President Obama’s higher education adviser left his administration, but not before emphasizing the dire need for more college graduates.
The problem, however, is that economic projections for job growth are in areas where a college degree isn’t required.
“One of the things that I really hope we accomplished is to make the case to the country that we really need a dramatic increase in educational attainment,” James Kvall said in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education. “That edge in educational attainment has really helped fuel our economic growth, but we have leveled off.”
Kvaal served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council, and previously served as the deputy under secretary at the Department of Education. He was instrumental in the “gainful employment rule” in the Department of Education that put pressure on for-profit colleges, and crafted Obama’s free community college plan.
More college graduates as a necessity for economic growth is a line endlessly repeated. Bill Gates pushes it, as does The New York Times. It’s a fair claim to make; data show that the average college graduate is better off than the average non-graduate.
For graduates, however, many work in fields that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Almost half of employed college graduates worked in jobs that require less than a four-year degree, according to a 2013 report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (where the author previously worked). That phenomenon has been in decline, but it’s still high by historical standards.
The American economy, overall, isn’t moving in a direction where the majority of workers need a bachelor’s degree.
Of the 15 fastest growing occupations, only seven need a bachelor’s degree or higher. And of the 15 occupations with the most job growth, only four require a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As socially uplifting as it would be for all janitors, laborers, home health aides, and retail workers to have a college degree, the growing debt loads and government involvement in higher education needs to be weighed.
For some, however, underemployment and economic projections that say a college education isn’t necessary are inaccurate. Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, says that BLS projections measure the minimal education a job requires, and that more education makes workers more valuable and productive. More graduates means a stronger economy and a better society, and employers choosing college graduates over non-graduates shows that they make better workers.
Students attend college to advance their careers. The six-year graduation rate for a four-year degree is only 59 percent. As the Obama administration, and its former officials, push the benefits of a college degree, it’s reckless to ignore the cost of a degree and the economic reality that workers don’t need a college education.
College can have many benefits, economic and otherwise. It’s not, however, a universal good, and the tradeoffs to be made should be openly debated.
