College: now more than ever
June 22, 2011 2 Comments
It’s kind of amazing how the relative value of a college degree has grown in recent years. It is really tough out there for people without college degrees.
Associate Professor of Political Science at NC State http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/shgreene
Educational attainment is an SES sorting/signaling mechanism as much as anything else. Those from any generation who are likely to rise above their peer swill do so, whether that meant getting a high school diploma in 1930, an AA in the 1950s, a BA in the 1970s, or an MA/JD/MBA in the 90s. The problem these days is that to reach the 90th percentile of the distribution of educational attainment you have to spend many extra years and tens of thousands of dollars that weren’t required 40 years ago when a BA would suffice We really ought to rethink this notion that everyone should go to college. We need a well-funded and well-respected vocational system in this country. People wouldn’t have to attend school until the age of 26 to obtain a decent job — this opportunity should be available to 20-year olds who have acquired a marketable skill and reliable work habits through vocational training.
Yes, it really does put young people in a bind (oh, and parents of young people). College is a huge factor in earnings potential, and yet the cost has outpaced inflation for a number of years running.
I guess the foreign outsourcing of trade-level jobs has something to do with this? If you have a degree, you still have a skill/talent that can’t easily be duplicated, but if you perform a trade, it’s easy to find someone in a developing country who will do it for much less?