For Some Grads, College Isn't Worth Debt

Wall Street Journal article by Douglas Belkin. Excerpts:

"The median wage of an American with a bachelor's degree was $48,000 last year, far higher than the $25,052 earned by those with only a high-school diploma. But the lowest-earning quarter of college graduates make $27,000 or less."

"huge swaths of recent graduates are taking jobs that don't require a college education. That in turn is boosting recent college graduates' underemployment rate—defined as the share working in jobs in which less than half of the employees believe a college degree is necessary—to 46%."

"More than 70% of college students now graduate with loans, and the average debt is more than $33,000. Two decades ago, less than 50% of students borrowed around an average of about half of that amount."

"student debt now exceeds $1.1 trillion"

"the value for those who study subjects that are aligned with the job market is near an all-time high.

The value of a four-year degree is just shy of $300,000, and it will take someone who earned a bachelor's degree in 2013 10 years to recoup the entire cost, according to the New York Fed. College graduates in 1983 needed 23 years to do so."

"Out of every 100 kids who enter college, 40 don't graduate, and for the 60 who do, 15 are in the bottom quartile and don't make any more money than if they hadn't gone to college"