One hundred years ago only ten percent of the US population had a high school diploma. (None of my grandparents graduated from high school.) In those days you could graduate from high school, get a job at a bank, and, thirty-five years later, become bank president.
My parents graduated from high school. My dad could have attended college on the G.I. Bill after WW II, but family legend has it that my mother refused to move seventy-five miles away from her parents. It was left to me to be the first in my family to get a higher education.
My timing was perfect. Fifty years ago universities were considered to be only for the elite. Very few (3-4%) of high school graduates earned a bachelor’s degree. It made no difference what your major or GPA were—you were a COLLEGE graduate. I had a “nothing degree” and a modest GPA. I was hired by IBM—the Google of the day, and had a very successful career in Information Technology. (Ironically, I had never seen a computer before I was hired.)
Fast forward to today. About one in four high school graduates (23%) will earn a bachelor’s degree. Given the rise in number of alums and the impact of the Great Recession of 2008 there is a serious imbalance between supply and demand of suitable jobs. (Recently I was doing volunteer work in a suburban high school that sends 80% of their graduates to college. I shared the supply and demand numbers with the principle. His response was, “We certainly don’t want the students to hear that.”) Prospective employers can pick and choose from a vast army of applicants, and they aren’t going to hire many Art History majors with a 2.3 GPA.
College today is a COMPETITION. According to the Department of Labor about half of graduates with a bachelor’s degree are not going to get a good job. The game has changed.
Here are the new rules for high school graduates:
• There are exceptions, but you will probably need some kind of credential to get a good job.
• Unless you are in the top ten percent of your class, think twice before choosing the traditional four year degree as that credential. (The master’s degree is rapidly becoming the standard for a good job if you are following the traditional college route.)
• If you think you are up to the competition at the traditional four year college, choose a rigorous, marketable major and work hard to get good grades. (If your passion is “Puppeteering,” try to resist the urge to choose this as your major.)
• Otherwise, consider alternative credentials. You don’t need a traditional four year degree to make a good living in computer programming. See Udacity.com as one example. The trades (welders, plumbers, etc.) cannot find enough applicants. Check out Mike Rowe at profoundlydisconnected.com. Do you want to be an airline pilot? The military will train you for free.
• Whatever credential you choose, avoid excessive student loan debt. (Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of student loan debt.)
There are thousands of good jobs available that don’t require a bachelor’s degree because many parents and students start with the wrong objective. Focus on, “How do I become financially self-sufficient?” not on, “What colleges will accept me?”