A few of the findings from a new Federal Reserve report will come as no surprise to anyone who attended or is attending college. Yes, chances are that you’ll have more student debt if you choose a private university over a public one. And yes, if you major in “undeclared,” you’ll be less likely to think that college was worthwhile than if you major in, say, engineering.
But other findings are far less intuitive. Here are a few that caught our attention:
Students find vocational school to be highly worth it. About half of vocational students thought that the benefit of their education outweighed the cost — a much bigger proportion than that of a group like computer science students, for instance, who fall in the U.S.’s popular and successful tech sector. As the Washington Examiner flagged, just 22 percent of those students said the benefits of their major outweighed the costs.
Students at public colleges were more likely to think college was worthwhile than those in private ones. This finding, along with a recent op-ed from a Yale professor cautioning against the Ivys and touting public universities, raises further questions about the value of a top-dollar, private school diploma.
And finally, student debt is one of those things you begin to understand much more once you actually start paying the bills. Students still enrolled in college were far more likely than those who have graduated to think that the benefits of college outweigh the cost. And over 38 percent of those who completed their degrees said that the cost wasn’t worth it. Man, that’s gotta hurt.
Bonus: Survey respondents felt decent about their education level and work experience preparing them well for the jobs they want. 27.3 percent of respondents felt “very confident” that their educational and work attributes prepared them to land their “dream”-type of job. Almost 40 percent felt “somewhat confident.”
