No Jobs Without College as Employers Treat Degree as a Minimum

Why is it always about "college degrees"?

Why is it that people only think about higher education in the form of a 4 year degree? Besides 4 year college education, President Obama mentioned vocational school, and apprenticeship training in his speech, and yet it seems that everyone ignores those avenues.

We've become to accept college as the ONLY route towards a good career, and basically blinded our young people to considering other opportunities. Have we lost the need for electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, machinists, and welders? Who is going to operate our heavy equipment to build our roads? Are beauticians on the way out?

Ironically, these occupations I mentioned pay quite well. In fact better in many cases than their 4 year degree counterparts.

The issue that I see in urging everyone to go to college to earn a 4 year degree is that you saturate an already over saturated college graduate job market which means that these new graduates will wind up with jobs that never required their level of education, and in the process displacing those without a degree. Then they'll turn around and say, "You see why it's necessary to get a degree?", and start the vicious cycle all over again.

With an every growing pool of college graduates let's hope companies don't start to require degrees to become a plumber, truck driver or other tradesman. That will be a sad, sad day in America.

Pathetic

This is absolutely pathetic. There's no jobs for graduates because most non-service work has been outsourced. Service jobs are the only thing left. So now they can require a BA to scrub toilets while you get paid enough to feed yourself and default on your student loans. I've had it up to my eyeballs with this country. They say we are becoming a "service" economy. This means a country full of toilet scrubbers, burger flippers and their corporate masters.

9% unemployment my rear. Look at the REAL stats. 45% of Americans don't have jobs, but this includes the young, the retired, and the disabled. The "unemployed" are just the ones who are still receiving benefits. Who knows what percent actually is looking and can't find work. Our system completely obscures the facts. The real estimates are between 20-30%. good luck finding the real numbers. It was 25% during the great depression, we just havent seen the effects yet because we have so many fallbacks (presonal debt, selling your belongings, government financed national debt)

I myself am moving overseas to teach people English so they can replace more American workers. I can't feel too guilty about it though, since I've been under employed or unemployed for 3 years now since i graduated college. One finger salute to America.

No Jobs at all is more like it.

College is the new high school? What a load of crap. Don't you get it? Unemployment is now so high that employers can be ridiculously picky about who they hire. The author of this article is saying that young people should go to college and get a degree so they can get a job as a parking lot attendant. Does anyone expect these graduates to be able to pay off their massive student loans on those kinds of piddling wages? I suppose the next article will be about McDonalds requiring new hires to have a degree in physics so they can plot the trajectories of the burgers they're flipping. So much for capitalism.

Mo of Co

Your grammar is atrocious Sir. Whatever school you went to should be penalized for allowing you to graduate.

Yes college degrees required!!

I believe that college degrees are essential to get a job but not just a job but a job to move up the ladder. The people that have a job without a college degree are now with the democrats in charge will not be moving up the ladder. The college graduates will be able to get a job sooner than later with Obama as president fixing our economy.

But the people that didn't go to college are now complaining because they are not going to see raises in their salaries and certainly will not be going up the ladder as they were with Bush in power. If a person that is not college educated and looses his/her job in these tough times they would have very very little chance of finding another job even with their experience. It's that little piece of paper that says I graduated college that will get you further and move up the ladder.

The people that didn't go to college and can only move up with a company so far then they hit that platform where even if you know the information the companies are going to so no and you will be stuck at that position without that degree.

Yes you do need a college degree

I believe that college degrees are essential to get a job but not just a job but a job to move up the ladder. The people that have a job without a college degree are now with the democrats in charge will not be moving up the ladder. The college graduates will be able to get a job sooner than later with Obama as president fixing our economy.

But the people that didn't go to college are now complaining because they are not going to see raises in their salaries and certainly will not be going up the ladder as they were with Bush in power. If a person that is not college educated and looses his/her job in these tough times they would have very very little chance of finding another job even with their experience. It's that little piece of paper that says I graduated college that will get you further and move up the ladder.

Ha Ha now look who's going to be crying :( the people that didn't go to college and can only move up with a company so far then they hit that platform where even if you know the information the companies are going to so no and you will be stuck at that position without that degree.

Seems Odd

Seems odd that everything in our American system is set up to drain the money and life out of the people rather than pour into the people--Health insurance companies charge you monthly for coverage then drop you stating "preexisting conditions" when you get sick and need their help; banks and lending institutions lend you money then charge you a ton of interests on the dollar (something the Bible calls usury, a sin actually according to Proverbs); credit card companies lend you credit cards then trap you with high interest rates, like psychologists playing on your mental predispositions (our longing for immediate and temporary gratification); and college, charging high tuitions and forcing us to rely on lending institutions which charge us high interest on the dollar as well (student loans). It seems like the more and the higher you climb, the deeper you sink. Why not focus on helping the people as opposed to finding new ways to exploit them. Our way of thinking is "If you succeed then you'll be a threat to me; so, I don't want you to know what I know and have what I have. That way I don't have to feel threatened by you. I can feel somewhat above you and better than you." I'm not saying give everything free to people (because that breeds laziness), but I am saying don't set the rules in opposition to the success and happiness of others. If college is going to become the new high school, fine; do something about the problem of tuition. In fact, do away with tuition all together. I never heard of anyone paying tuition for high school. But, it seems we need these brackets in order to label people and suppress some. No wonder God says "The LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil." Eliticm, racism, sexism, classism, and every other by-product of selfishness and insecurity is has ruined this country.

It's not fair to young parents

I attended college for one almost two quarters. My mother dug herself into an enormous (for us) amount of debt to get me there. I took out a student loan and all that.

I met a boy and fell in love, I got pregnant and we both dropped out (no babies allowed in the dorms, of course). Now, over a year later, Josh (my fiancee) is over $ 20,000 in debt with student loans alone. I lasted less than two QUARTERS and am $ 2.000 in debt.

We have monthly expenses of $ 450 for rent, approximately $ 80 for electricity and $ 80 for gas (is were lucky), not to mention the phone bill, and (now very high) costs for essential items and baby supplies.

Were over $ 700b behind on rent.

Needless to say, we CAN'T AFFORD to go back to school any time soon!

I was recently told by a video rental store that I wasn't adequately qualified for the job I applied for: Cashier.

I have only worked in 4 other businesses; my first job ended simply because it was a play, and plays end. The second was seasonal, and the other two (rather, the same job, twice) I quit FOR SCHOOL! NOW I can't find any work! I can't support my son and we might get kicked out of our apartment soon and we have nowhere to go.

I AM motivated to go back to school. Can I afford it? Heck no.

I WANT to be an artist (several types of media) will i make it? Probably not. So much for the American dream. Thanks Obama.

College or Else

The first problem with this college-is-the-only-way attitude is that the true person is all but lost in the madness. People used to find something they love and do it for a living. They enjoyed their work, took pride in it and were grateful for an income. They are now pressured to pick a major that will look good on a resume to get a high paying job. The public school system in America is now to college what preschool is to kindergarten - useless on its face but preparatory for the long run. Assuming, of course, the long run is college. Schools no longer have home economics or shop class or agriculture science. They have college prep or even advanced placement English, mathematic and science courses where students earn college credit in high school. After high school students are not trained or experienced in any way to go out into the workforce. They can unravel polynomial equations but can't balance a checkbook. Therefore, college is a must.

The second problem is that when you instill in young adults that they MUST go to college, that it's the only way they will succeed, that it's the only way they will even get a job then they EXPECT just that. They expect to get a job and be sucessful. They expect to flash this flashy expensive degree and land that dream position with a huge salary and great perks. And why wouldn't they? Afterall, they did what they were SUPPOSED to do. This may come from losing so much of themselves in the pressure to follow the only path to the new American dream but they simply don't expect to have to rely on something within themselves to be succesful. We have replaced experience, training, dedication, self reliance, dependability, etc. with a piece of paper.

Don't get me wrong. An education is truly invaluable. It's the only thing no one can take from you. But I live down here below the American dream in reality land. Reality calls for something much more than what four years in books can give you. And it's not fair to imply that college is the only way, or even the best way. I've wanted to teach elementary children for years. I've taken a couple of semesters of community college courses and I'm still enrolled. As a first year Bachelor degree teacher I could make as little as $28,000. To earn what I do now I would have to obtain a Master's degree and have 18 hours of experience. I would have to give up years of my precious little free time and thousands of dollars of tuition, continue working full time (because it pays the bills )and lose my free premium medical insurance to make LESS money than I do now - no degree whatsoever. College is important, a very important part of our education system as a whole. But is should not be the only part which receives credit or attention from the public. We must create well rounded people from the ground up, not just operate degree mills for 18-24 year olds.

No money available for college

I have a masters degree and $50K and 5 years later I'm still stuck in a rut. There are NO jobs and even having this lovely education doesn't guarantee anybody will look at me. The funny thing is that people are so blindly focused on the "get a degree, get a good job" mantra that they lose their talent in other ways.

I worked so hard for so many years to get this slice of american pie and the harder I work the farther away it seems to be. I dont recommend college as a precursor to aquiring a good job/ career/ happiness. It's all about talent and finding a niche and exploiting the hell out of it. Knowing people that can pull strings helps too. the american dream is a farce.