More High School Grads Decide College Isn’t Worth It [Ben Casselman]

<p>According to the article, enrollment in college by recent high school grads has begun to decline. The trend is more notable among females than males. It does not appear to be a result of the high cost of college but rather a reflection of the improving job market. But the job market for high school grads remains poor overall. LINK TO STORY: <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/more-high-school-grads-decide-college-isnt-worth-it/"&gt;http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/more-high-school-grads-decide-college-isnt-worth-it/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This is expected, as enrollement increased with the start of the recession. When you can’t find a job out of high school, the local CC becomes a better option. Note that the enrollment rate at four year colleges continue to increase, the decrease is greatest for Part-time students and at CC’s.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I look at that as favorable. What I have seen, which is a real killer among high financial need high school grads is an automatic push to these local school when some of these kids are not of the mind set to go yet. The schools just suck out the fin aid entitlements these kids have, often for a long time and then they are left without that money and with a lousy college record, maybe even a fin aid hold owing money which becomes an added impediment when they mature a bit more, have been working and can start making some well thought out decisions of the next step. I don’t know how many young adults who have seriously hurt their future college funding and prospects because they went straight to college because they were so shuttled.</p>

<p>I didn’t know the new fivethirtyeight had been launched!</p>

<p>@Hunt: It relaunched about a month ago. I really like the contributions of the author of this article, Ben Casselman, who formerly wrote for the Wall Street Journal.</p>