Commentary
Student debt debates have among other things enlivened conversation about the nation’s long-standing emphasis on college. With so many graduates unable to repay the cost of their education, questions naturally have arisen about whether college effectively serves the economy’s skills needs and, accordingly, whether many now in college might do better with some other sort of training and education.
Apart from onerous debt burdens, the waste in the long-standing “college for all” push is clear in figures on graduation and on who gets what jobs. The Department of Education reports that more than 60 percent of those finishing middle school will eventually attend either a four-year or two-year post-secondary institution, but only slightly over half these will graduate. Meanwhile, over 60 percent of these graduates will fail to get a job requiring their degree. In other words, only 16 percent of those involved achieve the promise of a degree for themselves and for society. For the rest, there is debt and little benefit, while the economy loses out on what they might have contributed with a different sort of training. This is hardly a good return on the national effort. It should be apparent, then, that the emphasis on college wastes public and personal resources while inducing many who do not belong there to forego the vocational training that might serve them and society better….