of time for the vast majority of people.” Schwarzenburger is a strong advocate for skipping out on college and taking your desired profession head-on, particularly for those in the creative industries. Reflecting on his own experiences, he emphasizes that his drive to work on independent projects, start small businesses, and take on internships before leaving high-school was more beneficial to his career goals than sitting in a classroom. Attending college and “studying ‘so-called’ digital marketing and then (simultaneously) working in it” made him realize how much better and “more in touch” he would be with his profession at his work than at lectures. Now, being younger than most college graduates, Schwarzenburger is in a respectable profession because he took advantage of his resources, established a strong sense of personal responsibility, and took risks, all without a piece of paper to prove his worth.
Financially, the expense of school may also overshadow the potential benefits and push students farther away from pursuing degrees. As of 2017, the estimated annual cost for an undergraduate program at a public university was $17,237, according to the National Center for Education and Statistics. For private nonprofit and private for-profit schools, the prices are even higher, averaging $44,551 and $25,431. Over four years, students can end up being between $26,900 and $32,600 in debt, contributing to the $1.56 trillion of national student debt. And, because the cost to attend school has risen 31% within the last decade, the financial strains of school seem to be becoming more miserable.
The cost of college can be particularly damaging for middle-class students. In her article, “My Son Got Accepted to a College He Can’t Afford. Now What?” Deborah Caldwell chronicles how her son was accepted to a prestigious college but was offered “zero—nada—in aid unless you count the $5,500 in federal loans.” In order to avoid nearly $25,000 of debt in his freshman year alone, her son had to make the hard decision to give up his dream school for a less-desirable one with less of a monetary burden. As a middle-class family, they are part of the “too poor for college, but too wealthy for financial aid” group. When students and families file their FAFSAs, the financial aid algorithm doesn’t account for the family’s expenses, debts, or retirement. So, middle-class families are often subject to a bigger financial weight than some people on either economic extreme. Students like Caldwell’s son are faced with two options: attend college and end up with thousands of dollars in loans or, just don’t go.
Even though skipping out on university is an appealing concept, “a four-year degree has probably never been more valuable,” says David Leonhardt in his article “Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say.” America is dealing with extreme pay-gap between workers with degrees and ones without. Bachelor’s degree holders, as of 2014, earn 98% more than their counterparts (Leonhardt). The problem is, there aren’t enough graduates to fill positions in order for the gap to decrease. Additionally, there is an increasing demand for college graduates with at least an associates degree. Currently, more than 6 million jobs are at risk of degree inflation, including minimum-wage ones (Cooper). University is becoming less of an option and more of a demand. As time goes on, it will be harder for people to be financially successful without a degree. And, economically, the country demands graduates to help ensure even non-degree holders are being fairly compensated.
From the perspective of students, the years of schooling to receive a piece of paper they’re told will guarantee a job only to be left where they started “can make them feel like they’ve been lied to” (Schwarzenburger). Students are warned that if they don’t go down the traditional college route their lives will be ruined. But graduates are hit with the cruel reality that they would have been better without it when they come out “less developed on a maturity level and less adulted,”(Schwarzenburger) and don’t show up with the necessary skills for a job. In the words of Oenone Forbat while speaking with Schwarzenburger, “being at uni (University) didn’t teach me to get up early and work hard. Working did.”
However, the blame may not be entirely on the schools, but the students as well, their support systems, and even their education prior to college. In 2010, the University of the Western Cape in South Africa conducted a study comparing prosperous versus less successful students “with regard to their expectations, experienced challenges, and applied strategies”(McGhie). Two main findings resulted from the study. One, success at university starts with the students but is also attributed to “the assistance and support of other role players in the learning process.” And two, the confidence and work ethic of the students was related to their education prior to university. If students had not yet established secure support systems, dedicated academic diligence, and personal responsibility, the same behaviours were reflected in their college experience.
Although the study was conducted on black students in South Africa, the findings can still be applied to education in America. As students are lacking skills while in school and entering the workforce, it’s worth noting that learning self-efficacy, regulation and reflection is a complex process and dependent upon multiple factors. Mainly, the student’s success is reliant on their work ethic and mentality(McGhie). As academic and career success is manifold, it seems illogical and harsh to solely blame the university system for failing students. A prosperous pupil is able to take their education into their own hands, be realistic about their studies, actively work towards their goals and has an accountable support system.
In my personal experience, like the successful students at the University of the Western Cape, establishing quality habits and learning to ask for assistance before I entered college supported my achievement later on. By improving my time management skills, pushing myself while knowing my limits, prioritizing, and using the full benefits of my resources, I felt confident coming into college and have been successful in my classes.
Although, a large amount of my confidence, determination, and maturity can be attributed to my time away from school. Instead of immediately entering university after high school, I took a gap year to ruminate on what I genuinely wanted to study, travel, work, and learn in my own time. Taking a year off made me recognise that although I had established a strong work ethic and study habits, I was lacking in maturity, social skills, and felt pressured to attend college even though I wasn’t confident in my school decision. Afterwards, I realized I had no interest in both my major and school I was accepted to; thus, making me go for something I genuinely cared about. And although I missed school, being outside the classroom made me realize that I don’t need a teacher or a classroom to learn about something. If I’m interested in a topic, I am fully capable of taking my education into my own hands and expanding my knowledge on my own.
Even though going to college does merit some importance, there is also too much pressure on students to immediately attend university after high-school. Rarely does society inform prospective college students of the various other avenues towards career success — career schools, immediately entering the workforce, the military, or starting your own business. Students are being put into a box and told that there is only one effective way to succeed, even though the evidence and testimonies show a different picture. They are discouraged from taking a break to think and grow or, like Schwarzenburger, skip the college route and go straight into what you love. Young adults are coming out of high-school being told to fly the plane of life and education with barely an instruction manual. How are we supposed to make decisions on our lifelong careers, sign loans or let alone use university to our full advantage without any real-life experience or time to breathe?
College can be useful, especially for professions like law, science, and medicine, however, the route is not for everyone. Students can learn valuable life and career skills from going to school, but we shouldn’t tell them they won’t if they don’t. Attending university does not automatically make you mature, experienced, or knowledgeable, it is merely another experience that could potentially better your success in life. With that, going to university should be accessible for the people who want to experience it, not just for the ones who can pay $17,237/ year. Going to school should not be a matter of class or financial availability, but a matter of willpower and grit. Yes, someone’s financial status may make it easier for them to go to college, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be successful there. If a student exhibits no desire to learn, takes advantage of the system and doesn’t understand that college is first and foremost a place to learn and work hard, then they won’t receive the full benefits. Universities should make their resources more attainable, but it isn’t entirely their job to make their students successful. At the end of the day, it is the pupil who determines if college is more of an asset or a liability to them.
Works Cited
Caldwell, Deborah. “My Son Was Accepted to a College He Can't Afford. Now What?” Money, 3 May 2016, money.com/money/4315466/college-decision-day-son-accepted-afford/.
Cooper, Preston. “Underemployment Persists Throughout Graduates' Careers.” Forbes, 8 June 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2018/06/08/underemployment-persists-throughout-college-graduates-careers/#28526ff27490.
Forbat, Oenone, and Jordan Schwarzenburger. “Why University Isn't Always The Answer with Jordan Schwarzenburger.” Adulting, 6 Oct. 2019, www.listennotes.com/podcasts/adulting/43-why-university-isnt-8GK7igDM6ev/https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/adulting/43-why-university-isnt-8GK7igDM6ev.
Guo, Jeff. “Want Proof College Is Worth It? Look at This List of the Highest-Paying Majors.” The Washington Post, 29 Sept. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/29/want-proof-college-is-worth-it-look-at-this-list-of-the-highest-paying-majors/.
Leonhardt, David. “Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say.” The New York Times, 27 May 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/upshot/is-college-worth-it-clearly-new-data-say.html.
Mcghie, Venicia. “Entering University Studies: Identifying Enabling Factors for a Successful Transition from School to University.” Higher Education, vol. 73, no. 3, 2016, pp. 407–422., doi:10.1007/s10734-016-0100-2.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates,
US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Digest of Education Statistics, 2017 (NCES 2018-070), Chapter 3.