This Video Will Change How You See College Forever

Описание: The College education system in the United States is broken and Americans are noticing. College enrollment peaked in 2010 at around 18.1 million students and has been steadily declining ever since at an average rate of 1.6% a year and this trend only accelerated with the pandemic. Since 2016, 91 U.S. private colleges have failed and Credit rating agencies like Fitch and Moody’s have noted that many colleges continue to run budget deficits and face the risk of near term closures. Meanwhile, Americans' confidence in the Higher education system has arguably never been lower. Confidence figures have plummeted since 2015 with Gallup finding that just 36% of people in 2023 said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in higher education compared to 57% in 2015. And data shows that the number of high school students who are immediately enrolling into college after graduation declined from 70% in 2016 to 63% in 2020.

So why are Americans quickly starting to give up on college? The reasons are complex, but the biggest contributor is that many believe that a college degree is simply no longer worth the price tag that comes with it.

For some historical context, College used to be an unbeatable deal and no brainer choice back in the 1970s. As baby boomers were beginning to reach college age, the federal government passed the Higher Education Act of 1965 which essentially made it possible for anyone to obtain low interest student loans from the federal government to go to college. College costs were also much more manageable and it was possible for students to work part time jobs to pay tuition and to graduate debt free without any loans at all. The reasonable cost combined with the economic benefits and competitive edge a bachelor's degree gave people, it made going to college an easy choice. Because of this, a “college for all” attitude began to take over the United States and trade schools and other career training programs began to suffer.

But the economics of college today are a far cry from those that existed even just 40 years ago. Since 1980, the average cost of college has skyrocketed over 160% which far outpaces the rate of inflation during that time period. Meanwhile, the average earnings of young adults has only increased around 20% during that same time period. This has created a situation where the cost of education is outpacing wage growth at an unsustainable rate. In 2000, the lowest annual salary bracket where most prime-age workers held a bachelor’s degree was $95,000 when adjusted for inflation – If you compare that to now, the lowest salary bracket where most prime-age workers held a bachelor’s degree has eroded all the way down to $65,000. These numbers showcase how the financial returns for a bachelor’s degree have steadily declined.

College graduates being able to find jobs in their fields is definitely no guarantee. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that 40.1% of recent college graduates are underemployed, meaning that they are currently working jobs that don’t require a college degree at all. This shocking statistic shows that many graduates are working in jobs that don’t even utilize their degrees and because of this they are likely not gaining any return on investment in the form of higher wages from their college education.

Part of the problem is there is arguably an oversupply of undergraduate degrees in the labor market. The total United States population with higher education degrees has steadily increased with the U.S. census stating that approximately 85 million Americans over the age of 25 had completed a bachelor’s degree or higher. This constantly increasing supply of degrees has arguably created an oversupply of college graduates in particular fields and is leading to something known as degree inflation.

Degree inflation is a phenomenon where jobs that historically did not require a 4 year college degree and don’t really need them are increasingly listing a Bachelor's degree as a job requirement. For example, Executive Secretaries and Assistants are jobs that traditionally have not required a college degree. But a study found that 65% of newer job postings for Executive Secretary and Assistant roles were now requiring a Bachelor's Degree for these roles despite the fact that only 19% of the people currently filling those jobs had a Bachelor's Degree.

As America’s traditional college model continues to falter and Americans sour on higher education, it’s likely that we will continue to see changing attitudes to bachelor's degrees from both job seekers and corporations. It’s very possible that the higher education landscape will look significantly different in the coming decades.