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Value of college debated as costs rise, pay declines

College students Zach Liapis, left, and Dontae Walker work at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Oakwood while attending Sinclair Community College.

Ty Greenlees College students Zach Liapis, left, and Dontae Walker work at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Oakwood while attending Sinclair Community College.

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By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer Updated 7:37 AM Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Rising costs, stagnant financial aid and a tough job market have reignited the debate about whether a college degree is worth the cost.

Evidence is mounting that employment opportunities for young workers — specifically recent college graduates — was disproportionately battered by the recession.

“It is a disaster for young people who spent all this time, money and hard work,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit re- search group in Washington, D.C. “There is going to be a big swath of young people who won’t get that first job that sets them up for a career. It will have a severe and long-lasting impact. It is a rough time to be a new college graduate.”

The unemployment rate for college-educated workers under 25 is 9 percent — double the rate of workers older than 25 with a bachelor’s degree, according to the institute’s analysis.

Another study released two weeks ago by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University found that just 53 percent of recent graduates with four-year degrees had full-time jobs and were not planning to return to school. Those who found work earned a median salary that is 10 percent less than it was four years ago.

The report, “Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy,” found that only half of recent college graduates are likely to find that their first job will require a college degree.

While salaries are on the decline, college costs have continued to rise at a rate higher than inflation with the average student loan debt for Ohioans totaling $25,840, according to the Project on Student Debt. Nationally, the money owed for student loans surpassed outstanding credit card debt in 2010.

The outlook is troubling to students like Erin Walsh, who will be a senior studying early childhood education this fall at the University of Dayton. “It’s been difficult for graduates during the recession, especially in education and now with what is going on in Ohio. It makes me nervous,” Walsh said. “But it is never a bad idea to further your education.”

Walsh’s sentiment is echoed by college advocates like Sean Creighton, executive director of the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education, who argue unemployment numbers reinforce why advance degrees are ultimately worth the investment of time and money.

“When you look at unemployment, there is a clear distinction between those who have a college degree and those who do not,” said Creighton, adding 60 percent of the “jobs of the future” will require advanced degrees.

National unemployment data and responses from the Rutgers study mirror the recent struggles of Miami Valley students and graduates who are competing in a tight job market against older, more experienced workers, often for lower-wage positions they didn’t plan on seeking. Officials from both Wright State and Miami universities said that while on-campus job postings and interviews are up, they have not returned to prerecession levels for graduates.

Results from the Rutgers study, which surveyed 571 students nationwide who graduated between 2006 and 2010, reflect the national unemployment rate with 9 percent of the study participants reporting they were unable to find any work or weren’t looking.

Zach Liapis of Oakwood graduated from Hanover College in Indiana two years ago at the height of the recession with a degree in psychology. He couldn’t find a research position he hoped for so he took the advice professors have given to many students in a down economy: more schooling.

Liapis hopes to become a doctor, but while he continues his studies, at both Sinclair Community and Kettering Medical colleges, the 24-year-old lives at home and works at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Oakwood. “Before this, I worked at Borders and the entire staff had bachelor’s and master’s degrees,” Liapis said. “In the long run, I still think it will be worth it.”

Like Liapis, half of re-cent college graduates surveyed by Rutgers reported being hired for some type of work within six months of graduation, but 30 percent of those jobs were not directly related to their field of study.

“Only about one-quarter of graduates said that their first job was the beginning of what they hoped would be their career,” the study revealed, while 46 percent said they felt they were on the right track.

When it comes to schools’ value for the money, other research shows a disconnect between administrators running schools and families paying the bill. A recent pair of Pew Research Center surveys found 57 percent of students and their families thought American higher education was doing a “poor” or “fair” job for the money. School presidents were asked the same question and 76 percent said they were doing a “excellent” or “good” job.

But job numbers do improve: Of adults 25 and older, those with a bachelor’s degree had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers who had only earned a high school diploma had a rate that was more than twice as high at 9.7 percent.

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Is college worth it?

College costs by the numbers:

53 percent: Recent graduates with full-time jobs not planning to return to school
9 percent: Recent graduates unemployed or not looking for work
4.5 percent: Unemployment rate for 25 and older with bachelor’s degree
9.7 percent: Unemployment rate for 25 and older with high school diploma
$25,840: Average student loan debt for Ohioan

Sources: Rutgers University, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Project on Student Debt.

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