In my parents’ minds, and even more so for my grandparents, there was no question that I would attend college immediately after graduating high school. They viewed college diplomas as signifiers of good child rearing, a ticket to a permanent spot in the middle class, and a chance at a dream job. Now I have a teen of my own considering what comes after high school, so lately the topic of college has weighed heavily on my mind.
When I matriculated in the 1990’s, college was still a kind of overnight camp with education. You went to classes during the day to learn things that might help you get a job and hung out with other students the rest of the time to figure out who you really were. For me, my extracurricular activities, working in the campus computer center, editing the student newspaper, and helping to form a campus cable station were more formative than my physical geography class or that seminar on the formation of the European Union.
My experiences in a hothouse of late teens and early-twenty-somethings at a private college were fantastic. But would it be worth an eye watering $30,000 to $60,000 a year in tuition, housing, and fees today? Going to a state university would cost somewhat less – but still enough to be life-changing debt.
The debt pressure of a college degree has totally changed the calculus of college, forcing students to feel tremendous pressure to choose an education pathway and then stick to it. As a result, colleges are transforming from places of personal discovery and into technical training schools. For instance, my alma mater, Clark University, once a paragon of liberal arts education, is now offering a three-year degree.
Admittedly, the idea that college could be where you can find yourself seems facetious with the knowledge that as you receive your diploma, you begin decades of debt payments that demand secure, long-term employment. Forget taking an iffy, low-pay job to figure out what you’re really into, or heading out on an international hiking adventure to see what Asia or Europe is like. A college degree locks you into the drudgery of adulthood.
Of course, there are exceptions: People backed by the bank of Mom and Dad and those with exceptional scholarships. But of the 11.7 million students enrolled in a four-year college this year, only 11% will receive a scholarship of any kind, usually no more than $1,900 a year. The average student loan debt is $41,618, spread over 42.7 million borrowers.
Increasingly, college seems less like a place to figure out who you are, and more like a place to go once you know who you want to be – and are ready to pay for the tools to get there.
And yet! Regardless of the cost, higher education maintains its status as the arbiter of the middle class. Work a factory job earning six figures? You’re working class. Swinging a hammer and making $150k: Working class. Commuting to a $60k office job at a nonprofit with no health care? Middle class. Which one requires a college degree?
American manufacturing is short 1.9 million people – most of whom require highly skilled workers. The US construction trades are short a million workers. In Chicago, I know the Chicago Transit Authority is desperately seeking bus drivers at $28/hour, with a pension! And Amtrak is struggling to find highly paid mechanics (that they’ll train!) who also get a railroad pension. If I was 18, these would seem like pretty good opportunities. Maybe you could do that for ten years, earn out a pension, and then go to college? Or work a few years, earn some money and go backpacking to Australia for a bit? And then whatever?
Honestly, if a twenty-two year old came to me and said he’d been working as a city bus driver for the last four years and now wanted an office job, that’d be a pretty good resume to me. You can’t teach character, as they say.
The trouble with all of this is, I still value my college degree. But as designer Mike Montiero wrote about how he spent his years after college f-ing around and finding out, the key to his success after college was that, “When decisions are cheap you can make a lot more of them.” In other words, back in his day (and mine), he didn’t have the spectre of expensive loan debt, car payments, or pricey rent to slow him down.
Maybe after a few years of finding yourself college is a good plan, but increasingly it seems to me that for a growing number of people, college right after high school has become little more than a debt trap.
It’s been a struggle this month to think about non-political things. But I’ve come up with a few:
Footy Scran is one of my fav Insta stops, documenting stadium food across the world. Here’s a pair of pickled herrings you can get at a Netherlands game for €6.
Stock videos of people eating in reverse. A simple concept that adds up to so much more.
David Letterman rolling over stuff with a locomotive – Watching it in hindsight, the first ten years of Letterman bits really seem like YouTube videos, right? I personally think the magic of his show evaporated when he moved from NBC to CBS.
Tepache – A lightly fermented pineapple drink you can make at home, I made my first batch of the summer this week. The recipe linked to here is amazingly easy.
Psycho Killer – Talking Heads released a new video for their original song starring Saoirse Ronan. Song is still a banger and the video is terrific.
The Bear, Season 4 – It arrived on Wednesday and after viewing 4 of 10 episodes, I think it’s back to form. Quality viewing.
An 1,100 mile range EV – Chinese company BYD is testing a car with a solid-state battery, which makes it safer from fire danger, provides longer range, and has faster charging. If this comes out soon, it would be cheaper to fly to Shenzhen, buy this $25,000 car, ship it to the US, than deal with any car sold in the US. China is preparing to live in the future.
Mary Meeker on AI – A while back, Mary Meeker would release an annual, giant slide deck on the state of tech that would stop everyone in their tracks. She stopped that, but came roaring back this month with a 340 slide presentation on AI. Must read if you want to know what’s happening.