Last week, I outlined the severe problems of young adults
completing bachelor’s degrees. They
included high unemployment, a 25% rate of working in positions requiring their
education, skyrocketing tuition, massive related debt, and the detrimental
effects of starting good jobs later. The
solutions most have implemented so far, such as living with parents, working
part-time when possible, going off the grid, or doing other things instead,
have achieved inadequate results for most.
So what would help?
First, along with nebulous college rankings, we need to
create a measure of career-job placement.
For a given university, what share of traditionally-aged bachelor’s
degree recipients are working in a position requiring that credential within
one year? This metric could be adjusted,
but not much – it should not, for example, exclude those in graduate school or
taking time off, choices often influenced by perception of low hiring
chances. Schools that refuse to publish
this statistic, or will not share data used for it, should have that held
against them by possible applicants.
Second, students in about the bottom 60% of their high
school classes should generally not go to four-year schools right away. At this level, many go to college but don’t
finish it. The routine track for average
high school students with university aspirations should be to first go to a
community college, live at home, and work part-time if they can find it. If they complete their two-year degrees, they
should go on to a regular college or university, where, if they graduate, their
diplomas will be the same as if they spent all four years there.
Third, everyone in a degree program at a four-year school
should commit to getting it. That should
be the specific, barely negotiable goal for everyone at that level. Nobody in doubt as to whether they can, or
will, do that should be there.
Fourth, we need to reduce some expectations about
college. The options above will hurt
many students’ social lives, but with tuition and jobs being what they are, much
of that is a luxury far fewer can afford.
Those in college as well as the rest of us need to spend less, save
money when it is available, and, if they have the time and need the income,
work when possible.
Fifth, attending a high-tuition private university instead
of a lower-cost state one should generally be, except for those in the top 10%
of their high school classes or with similar family wealth, out of the
question.
Sixth, young single people having trouble finding a good job
should consider moving to a relatively cheap area, at least temporarily. There are great cost-of-living differences
across the nation, with pay rates generally not making up for the highest ones. Plans of being in, say, New York City,
Hawaii, or San Francisco sometimes just need to wait.
Seventh, but how about South Korea? That is one of the few places in the world
where young Americans with four-year degrees are almost assured of being
hired. Almost any can be an English
teacher, paid enough to save significant money, with an apartment and health
care part of the deal. The same goes, to
a lesser extent, for China, Japan, and Hong Kong.
Eighth, we cannot wait for external change. The chances are far greater for another
recession than for jobs for young college graduates suddenly getting much better
or more plentiful.
Ninth, we all need to realize the employment crisis is
permanent. Last week I saw yet another
prime columnist – Robert Samuelson of The
Washington Post, this time – express mystification on what is happening
with work, labor and wages in this country.
Automation, globalization, efficiency, and a string of smaller factors
explain it well enough. When we understand
that, we can at least partially unite to deal with it, and that will benefit
young college graduates more than anything else listed here.
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