Most new jobs in the future will require a college degree.

[jtuck004]

I heard this, but the BLS forecast says

"...The four detailed occupations expected to add the most employment
are registered nurses (712,000), retail salespersons (707,000), home
health aides (706,000), and personal care aides (607,000)..."

Looks like about 3/4 will only need a decent high school education, yet I know the person believed what they said. I think. Maybe they meant "most good jobs, but just for a few of you".

Is there another better authority with as much history that they might have referenced?

btw, the report says full employment is expected in 2020, but that's based on projections of GDP and productivity that are already off the mark. Better than they were 3 years ago, but off of their projections. That could put half or more of just the folks who graduate this year 8 years or more away from a job that is even close to their investment. The fastest growing student loan amounts are among the 40 to 50ish crowd. Some should get a job to pay back their average $25,000 loan just about 4 years before Social Security can start.

Good thing education is its own reward.

[harun55]

1. Most new jobs in the future will require a college degree.

Its right to get a degree for jobs its much needed thing because in industries knowledge is necessary and it comes with studies.

[jtuck004]

2. What if they don't? Could one have made a better use of one's time?

Plenty of resources to learn what you want out there without attending, or sometimes even having to pay for, a brick and mortar school. You could actually try to START a small business instead of dreaming about one in a grad class. That might allow you to eat without resorting to loans you can't pay back and will only have a coin-toss of a chance of ever doing so if your degree is not nursing/health, science, math/engineering. Their odds are significantly better.

Imagine graduating with $25K in debt, no job, and the real likelihood of a 50% chance of EVER having a job that will pay enough. Imagine you are 46. Because that is exactly where some are. How desirable will they be after 8 years of fast food work for a company that wants a current degree?

You can study without a college.

(Sure hope we don't cut Social Security. Might want to up it some - because it is fundamentally unfair to tell people they have to save and never offer them an opportunity to do so by paying them enough.)

What if there really are more students than ever being thrown at less jobs? Their debt will kill anything but debt service by them for a decade, it could even follow them to Social Security. And if they default the taxpayers will be on the hook for paying a trillion bucks ($270 Billion of abt $900 Billion already late, both growing...). It would be cheaper for the U.S. to start our own universities.

That will be a loan guarantee of over a trillion bucks by the time anything happens - that will cause some real wailing and gnashing of teeth. Interest rates go up it will climb faster. We got paid back for some of the money we used to help perpetuate the fraud of the investment banks - there is no payback for our loan guarantee. We co-signed as taxpayers.

What if things have changed around you and you didn't notice? This assumes you are and are going to reside in the U.S.; it's not necessarily that way in countries who care about (invest in, like we used to do) your education.

People used to make jokes about grad students becoming cab drivers after all that effort.

Now the joke is on all of higher education, the students, and the country.

[RebelOne]

3. I have been fortunate all my life as far as jobs.

I have always had white collar positions and I never graduated high school. I was married at 16 and quit school in the 11th grade. Luckily, I went to a vocational school where I learned all basic office skills. I was never even asked for a high school diploma when job searching and never had a problem finding a job. I know things have changed now, but I am not job hunting because I am retired.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. employers are requiring degrees for jobs that don't need them.

[jtuck004]

5. Yes they are. And where their competitors outdo them

with people who are cheaper and don't need degrees they will lose profits.

Because you can't sustain a system where it costs people more to get the job than the job will pay for long, except in an economy that is growing much faster than this one.

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Jobs? I dunno, but I am sure most employers will.

Because they can.