High school graduates have been increasingly turning their backs on getting college degrees. Experts are now warning that the gamble could backfire big time.
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College enrollment has dipped by nearly 10%, which comes out to about 1.4 million students opting out of getting degrees.
On TikTok, influencers bragging, “My career doesn’t need college,” have gotten more than 30 million views and counting, but that optimism doesn’t reflect some harsh realities, Newsweek reported. Talk of starting a business coupled with ideas for nontraditional career paths championed on social media may pay off for a few, but it’s not always a slam dunk.
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One in 6 adults ages 18 to 24 are neither working nor in school, according to an analysis for Newsweek by Lightcast, a data-driven labor market consulting firm.
“Disconnected from the mainstream economy, these young adults risk staying unemployed and under-educated, struggling to catch up with their peers,” Newsweek reported.
Lightcast senior economist Layla O’Kane said these high school graduates are also shutting themselves off from “really formative skill-building years,” which could hurt them in the future.
While some well-paying entry-level jobs don’t require degrees, they also don’t lead to lucrative management positions down the line.
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“It might end up being a real mistake for people to forgo the investment of college because of the lure of that short-term gain,” Harry Holzer, an economist at George Washington University, said.
