On average (average of median incomes), you'll make about $1 Million more over your career with a 4 year degree vs a high school diploma. $1.5M with a Masters. These are projections for today's college grads.
There's a constant drumbeat against college right now in the media and a lot of that is coming from the right on social media. A college degree is still the surest path to the middle class for most people. I feel like there's a bit of anti-intellectualism at play in the sudden and constant downplaying of what a degree means to most people. It's still the ticket to a better life. It's still a passport to all sorts of opportunities. It's still the way to get most of the high paying jobs.
The rich and powerful aren't skipping college for their kids, that's for sure.
And I get the costs of college are tougher now than ever, but people are still going to community college to lessen the costs, people are still getting great degrees that give them great careers.
And I feel like from the Right, showing good paying jobs that don't require a degree is also a way of saying, "the rest of you should settle". They don't believe blue collar people's children should be running anything, should be the ones with the corner offices, or the fancy titles. Sure, some of these jobs have great salaries, 6 figures is a nice living. But does anyone think rich people think, "Oh boy, my son or daughter can make $100K?" There are people in corner offices everywhere that had blue collar origins, they're making $250K, some are making $500K, some are becoming CFOs and CEOs. There are doctors and lawyers making $500K or $1M. There are engineers making $200K, $300K, and even $500K. Sure, few get those jobs, but almost all of the ones who get them have 4 or 6 year degrees.
And people will inevitably bring up some random French Poetry, or Cultural studies BA, but ignore the fact that those people make more money than high school grads too. There are a lot of decent jobs that just require any degree. And those types of degrees are the exception, most college degrees are actually useful in something like business, science, engineering, biology, medicine, and many others.
I have to wonder what's behind the right's crusade against a college education? They want less educated voters? They want average people to accept less? They are afraid people become more liberal the more they learn?
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