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It's somewhat interesting, but "what students think" isn't really as interesting as the reality of whether a degree is poor value for money or not. It might be,

It's somewhat interesting, but "what students think" isn't really as interesting as the reality of whether a degree is poor value for money or not. It might be, or might not. I suspect it largely depends on the degree and the institution. Also, just because having a degree is pretty normal right now, doesn't mean it's not good value: maybe you need it just to do averagely and without it you'll struggle a lot in the employment market. I'm not saying this is true, I'm just saying the headline isn't that interesting compared to the actual reality.

acomjean 5y ago
Thats actually a great point. There are studies indicating what college degreed people earn vs non degreed. In my experience (as someone who graduated decades ago), the degree, particularly for liberal arts majors, opened a lot of doors for opportunities that might not have happened without them. But I went to a state school for a cost that seemed high in the 90's but now seems like a huge bargain. Here's Northeasterns stats on degree what degree earns what (maybe a university isn't the most unbiased resource but..): https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/average-salary-by-education-level/ https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/avera... This studies does neglect the huge debt that students accrued because college is crazy expensive now.
- wheelinsupial 5y ago
  > maybe a university isn't the most unbiased resource but.. I'm not sure if anything similar in the US exists, but Stats Canada puts out data on employment by majors in Canada. [1] shows that graduates of the humanities and social sciences have the highest rate of underemployment whereas graduates of nursing, engineering, CS, and education programs have the lowest rate of underemployment. [2] performs a comparison of workers from 1991 to 2011 and concludes that underemployment rates (called overqualification here) have not changed much. Field of study is broken out for the 2011 group, however, the 1991 data isn't broken out. [3] Breaks out salary for graduates of Canadian majors (118 fields of study for men, 123 fields of study for women) 5 years after graduation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it does not break this down by university, and it seems to lump computer science in with math. Surveys completed in BC [4] show that for self-reported earnings there is a difference in earnings for the same major across different universities. It also treats math and computer science separately and in some cases, CS majors earn 2x math majors two years after graduating. [1] https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016025/98-200-x2016025-eng.cfm https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98... [2] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2014001/article/11916-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2014001/article... [3] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020018-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020018... [4] https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/statistics/people-population-community/education-training/bc-student-outcomes/publications/baccalaureate-graduates-survey https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/statistics/people-po...

acomjean 5y ago

Thats actually a great point. There are studies indicating what college degreed people earn vs non degreed. In my experience (as someone who graduated decades ago), the degree, particularly for liberal arts majors, opened a lot of doors for opportunities that might not have happened without them. But I went to a state school for a cost that seemed high in the 90's but now seems like a huge bargain. Here's Northeasterns stats on degree what degree earns what (maybe a university isn't the most unbiased resource but..): https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/average-salary-by-education-level/ https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/avera... This studies does neglect the huge debt that students accrued because college is crazy expensive now.

wheelinsupial 5y ago
> maybe a university isn't the most unbiased resource but.. I'm not sure if anything similar in the US exists, but Stats Canada puts out data on employment by majors in Canada. [1] shows that graduates of the humanities and social sciences have the highest rate of underemployment whereas graduates of nursing, engineering, CS, and education programs have the lowest rate of underemployment. [2] performs a comparison of workers from 1991 to 2011 and concludes that underemployment rates (called overqualification here) have not changed much. Field of study is broken out for the 2011 group, however, the 1991 data isn't broken out. [3] Breaks out salary for graduates of Canadian majors (118 fields of study for men, 123 fields of study for women) 5 years after graduation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it does not break this down by university, and it seems to lump computer science in with math. Surveys completed in BC [4] show that for self-reported earnings there is a difference in earnings for the same major across different universities. It also treats math and computer science separately and in some cases, CS majors earn 2x math majors two years after graduating. [1] https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016025/98-200-x2016025-eng.cfm https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98... [2] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2014001/article/11916-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2014001/article... [3] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020018-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020018... [4] https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/statistics/people-population-community/education-training/bc-student-outcomes/publications/baccalaureate-graduates-survey https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/statistics/people-po...