Want Fries With That Degree?

[GoFride]

Employers are requiring college degrees more and more, for jobs that have never needed a college education. Many companies these days won't consider hiring applicants without that degree. It doesn't seem to matter to employers what the degree is for, because that expensive education may not even be needed. It's simply being used as a screening tool. So now we've got receptionists, store clerks, office support, day care workers, you name it - thousands of dollars in debt for a college education so they could get a job somewhere, doing something. And the longer they're away from their specialized field of study, the more likely they'll be left behind and will never work in that field. Got a degree in architecture? You might wind up working as a waitress at Red Lobster, to try to pay those bills. After a year or two goes by, what are the odds that some architecture firm will hire you? It gets less likely with every passing month. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees (over 8,000 of them have doctoral or professional degrees), along with over 80,000 bartenders, and over 18,000 parking lot attendants. All told, some 17,000,000 Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that the BLS says require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor’s degree. There is a growing disconnect between labor market realities and the propaganda of higher education. We keep raising the educational bar (and the resulting debt) higher and higher. I just don't understand the logic of it.