If you want a good job, you go to college. That’s the conventional wisdom that keeps you going while you pull all-nighters, show up to an 8 a.m. class and sit through “Earthquakes and Natural Disasters.” But it’s an idea fewer people are buying — and it could be a problem in the future.
According to a study by the Georgetown U. Center on Education and the Workforce, there will be 22 million new jobs for workers with college degrees by 2018, and a shortage of three million people with degrees to fill those positions.
Despite the forecasted shortage, some believe that earning a four-year degree is no longer a necessary step in the path to success.
A New York Times article called “Plan B: Skip College,” suggests that finding a career does not always require a college degree. The article states that 80 percent of students in the bottom 40 percent of their class would not earn an associates or bachelor’s degree. For many college-aged students, like Amanda Barrett, a former U. Kansas student from Junction City, the road to a career could be vocational school or a community college.
Barrett left KU after her first year to pursue a career in health care.
“I volunteered at a hospital when I was in high school and I loved it, so I took classes to be a nurse’s aide,” Barrett said.
After one year of college she knew she didn’t need a degree to pursue the career that she wanted.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 30 jobs projected to grow at the fastest rate in the next decade in the United States, only seven typically require a bachelor’s degree. Of the 10 fastest growing jobs, only two require a college degree: accounting and postsecondary teaching. Some jobs in the top 10 that don’t require a degree are registered nurses, home health aides, customer service representatives and store clerks.
In the Georgetown study, Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Georgetown Center, said colleges needed to make their programs more career-oriented to better prepare for students for careers after graduation and maintain retention rates. Students graduating from professional schools — such as the schools of business or engineering — receive training in their career of choice before they graduate. Jennifer Jordan, director of the Business Career Services Center, said that graduating from a professional school made the transition from college to a career easier.
Gayle Wilson, a recent graduate from the KU School of Social Welfare, said she was glad she had training before looking for a job.
“I found a job right after graduation because I knew what I wanted to do and I got to do it in college,” Wilson, from Mankato, said.
Jordan said colleges did a sufficient job of preparing students for careers. She said there were endless forums through the college experience that could nurture students’ professional development.
“Students need to take advantage of and reflect upon those experiences in a way that ties into their professional aspirations,” Jordan said.
Although not all degrees are set up for a specific career, students can still prepare for professional life while they’re in college.
“There are many campus resources in place for both liberal arts and professional students to explore and pursue careers of their choice,” Jordan said.
Ashley Wilson, a KU graduate from Manhattan, said she majored in history because she thought it was interesting.
“But I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do with it after I graduated,” she said. “I eventually found a job that I love doing.”