When a good idea and a bad deal collide

Ashley Major

Columnist

It is of no shock that the income gap between college graduates and non-college graduates is narrowing. It appears our generation has been duped. Duped in the sense that dreams of entry-level success and a college education equating to a prosperous living was the notion we were lead to believe growing up. While a college degree is undoubtedly a good idea, it is not a good deal. It can be said that, in times of the thin dollar, providing an education to Americans is slowly losing priority.

The rate of overqualified men and women entering the work force and taking below entry-level jobs is unsettling. For the past couple of years, this trend has developed into the “higher-ups” trickling down the work force hierarchy, settling and claiming the jobs of those better suited. While there are certainly exceptions, it appears that a college degree puts you on the fast track to working at a coffee chain or interning based on a salary unable to pay back college loans and certainly unable to provide a sustainable living. In these times education no longer correlates with social inequality. Among the list of problems surrounding education and success in the work force, the cost of tuition is one that is directly affecting our potential for affluence.

A four-year college education costing, on average, $80,000 is too hefty a burden to place on the shoulders of recent grads carrying the weight of the entry-level workforce. The cost of an education is leaving American grads at a competitive disadvantage with other countries providing a “free” (income-tax subsidized) education to their citizens. Additionally, citizens of countries that provide free upper-level education will in turn strengthen their skills. The countries of citizens entitled to these benefits – including the Nordic countries, Greece, Brazil and China – are taking the steps towards providing free education for their residents.

This cycle shows no signs of slowing down as funding for education continues to endure cuts for other government programs. As federal cuts continue to be made and revised budgets continue to be proposed, strain escalates on individual states to compensate. In perspective, these cuts form direct correlation to tuition hikes, professors being laid off and student debts accumulating.

While there is no easy answer to the political and economic woes facing our nation, our generation of capable thinkers and college students is surely feeling the strain. If we want to end the unavoidable brain drain, reforming education and making it more affordable must be a top priority.

While other countries rank socialistic values essential, entitling their citizens to rights such as health care, education benefits and a living wage, one should contemplate whether our capitalistic principles have truly led to a sustainable hegemony and whether we have become our own nemesis.