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My friend has a bachelors in Meteorology. He is 27 and works in Babies R Us.
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Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80
No, I think you are twisting what you've heard. 50 years ago, one could skip college and still get a good entry-level job and be able to support a family. Now, you need a college degree to get that job. A college degree is this generation's high school diploma.
You can still get a decent job without a college diploma.
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Originally Posted by killer2021
yea its not true, both are worth nothing.
It's worth something but it's not really that important imo.
Everyone citing this article should have given college a shot, if only to take a basic statistics course. A higher number of unemployed college grads does NOT equate to a higher proportion of college grads. In fact, the article concluded that:
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But even though business and professional services saw significant layoffs, the unemployment rate among those with a higher degree held steady at 3.1% in November. The overall unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October.
"You're still less than half as likely to be unemployed if you have a college degree," Baker said.
"The numbers say, despite these conditions, we still have a strong job market within the professional skills category, nearly 97% of college-educated workers are employed," said Janette Marx, senior vice president of Ajilon Global, professional staffing firm.
Going forward, "you may see an increase but it will probably remain at half or less than half of the overall unemployment rate," Marx said.
Of course, this was published over two years ago before the unemployment rate really shot up. But I'd guess that college grads still fare better overall.
There are many levels to this debate that are lost on people.
If the question is high level one "are you better off with a college degree or a HS" The answer is simple and that is going to college.
Now if you are going to dig deeper you can talk about specific degrees and the quality of college. If you take a kid who had a 2.7 gpa in HS is he better off driving a UPS truck or going to an online college? Probably UPS.
In the end if you know someone who went to college and is a cashier at 30 the problem is the person, not that they went to college.
My friend has a bachelors in Meteorology. He is 27 and works in Babies R Us.
Hmmm. My boyfriend has the dreaded liberal arts degree (as do I, and have been continually employed in fields relevant to said degree since graduating over a decade ago). He has a degree in English. With said degree, he works a corporate job as a fraud investigator and intelligence analyst in a major company's forensic accounting unit. Prior to that, he worked for the National Park Service and in IT for a medical supply company, among other jobs.
Both instances are anecdotal. Your friend's experience doesn't anymore mean that those with meteorology degrees are doomed to retail positions than my boyfriend's means that those with humanities degrees will invariably be able to find employment in a varied number of disparate fields. But both do serve to illustrate that there are no guarantees that x degree = y employment being available to you, and that a degree in one particular area doesn't necessarily knock you out of the running for jobs that don't, at a glance, seem to be hugely connected to one's major course of study. So much is dependent upon so many different variables...there's no one litmus test for employability. There's timing to consider, econonomic landscape factors, job market saturation, etc., as well. It's not as simple as "This degree gets you this job," as I think everyone is well aware.
That said, I still do maintain that more training is likely to be more valuable than less training, no matter the field. For many fields, that's going to entail some post-secondary study of some sort (and actually utilizing the study opportunities to their fullest possible extent, not just mailing it in at Kegstand U. and thinking that's good enough and now you're owed a great job, but that's a whole other discussion).
I know a few people with a high school diploma who do pretty well for themselves, and they never went to college.
However, from my experience a college degree doesn't mean anything. I graduated in 2005, 6 years ago for you math heads out there, and I've never used it once. I have concluded the bachelor's in history is very useless. I've been shot down by employers telling me I'm overqualified for a 9 dollar an hour job and they go and hire someone with a high school diploma. They get the job and I get nothing.
I don't know if the college degree is the same as a high school diploma, but I have read there are more college graduates unemployed compared to the number of high school dropouts who are unemployed.
It is silly to talk about college degrees as if all such simple pieces of paper (diploma) are equal. A bachelor's in history is not very interesting to many employers and you have no one to blame but yourself for choosing that degree. History is fascinating and surely provides some valuable lessons. Unfortunately a company looking for programmers, accountants, or chemical engineers are looking for something else.
In today's economy, I would not be surprised if some things are out of balance - like higher unemployment for college grads than high school dropouts (I'd like to see data). Eventually employment will get back somewhere near historical norms and we will see that the typical college graduate earns more than a high school graduate, both after school, and through their lifetime. There will always be exceptions.
In today's economy, I would not be surprised if some things are out of balance - like higher unemployment for college grads than high school dropouts (I'd like to see data). Eventually employment will get back somewhere near historical norms and we will see that the typical college graduate earns more than a high school graduate, both after school, and through their lifetime. There will always be exceptions.
The unemployment rate of people with at least a bachelor's degree is still much lower than that of high school dropouts and people with a high school diploma.
A bachelor's in history is not very interesting to many employers and you have no one to blame but yourself for choosing that degree.
Thank you for telling me something I found out 6 years ago.
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The unemployment rate of people with at least a bachelor's degree is still much lower than that of high school dropouts and people with a high school diploma.
Actually, if you click on a link someone posted several posts above, you'll see there are more college graduates unemployed compared to high school dropouts.
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If the question is high level one "are you better off with a college degree or a HS" The answer is simple and that is going to college.
Depends on what you get the degree in. You get a degree in nursing, you'll have a job. You get a degree in English, then what kind of jobs can you get with that? You might be better off with a high school diploma than a college degree that doesn't help you. At least when you apply to low wage jobs you don't have to be rejected for being over qualified simply because you have a bachelors degree.
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Now if you are going to dig deeper you can talk about specific degrees and the quality of college. If you take a kid who had a 2.7 gpa in HS is he better off driving a UPS truck or going to an online college? Probably UPS.
You do realize UPS drivers make good money, more so than teachers and being a UPS driver doesn't require a college degree. But shhh.....high school counselors aren't supposed to say those things.
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In the end if you know someone who went to college and is a cashier at 30 the problem is the person, not that they went to college.
Touchy area......There are people in their 30's who have masters degrees who are waiting tables because there aren't any jobs in their field of study..........To say the 30 year old college graduate who's a cashier is the problem isn't identifying the problem. The person might just be experiencing hard times trying to get a better paying job.
Actually, if you click on a link someone posted several posts above, you'll see there are more college graduates unemployed compared to high school dropouts.
Actually, if you read the post containing that link above, you'll see that the unemployment rate for college grads is indeed lower than for high school dropouts.
A higher number of unemployed doesn't imply a higher unemployment rate unless the population sizes are the same.
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Is it true that a bachelors degree is worth the same as a high school diploma now adays?
