College graduates can't put degrees to workTennesseean When Kenny Lyons graduated seven months ago with degrees in finance and real estate from the University of Mississippi, he had plans to work as a broker raking in lucrative commissions at a real estate firm.
Instead, in an economy weakened by severe blows dealt by both banking and real estate, Lyons finds himself waiting tables at Nashville's Watermark Restaurant, earning about $35,000 a year — not bad, but hardly the hefty post-graduation paycheck he may have been hoping for.
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Debts grow; jobs shrink
The lack of jobs comes at a time when more college students are taking on debt to pay for the rising costs of higher education. About 42 percent of the state's graduating students carry student loans, with Tennessee's average student loan debt at $19,549 in 2006, according to a report by New York-based Demos, a public policy research and advocacy organization.
In the last five years, tuition rates in the U.S. have climbed 35 percent, with the average at a four-year public university costing $5,836, the report said.
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Employers get choosy
Meanwhile, some employers are becoming more selective about the degrees they require, making it more difficult for those with just a bachelor's to compete, said Lawrence Mishel, the institute's president.
"Employers are requiring more credentials, in part, because they can get people with those credentials without paying a whole lot of money," Mishel said. "Getting a college degree is no longer a surefire recipe for growing wages and good benefits."
As a result, more college graduates are considering graduate school as a way to gain more education and wait for better job conditions. In addition, test preparation companies said they are seeing an uptick in enrollment to prepare for graduate school admissions exams.
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