Nearly half of recent college graduates are underemployed (i.e. working in positions that don’t typically require a college degree), according to new research published by the New York Federal Reserve. But that doesn’t mean they’re all baristas — or working in other low-skilled occupations. 44.6% of recent grads are working in positions that don’t require a college degree, […]

Worry about student debt continues to negatively impact enrollment for colleges of all types, according to an annual survey recently published by Inside Higher Ed. The 2016 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors asked 339 admissions directors (or those with equivalent titles) about issues relevant to their profession: particularly, the growing impact of debt on students’ enrollment decisions. Nearly 9 of […]

It’s become quite popular to blame student debt for holding back young adults’ abilities to own homes. But the debate on student debt and homeownership tends to err in focusing on the detriments of student debt, rather than the benefits that come with having a college education. Of course, debt being in and of itself burdensome is — […]

April is financial literacy month, but unfortunately, it looks like financial education is arriving too little too late for millions of student loan borrowers. According to recent figures, of the nearly 22 million Americans with federal student loans, 43% are in default or behind on their student loan payments, representing over $200 billion dollars at […]

The past few years have been pretty rough on the English major. About 50,000 students earn bachelor’s degrees in English annually, comprising only about 3% of all college graduates nationwide. This is a sharp decline from 45 years ago, when the share of English majors was closer to 8%. To put it mildly, faculty in English […]

Paying for college can seem daunting considering the seemingly endless stories of college graduates burdened with incredible amounts of student debt. But are these anecdotes really representative of the norm? Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York don’t think so. Jaison Abel and Richard Dietz – who have researched the topic of higher education for years – found that while […]

The transformation of a prospective college applicant to a prospective alumni donor happens quickly and often long before graduation. It’s reasonable to infer that a positive campus experience would result in a greater propensity to give back to one’s alma mater. But which experiences influence giving the most? A recent study by Ruffalo Noel Levitz […]

The value of a college degree is well–documented, but new research from Goldman Sachs appears to further fuel the college-value debate. The findings estimate that today’s college graduates, on average, don’t “break even” on the costs of a bachelor’s degree until age 31 – a full year longer than it took the Class of 2010. […]

It comes as little surprise that the Great Recession had a significantly negative impact on employment opportunities. The peak of the downturn’s effect on underemployment occurred in 2010, when about 10% of college graduates were considered “underemployed” (i.e. unemployed, working part-time or not seeking employment), according to a study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education […]

Just how much is college worth? About twice as much as it was in the 1960s, according to the latest Economic Report of the President. One of the topics examined by the annual White House publication was the college wage “premium,” which serves as an indicator of the economic value of a college degree. This […]