For the last 10 years, we have been educating students and parents on the value of developing a career pathway that will help identify majors of interest to help your student build the best college list. Colleges want you to focus on getting in, we as parents should want the end goal – setting our students up for happiness and success in life by helping them understand great career pathways that fit them.
The Right Starting Point
Stephen Covey was right with famous Habit 2 in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Begin with the end in mind. The wrong focus could cost you big money.
The cornerstone of your college admissions process should always be focused on finding the best career pathways for your student that will help them select the right colleges based on those majors not the name of the schools.
Great news, it is never too late and even if your student is in college or still in the application process, you have tools and time to get this right. See the data below to give you a little more insight into the value of finding a career pathway before picking a college.
The Data
A study by the U.S. Federal Reserve found that half of the people under 30 with bachelor’s degrees wonder if the money they spent on college was worth it. It’s a stunning finding in the Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017.
Although the unemployment rate among young college graduates has fallen to pre-recession levels at 5.3 percent, it is still higher than the 4.3 percent rate of 2000. And even though unemployment has declined for these young college graduates, the “underemployment” rate, or students working in jobs that do not require college degrees, has risen dramatically.
The New York Federal Reserve reported in April that 42.5 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed. While only 17 percent of industrial engineers are underemployed, some 57 percent of liberal arts majors and 49 percent of biological science majors are underemployed.
Furthermore, William Emmons, an economist with the St. Louis Fed, suggests that so many people now go to college that competition for jobs is intense and graduates should not expect the significant pay increases in salary enjoyed by graduates in the 1990’s.
This competition is the harsh reality for young people nationwide and one reason student loan debt is now at $1.5 trillion.
Upcoming high school seniors will weigh a multitude of factors when choosing their colleges this fall. And the total cost of attending will be at the top. Students may find that their dream school is more expensive than they can afford and should choose an alternative option. Department level at a University, in the majority of cases, is more important than the name on your diploma and a better solution to put your student on the path of success in life.
The Solution
If you need the assistance of an experienced college financial planning expert, please schedule a free 30-minute strategy call. We may be able to save your family considerable money on your college expenses and set your student up for success.
