According to data from the NY Fed, Americans with a bachelors degree earned less in real terms last year than they did back in 1990, and there are more college degrees floating around today than ever before.
Having a bachelors degree isn't any guarantee that you are going to find work in that industry that you've studied in though, or that you might even be able to secure a job at all.
Many more people today are putting off goals of home ownership and marriage because they have prioritized trying to pay down their student debt.
Unfortunately, for many young people making the decision to put themselves into tens of thousands of dollars in debt, regardless of the degree they are pursuing, could be one of the worst decisions they will ever make.
Having a degree isn't the only way to succeed in life, though that's what we are taught aggressively all through our educational journey; that the only way to do well in life is to get a degree. But there are many financially successful individuals who never even graduated from college.
As well, getting a job might not be as good a path as trying to start your own company and provide jobs to others. The messages that we are taught then about jobs and degrees can be highly misleading and detrimental to our well-being.
You don't need a degree to be successful and many people who have degrees today cannot find any work in their field, or they are left choosing jobs that they could've started working had they never undergone their education to begin with.
Getting specialized training or a degree in a certain field doesn't always need to put you into debt, as there are many people who've been successfully able to put themselves through school by working at the same time, or choosing courses that didn't cost them more than they could afford.
For kids today that want to have a successful future, they could put all of their effort and energy for years into pursuing that goal, finally obtaining that degree, and then finding out that it wouldn't bring them the job they hoped. Or, they could find that they don't even enjoy the work they've studied to do; the real world has a lot more to teach than the classroom.
Skills Vs Degree
For anyone who isn't sure what they want to do in life or what work they might enjoy, then taking on crushing debt for a certain degree probably isn't the best idea. A degree no longer promises a good job and there are many ways to earn a good living without ever securing a degree. Young people today shouldn't feel so much pressure to maintain the misguided advice of the past that could bring more misery than good.
