Value of College Degrees Diminished today

[Thorn]

I know several people who have said that today's college degree is worth what a high school diploma was in our parents' day. This seems to have garnered more attention recently:
[/QUOTE]
College Degrees More Expensive, Worth Less in Job Market

KRISTI OLOFFSON Kristi Oloffson – 1 hr 16 mins ago

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.


Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for recent grads rose as well. It is now 10.6%, a record high.


The devaluation of a college degree is no secret on campus. An annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute has long asked freshmen what they think their highest academic degree will be. In 1972, 38% of respondents said a bachelor's degree, but in 2008 only 22% answered the same. The number of freshmen planning to get a master's degree rose from 31% in 1972 to 42% in 2008. Says John Pryor, the institute's director: "Years ago, the bachelor's degree was the key to getting better jobs. Now you really need more than that." (See TIME's special report on paying for college.)


Employers stress that a basic degree remains essential, carefully tiptoeing around the idea that its value has plummeted. But they admit that the degree alone is not the ace it once was; now they emphasize work experience as a way to make yourself stand out. Dan Black, director of campus recruiting in the Americas for Ernst & Young, and his team will hire more than 4,000 people this year out of 20,000 applicants. There are a lot of things besides a degree "that will help differentiate how much attention you get," says the veteran hirer, who has been screening graduates for 15 years.


Enterprise Rent-A-Car hiring guru Marie Artim, who says her company will hire 8,000 of 200,000 applicants worldwide, has found that her applicant pool is changing. "While 10 years ago we may have had the same numbers, today we have higher-quality and better-qualified applicants," she says.


So what does it take to impress recruiters today? Daniel Pink, an author on motivation in the workplace, agrees that the bachelor's degree "is necessary, but it's just not sufficient," at times doing little more than verifying "that you can more or less show up on time and stick with it." The author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future says companies want more. They're looking for people who can do jobs that can't be outsourced, he says, and graduates who "don't require a lot of hand-holding." (Read "The Incredible Climbing Cost of College.")


Left-brain abilities that used to guarantee jobs have become easy to automate, while right-brain abilities are harder to find - "design, seeing the big picture, connecting the dots," Pink says. He cites cognitive skills and self-direction as the types of things companies look for in job candidates. "People have to be able to do stuff that's hard to outsource," he says. "It used to be for blue collar; it's now for white collar too."


For now, graduates can steer their careers where job growth is strong - education, health care and nonprofit programs like Teach for America, says Trudy Steinfeld, a career counselor at New York University. "Every college degree is not cookie cutter. It's what you have done during that degree to distinguish yourself."

[QUOTE]

[Adam Weinberg]

In my field, the degree means relatively nothing.

It is a question of whether the time I spent earning the degree, and the experience and networks that came with it, gave me the fundamental background to be valuable.

I would say most of the opportunities and benefits that came out of my college career had to do with personal enrichment, interim work experience and internships and not specifically the degree itself.

Nobody has hired me on the basis of having a college degree, and I don't expect that anyone will. I think as long as college students (and parents) understand that, then college can be an excellent investment in your future development.

[FUCK THE POLICE]

You just about can't be a scientist without a doctorate, and even then there aren't many jobs open.

I'm just going to have to make really good grades.

[Thorn]

In my field, the degree means relatively nothing.

It is a question of whether the time I spent earning the degree, and the experience and networks that came with it, gave me the fundamental background to be valuable.

I would say most of the opportunities and benefits that came out of my college career had to do with personal enrichment, interim work experience and internships and not specifically the degree itself.

Nobody has hired me on the basis of having a college degree, and I don't expect that anyone will. I think as long as college students (and parents) understand that, then college can be an excellent investment in your future development.

Exactly. A university education never was meant to provide job training. That's what community colleges are for. (Or in Ontario, just "colleges".) In my own field at the graduate level at least, it matters far less where you went but who your mentors were, what your achievement and publication record is, and as you've suggested the networking that arises from presenting your work -- and from the contacts your mentor helps via introductions.

[Buffalo Soldier]

This is one tiny poor view. Recently a study was done showing a college degree would earn you and extra 2.5 million over your career. What this pissant pessimist view fails miserably at is showing the innovative new businesses started by college grads. I'm Financial analyst with a fortune 500 company and would not have gotten an interview without a degree and good gpa. Any engineering grad will kill it graduating now. I would never discourage my kids from going.

[Cancel 2018. 3]

This is one tiny poor view. Recently a study was done showing a college degree would earn you and extra 2.5 million over your career. What this pissant pessimist view fails miserably at is showing the innovative new businesses started by college grads. I'm Financial analyst with a fortune 500 company and would not have gotten an interview without a degree and good gpa. Any engineering grad will kill it graduating now. I would never discourage my kids from going.

your fake degrees mr. GED

[Buffalo Soldier]

Spurt you prob agree with the article being ashamed to name your college like most everyone has.

[Cancel 2018. 3]

Spurt you prob agree with the article being ashamed to name your college like most everyone has.

liar....i'm not going to mention because maineman is a stalker GEDboy....get with the times GED'r

[/MSG/]

Not going to college certainly hasn't affected my salary or benefits. Trades are where the best, most stable money is. Always have been.

[Buffalo Soldier]

Sure compare average trade wage vs average engineers salary. The ngineer is likely double.

[Buffalo Soldier]

Spurt, Im sorry I ever called u a name. If you are afraid of mainman you have to be weaker than waterstain and grind. My bad I'm sorry dude.

[Cancel 2018. 3]

Spurt, Im sorry I ever called u a name. If you are afraid of mainman you have to be weaker than waterstain and grind. My bad I'm sorry dude.

post your name, address, place of work and school you went to....and then allow me to talk to your work about your posts here....

deal?

[Bonestorm]

Compare the unemployment rate among college graduates with the unemployment rate of non-college graduates and you will quickly see the value of a college degree.

[/MSG/]

Sure compare average trade wage vs average engineers salary. The ngineer is likely double.

No, not really. Your average electrical engineer makes around 72K a year here, from my own observation. I make 81K, though to be fair this includes 10 hours of overtime weekly, but does not count holidays or bonuses. But wages aren't the only difference, since I can point to higher earner on both sides of the spectrum. Job security is just as crucial, if not more so in these times. In this day and age where a degree is common place, it essentially makes engineers replaceable, where as skilled tradesmen, who take years to become proficient, are much harder to replace.

[Cypress]

I know several people who have said that today's college degree is worth what a high school diploma was in our parents' day. This seems to have garnered more attention recently:

"Every college degree is not cookie cutter. It's what you have done during that degree to distinguish yourself."

God, ain’t that the truth. I think everyone knows that these days the degree is just a way to position yourself to get a foot in the door. But, I would say that 90% of any success I’ve had is from the contacts, networks, connections, and people and communication skills I obtained through higher education. That’s probably pretty much everyone’s experience.

We’ve got some college interns working for us, and they are totally hip to what it takes to make it happen. It just doesn’t cut it to have a college degree and a job at taco bell on your resume. I’m totally blown away by what these kids are doing to beef up their experience and qualifications. It’s awesome. Besides interning, some of them are doing non-profit work for this foundation called Engineers without Borders. Sort of the equivalent of Doctors without Borders. I did some stuff with them, and they blew my mind. And then, my next door neighbor’s daughter is going to Africa with some nonprofit NGO to do some crap. That’s going to be way cool for her on both a personal level, and its going to look super awesome on her resume.

The thing about the degree is - for me anyway - is I can’t do what I do without it. And I would never let my bosses know, but I would do this sh*t for half the salary. Ha! That college degree was just my ticket to a career that I could enjoy doing for decades, and not have to get sweaty doing it. I totally sucked at construction work and landscaping anyway!