<p><a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/">http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/</a></p>
<p>Note the graph "Rising Earnings Disparity Between Young Adults with And Without a College Degree".</p>
<p>In inflation-adjusted dollars, bachelor's degree graduates of the millenial generation earn about as much as those of generation X and the late boomers. But there has been a steady decline in earnings of the associates degree graduates, those with some college, and high school graduates.</p>
<p>The implication is not that education leading to a bachelor's degree is getting more valuable in the labor market, but that not having such is being devalued.</p>
<p>Yes, this seems to be more and more obvious, doesn’t it? And if the undergrad degree is just the baseline now, what makes the grad stand out is work experience. Work that is directly relevant to the job being sought is becoming the new expectation, and valued in many cases more than a graduate degree in a relevant field.</p>
<p>The problem with getting work experience is that the entry level job in many lines of work is now an unpaid internship.</p>
<p>A generation ago, it was possible to work entry level jobs to support oneself and pay the small tuition at an in-state public university with minimal or no help from parents and financial aid. Of course, those paid entry level jobs could be ones which gave relevant work experience for getting hired for post-graduation career-track jobs.</p>
<p>Now, it is much more difficult to work one’s way through college without some parental support, and the replacement of paid entry level jobs with unpaid internships makes the preparation for career-track jobs in those lines of work even more costly.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree. It’s much tougher now to get that foot in the door than in previous generations, and unfortunately, since unpaid internships are seen as better than nothing by a lot of students, companies will go this route as long as students come. Some fields are worse than others (publishing, entertainment, museum work) and almost require a period of unpaid work, and even those are competitive.
When parents ask me what their HS student can do to help with college admissions, I usually answer “Get a job.”
While it may not help with admissions (although it may) , it very likely will help after graduation. And one job has a way of leading to another, so even if the first isn’t that relevant, it will make it easier to get the one that is.</p>