Global Grad Advises on Realities of College Degree in Global Economy
written by: John Joseph IV, J.D. | photos by: Global Grad
What a College Degree Can (and Cannot) Guarantee in the Global Economy
Let’s start, though, by acknowledging that finishing college can offer substantial benefits. College graduates are likely to earn more than non-graduates (though the actual number is much less than the often cited $1 million figure). They are also more likely to be employed.
Still, something has changed: Namely, the idea that any college graduate is guaranteed not only higher earnings and consistent employment, but also desirable opportunities. If you are the kind of person who trusts your own experiences to verify conclusions, ask yourself whether every college graduate you know has a great job. Ask yourself if you’ve ever encountered a college graduate doing work that does not require a degree. If you believe in data and possess some innate mistrust of your interpretation of human experience, then consider that Ohio University reports that the majority of college graduates since 1992 work jobs not requiring a degree. Study recent research out of Rutgers University, asserting that barely over half of 2006-2010 college graduates have a full-time job – many of which do not require a degree. If you do not trust your interpretation of human experience and think statistics and data are misleading, then go to YouTube and watch the speaker at Harvard’s graduation address his class as "the most intelligent, accomplished, and unemployed class to ever graduate from Harvard."
Comes now the people who always demand a scapegoat, and their message is to blame the colleges for graduates’ difficulty. This is shortsighted and misguided. After all, it’s not as if all colleges decided in 1997 that they would no longer pick up the phone and make sure each graduate earned $62,500 to start in the management-track job of his/her choice. That never happened in the first place. It’s not as if colleges stopped caring about students. The culprit is supply and demand. More people than ever have degrees, so the advantages associated with finishing college have eroded. Period.
Higher education, however, should be held accountable in some respects. If a university is not teaching students anything, then it should be held accountable (google Academically Adrift). If a university is implying guaranteed employment for its graduates, then it should be held accountable. If a university is promoting the “take out as many student loans as you want, and you’ll make plenty to pay them back” mantra, that university is jeopardizing students’ futures.
So, if you agree that a college degree may not be an automatic golden ticket, what do we tell students? What do we teach students? Start here:
- A college degree is still important, but finishing college is not enough to guarantee that dream job you want. So, commit yourself to success in college – or do not waste the time and money.
- Do not take out an excessive student loan to fund a college education (and parents, in the name of every fixed-income instrument that protects your principle in a turbulent market, do not pull funds from your retirement to pay tuition). A $10,000 loan is not desirable but is manageable. A $200,000 loan to fund a Communications degree is most likely a lifetime of indentured servitude.
- Focus on developing marketable skills, not earning degrees. “What do you know how to do?” is the new “What degree do you have?”
- Develop marketable skills in a field where there is a verifiable, documented need for those skills. Also consider whether the skills could be transferred to a robot, online, or offshore before pursuing a specific career track.
- Don’t begrudge people who are living their dreams. Find your own dream, do the best you can to achieve it, and draw inspiration and encouragement from those who already reached their destination.
In the final analysis, the entire discussion about college degrees and upward mobility is just another verse in that perpetual song of human history: Things Change, and We Just Have to Deal with It. A degree can still be a good investment, but earning a degree guarantees little in itself. Opportunities still exist, but they are not accessible simply by virtue of college graduation. And, most importantly, our ability to live the life we’ve imagined actually requires us to imagine a life and then develop skills that society will both recognize and reward. So let’s get to it.
John Joseph IV, J.D. is founder and CEO of Global Grad (www.globalgrad.com), which helps students maximize personal, academic, and professional success in college so they are highly employable after college.
