The Devaluation of the College Degree

I was always taught to stay in school and get your degree...that is one thing no one can take away from you. The longer I live, the less a college degree actually is worth.

When my oldest son graduated in 2004 from college, he was actively looking for business related jobs for 9 months with no success. In sheer desperation he took a job at a trucking company that had employed him through his summers in college. He was hired in as a dock supervisor and three months later applied for and got an operations job at the corporate headquarters in RIchmond VA. He has thrived and has since been promoted after 4 yrs. No other job offers have poured in since and he still sends out resumes.

Now my middle son after 10 months of sending resumes is still looking for a real job. He is in month seven of his marketing internship with no job prospects in sight. He did not do an internship in college and found out that without one alot of companies will not even review your resume. His seasonal summer job is still open for him but he wants to move on. I realize the economy is bad and the unemployment rate is soaring but when Renhill Employment Agency says you need a year of office experience to submit an application, I say something is wrong.

I remember the good old days....post college. I had an Education degree and there were no jobs in the area. I worked for Beneficial Finance, FIrst National Bank and Ohio Bell. So in essence I skipped from education to business. Hey no internship required and no Business degree needed. Those were the days. My degree meant that other doors did open for me.

My Dad could not understand the internship thing. "I thought only doctors did internships" he would grumble. "Just more hoops to jump through...what does the Business degree stand for then?" If he were here today I would answer him "Not a damn thing Dad, all that money down the toilet".

My middle son was in Kroger's recently ordering a meat platter for me. The young man behind the counter was struggling to fill out the paperwork. My son asked him if condiments came with the tray. The puzzled employee said "What are condiments?" My son answered " Well all I can tell you is that you don't use them for safe sex." When he came home he said even that moron at Kroger's has a decent job.

Hopefully in the next year the job situation will change. Maybe the bachelor's degree will again mean a decent job. In the meantime it is a rough world out there with companies like Smucker's receiving 2,000 applications for 2 job postings and the Toledo Zoo who also had an avalanche of 1,500 applications for their seasonal jobs like concessions.

Our kids are competing with laid off workers from all walks of life . It is a crazy mixed up world.