Despite the audacity of her lawsuit, Trina Thompson is a victim.
The Monroe College alumna is famously suing her alma mater
because she remains unemployed three months after graduation —
joining nearly 80% of this year’s graduating class. The lawsuit
claims the underperforming career development department at
Monroe is responsible for her present unemployment. Now she wants
her tuition back.
Ms. Thompson is probably more a victim of the horrendous job
market rather than deliberately bad career advice. But she might
consider targeting her outrage at politicians that have
recklessly promoted the expansion of post-secondary education
without little regard to filling existing and future gaps in the
job market.
While most could benefit from some college education, the
existing regime encouraging students to “get-a-degree-any-degree”
is counterproductive. By turning college into a prerequisite of
success we risk producing a generation of Trina Thompsons —
average students disillusioned that a bachelor’s does not
automatically translate into the types of jobs a four-year degree
is supposed to merit. As Ms. Thompson put it: “It doesn’t make
any sense: They [college graduates] went to school for four
years, and then they come out working at McDonald’s and Payless.
That’s not what they planned.”
President Obama wants the U.S. to the lead the world in college
graduation rates by 2020. This effort will likely continue to
produce more sociology majors when — despite high unemployment
— the U.S. still suffers from a skilled labor shortage,
according to the Conference Board. To avoid this fate, the Obama
Administration should concentrate more on increase community
college enrollment and performance — institutions that teach
practical and needed skills — rather than enlarging subsidies to
four-year institutions that teach neither.
How did we get to a situation where someone with a 2.7 GPA from a
mediocre institution feels horror at thought of working at
Payless during a near depression? Expanding college enrollment
and the growing stigma against those who do not get at least a BA
help to explain this phenomenon. From 1997-2008, the Department
of Education (DOE) reports the number of full-time students rose
34% and total enrollment (full- and part-time) increased 26%.
During the same time period, however, the DOE said the
traditional college age population (18 to 24 years-old) only
increased 16% reflecting college’s increasing popularity.
Government tried to make college more affordable through
increasing loan and grant programs. The total volume of federal
student loans increased 76% from 1995-2005. Over virtually the
same time period, DOE said the number of full-time undergraduates
receiving federal aid rose 16% and the average award jumped over
40%.
But colleges and universities refuse to play the affordability
game. Most institutions of higher learning simply add the
subsidies to the cost of admission. Thus, the price for
undergraduate tuition, room, and board at public universities
soared 30% over the past decade. The higher rates outstripped the
more generous government support leaving the average 2007
graduate almost $23,000 in debt, according to the College Board.
It appears that a burgeoning college-educated class is paying
more for degrees that are worth comparatively less —
particularly bachelor’s degrees in social sciences. As education
scholar Charles Murray writes: “Outside a handful of majors —
engineering and some of the sciences — a bachelor’s degree tells
an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain
amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in
a vocational major like business administration can mean anything
from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered
gut courses.” How will employers sift through this army of BAs?
By requiring graduate degrees — saddling students with even more
debt.
Meanwhile, skilled trades — welders, pipefitters, and the like
— still need workers, despite tough economic times. Even as the
economy was beginning to implode, The Wall Street
Journal reported skilled trades grappling with “overcoming
the perception that blue-collar trades offer less status, money
and chance for advancement than white-collar jobs, and that
college is the best investment for everyone.”
Anyone recent graduate of upper-middle class origins can attest
the existence and power of this stigma. For us, four-year college
was never an option but mandatory; frankly, many of our parents
spent unholy sums to avoid the shame of admitting, “Jimmy’s not
going to school” at dinner parties. Heaven help us if this
ridiculous obsession begins to work its way down the
socio-economic ladder.
Let us hope President Obama enacts policies that will produce
people with real skills to compete in the marketplace — by
focusing on improving community colleges and vocational
institutions — rather than pushing more people into glorified
diploma factories.
