By Janese Silvey
Covering higher education for the past four years as a reporter, I paid attention to the fear mongering about the future of higher education.
The graduates leaving college with a lot of debt and no job are the ones making the headlines, so no wonder one might worry whether a college education is really worth it in the end.
Turns out, it is. Or at least that’s what a new Pew Report found.
The latest research from Pew’s Economy Mobility Project revealed that a four-year college degree helped shield the youngest graduates from unemployment.
Some takeaways from the study:
· The chance of moving from the bottom of the family income ladder to the top are three times greater for someone with a college degree.
· Although all 21-24 year olds experienced declines in employment and wages during the recession, the decline was considerably more severe for those without a college degree.
· Out-of-work college graduates were able to find jobs during the downturn with more success than less-educated counterparts.
Whew!
Now combine that with what I’ve learned recently about degrees from women’s colleges.
A Business Week list of rising women stars in corporate America said some 30 percent graduated from all-women’s colleges. That’s a lot considering graduates of women’s colleges represent just 2 percent of all women graduating from college across the country.
A University of Michigan study showed that students at all-women’s colleges far out-paced other college women in science and reading. They had more self esteem and set higher educational goals for themselves.
Kinda wish I had known that when I was eying colleges.
In a very competitive job market, our graduates aren’t only equipped with a college degree, they’re entering the workforce with more marketable skills than their co-ed counterparts.
Who’s worried now?
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