“College Graduate” Just Doesn’t Cut It Anymore

By Kathleen Herring on April 12, 2012

I have a college degree!

When I was growing up, it always seemed to be understood that after high school came college, and after college, a job.  By the time I was halfway through high school, I had attended more college tours than I can remember, taken plenty of SATs and other standardized tests, and been nagged endlessly about the importance of keeping my grades up for those college applications.  Not once did the idea enter my head that I might just not attend.  It was expected, anticipated and accepted.  And so, off I went to James Madison University.

There’s a whole lot more to college than just the course material.  Living away from home for the first time, managing my finances with my first credit card, working part-time on and off campus and joining clubs and organizations that appealed to me.  So many memories and friendships were created during the four years I studied, worked and lived at that school – walking home from IHOP at sunrise with a good friend, dancing on the Quad to attract new students to our swing dance club, propping my eyelids open in the library late at night while struggling to find an appropriate conclusion to my research paper, meeting friends at the dining hall for grilled cheese Thursday, balancing my work, social time and studies… I learned a lot of life lessons that supplemented and at times surpassed the knowledge gained from attending classes and doing research.

Unfortunately, nothing I learned in school prepared me for the harsh truth of the job market.  It wasn’t until my last year of college that I really started wondering where my degree would take me, and finding I had no answers.  I studied English because up until the age of 20, I considered a field of study the same as a field of interest – basically, it was my best subject so I figured I’d stick to it.  Finding a job after graduation never factored into the decision until it was too late to change my mind.

Today’s job market is nothing like it was ten or twenty years ago.  When our parents’ generation was our age, those who had gone to college were already working, and many were already married.  When our grandparents were our age, many of them were serving our country in World War II.  Our generation, by comparison, doesn’t seem to be living up to expectations.  The PEW Research Group recently posted new findings about the situation of today’s young adults: “Among adults ages 25 to 34, 61% say they have friends or family members who have moved back in with their parents over the past few years because of economic conditions. Furthermore, three-in-ten parents of adult children (29%) report that a child of theirs has moved back in with them in the past few years because of the economy.” (The Boomerang Generation)

In a financial climate where more and more college graduates are rooming with Mom and Dad, how can members of the “Boomerang Generation” feel confident about their career options, or the possibility of saving money to buy their own house or start a family?  These young adults, especially those currently unemployed, are severely at risk for depression the longer they stay at home if they do not feel like contributing members of the family.

The solution?  For the time being, many are making themselves useful around the house, chipping in rent money or helping with cooking and cleaning tasks with their free time, and continuing the search for jobs that utilize that costly college degree.  Many are being forced to accept jobs in retail or food service markets where a college degree is not utilized or even necessary, and we can only pray that the availability of substantive jobs in our country continues to rise.  If not, many may begin to question the necessity of higher education and thereby miss out on so many opportunities for personal growth.  For now, however, that future remains uncertain.

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