According to my youngest, who is currently a senior in High School a large number of his peers are not planning on going forward to college. While the decision to forgo a four-year degree still runs counter to 30 years of conventional wisdom. These kids are not alone in their decision.
Even as more students enroll in college, “40% to 50% of kids never get a college certificate or degree,” according to Tony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. And among those who do graduate, about one-third end up in jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. But they will still have the student loans to repay.
According to an analysis of 20 years of freshman-enrollment data at 1,040 of the 1,052 schools listed in The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education ranking, U.S. not-for-profit colleges and universities are segregating into winners and losers—with winners growing and expanding and losers seeing the first signs of a death spiral.
Enrollment at those 1,040 schools between 1996 and 2011 grew 37%. But between 2011 and 2016, enrollment at the bottom 20% declined 2%. The top 80% of schools grew 7%.
None of these reports cover the starting salary levels that the actual graduates are making after graduation. Does it cover living expenses and college debt repayment?