For decades, parents have sacrificed and students have gone into debt to fund college degrees that lead nowhere. But the college scam may be up soon.
Not thanks to any moral awakening on the part of college administrators. Instead, a tight job market is motivating more employers, including Google, IBM and some state governments, to scrap degree requirements for employees. Elon Musk, who decided “college is basically for fun,” has for years evaluated applicants at Tesla based on skills, not a diploma.
This trend should make college consumers skeptical about blindly forking over a fortune. For too long, Americans have been buying the idea that a degree in something — anything — is necessary to launch a career and join the middle class.
All the while, colleges have been raising tuition mercilessly, pushing families to take on more debt to cover the hikes.
Over a lifetime, getting a college degree pays off financially. That is, unless your major has absolutely no market value, as is the case with a large number of students borrowing for college. At New York University, students who take out federal loans and major in theater, one of the most popular choices, will likely earn an annual salary of only $29,054 three years after graduating, per federal data.