With bleak job prospects for non-real world education funded by massive loans that can't be easily discharged with bankruptcy, then what are we doing sending students to college when they can't even be guaranteed the shirt on their backs?
Well the economy goes in cycles. When the tide comes in these students will find employment. There is no choice. The difference in salary of college grads vs non-grads is astounding. To get in through the door, a college degree is a must. yes, even english and history major is OK. Unfortunatly there is NO way to get around paying back student loans. I graduated from grad school in 1993, and just this year 2011, I finally finished paying back every cent plus interest, penelty - Its like that joke a comedian tells, you get in the elevator, the doors open on the 52nd floor. you walk out and find yourself in the middle of the Mojave Desert. You come to a house, in the middle of nowhere, the phone rings in the house, you pick it up, its your student loan officer calling, asking when you will pay back the loans.
It is one hell of a risk. If you think about it you shouldn't have to take that kind of risk for employment. That tells you a lot about the economy. Why is all the responsibility on the employees part now. It used to be the employer that had to pay for the education of the staff. Now they expect you to pay for the right to work for them. Seriously that is messed up. It is like you are having to pay for the job not the other way round. I can't see this situation being continued. I think that whole college era is going and the lifestyle with it. I think it was a boomer thing that was created to get people in the strategic positions to fill the gap that the deaths in the first and second world war and vietnam created. What people don't appreciate is the reason for a lot of the social changes in the twentieth century was the decimation of the upperclass in Europe and America from these wars. The lower classes were given education opportunities they would not previously had to fill that gap.
Table A-4. Employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment Bachelor's degree and higher Unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) : 4.5% O lawdy! (Really, the economy is not that bad.)
An easy way out is to leave the country. People forget the only purpose of a college degree is to get a good job. It is nothing more than an investment. Obviously many good things come extra when you go to college and you get your hard earned degree. But there is only one purpose...........a good job. Those who go for weak careers at expensive colleges will pay a big price. Bad decisions. I know people already in this mess.
Federally supported student loans need to be phased out for liberal arts degrees, IMO. The Dems are always wanting to make it easier for people to go to college, but make no distinction between engineering/medicine/etc and those who are pursuing art history or sociology as a major.