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 and open up jobs to nondegree-holders. 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, which 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 theatre, one of the most popular choices, and graduate with a bachelor’s degree will likely earn an annual salary of only $29,054 three years after graduating, according to federal data.
On that salary,…
