College Degrees Fail To Lift Many Young Adults Out Of Poverty, Study Finds

More young adults from low-income backgrounds are enrolling in college than ever before -- but the receipt of a college degree doesn't necessarily boost them out of poverty, a new study (.pdf) reports.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has more on the study's findings:

In 2008, among Americans ages 18 to 26 whose total household income was near or below the federal poverty level, 47 percent were or had been enrolled in college, compared with 42 percent in 2000. Eleven percent of them had earned a degree, a proportion roughly equivalent to that eight years ago, according to the report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

Across all racial and ethnic groups, greater proportions of low-income young adults were or had been enrolled in college in 2008, compared with 2000. Hispanic students showed the largest percentage-point increase, to 37 percent from 29 percent. Low-income Asian and Pacific Islander and white students enrolled at the highest rates in 2008, 62 percent and 51 percent, respectively; the greatest proportions of low-income degree holders were also from those groups.

The report, titled "A Portrait of Low-Income Young Adults in Education," and conducted by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, said that poor students are at an automatic disadvantage in a college setting due to lack of preparation and susceptibility to debt.

What's your take on this report? Leave a comment with your opinion.

Comments

[J0E1]

10:40 AM on 06/15/2010

I'd like to know what they consider "college". Many of these non-accredited schools advertise like crazy to bring in these low income students who don't know any better. You have all seen the commercials: "get your degree in healthcare and change your life!" My gf has worked in HR for healthcare companies for years. She says that most of the "healthcare" degrees given out at these "colleges" are worthless and not accepted by any legitimate healthcare facility. Then you read reports of schools like Devry or College America charging tuition that rivals state universities only they give out loans with obnoxiously high interest rates that bankrupt those that graduate and can't find a job anyway. These types of schools should be banned. Want a legitimate degree and can't afford a university? Go to a community college, not one of these hack job fake universities.

[therealist2000]

01:30 PM on 06/11/2010

Let us deconstruct this post for a sec: high school graduates and college graduates are at the mercy of capital markets and capital flows. What does this mean? There has flowed a rumor from ESTABLISHMENT sources that an education will lead to a better job or at least a good job. If someone graduates from high school or college, the rumor has it that that individual has good prospects of entering and staying in the middle class.

Many people are pushed to higher education because of advertising and marketing. They push education the way they push burgers.

However, had good jobs existed many would not be in higher education nor buy into the rumor or advertising that sells them the advanced education. Many people with a good basic education would be working and bringing in the money necessary to live well in America.

But the myth persists, and especially during economic BUSTS, that a higher education is the ticket into the middle class. It fails to note, aside from education being good in and of itself, that it will not give the future employee a ticket to a job because capital control and requirements seek locations that will bring the highest return to the investors. If the graduate is able to tap into that economic capital flow, then that individual will hold down a good paying job. Capital does not care about one's education status, it cares only about the % return on the capital

[farmilyman]

02:23 AM on 06/11/2010

People who have skills make money, people who have "education" have debt.

[VeroucaSalt]

04:35 PM on 06/10/2010

This article is lacking some critical information. For instance, were these supposed degrees that were obtained by those in poverty anything above an Associate's Degree? If so, what percentage? And which degree level ensured the highest likelihood of escaping poverty?

Did someone get PAID to run this study? If so, whoever paid them should ask for a refund.

[econ1]

12:30 PM on 06/10/2010

This would be more useful if it was tied to the coursework they completed. Studying to improve your job opportunities is different than studying to gain a liberal education. Many students would be better off at a trade school. Just being at a college for four years doesn't make you a more valuable employee.

[Caleb Owens]

10:10 PM on 06/10/2010

Unfortunately, many trade schools charge more than many colleges and don't actually deliver in job placements.

[otro]

11:18 AM on 06/10/2010

Hey guys we are actually talking about a very similar topic on TNGG check it out. http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/2010/06/04/hired-gen-ys-job-hunting-process/

[grlbhvingbadly]

09:38 AM on 06/10/2010

It's not what you know; it's who you know.

[Caleb Owens]

10:12 PM on 06/10/2010

Bingo! Regardless of education level, if your parents and family have friends with successful careers they're more likely to be able to help you find work than someone that doesn't have that resource.

Networking gets more jobs than experience or education.

[Bonaboman]

09:02 AM on 06/10/2010

So, one goes to college with the intention of being pre-Med; yet, ACTs are in the low 20's and high school GPA is around 3.0. Dropping Organic Chemistry during the first week, the student decides that Inorganic will be impossible and changes their major to pre-Pharmacy; reenrolling in Organic. After the D in Organic, the student reflects on the future and the present - there are many parties to attend and wtf, the Organic professor said that the studying workload would be around 20 hours a week. The student contemplates an Ecology major; yet, finds that even Ecology majors need Organic. So, the student meets with a counselor who describes that the world needs people who pave their own way and that structure sometimes is not the best path - the student and the counselor work out an Independent Studies major.

The student graduates with a 2.5 GPA and $100,000 in loans. The university has received their money; so, they are very happy. The student finds that Independent Studies majors are not appreciated as much in the marketplace as they are in the universities collecting their tuition. The student then takes a job at a call center and makes $10 per hour, or less.

[Cassandrawept]

05:19 AM on 06/10/2010

Advice to new grads: Keep on trucking. Being poor means you probably haven't been clued in to how people actually obtain money.
Don't buy baloney. Everyone is out to propagandize and sell you something. Your employers, your schools, corporation, family farmer,chain store, and media. Even your church and favorite politician.
Get into the mindset of...What are you doing for me, that I should do something for you?
Getting between the donor and the donnee is a favorite spot for leaches.
If your church doesn't help you get better educations, better jobs, better housing and neighborhoods, and teach you how to help each other out (in the congregation), then you are in the wrong church.And disadvantaged compared to those who's religions have those activities as one of their features. Watch your politicians. Politician's support comes from people who want to latch onto government contracts or gain favor for their businesses. Politicians sell people and corporations ways to make you pay more than you would pay in a free market. You must always work with a view that you are there to make as much money as possible. Because if you forget this, your corporation and boss won't. Find the people who understand that sharing the wealth is the way to build a strong organization. Don't stick in the dead end organizations and jobs. You have a short life and it will pass before you know it. Don't put off your life until you are old.

[Caleb Owens]

10:20 PM on 06/10/2010

"Being poor means you probably haven't been clued in to how people actually obtain money."
- Oooor... you didn't have money in the family to begin with. Many people that are privileged don't know that they are.

And being choosy when looking for a job is difficult when you literally have no one to support you if you fail. Your comment reads like Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

[MJVs Common Sense]

08:47 PM on 06/09/2010

Once again the goal of higher education is not, nor has it ever been, to get people well-paying jobs. The point is to educate them and then it's up to them to put that education to good use.

[LogicOnlyPlease]

05:37 AM on 06/10/2010

Unfortunately that is not how colleges market themselves. This has been an ongoing scam for years. Colleges have society as a whole thinking that a degree is a social status symbol and that it equates to success. No thanks.

Stay out of debt, do an apprenticeship or a tech school. Develop some skills and experience on the job. Get a professional license that makes you employable over anyone without that license, even a pHD in electrical engineering can't legally install electrical equipment. Then go to college if you still want an education. If you fail out, you are still capable of a successful career.

[Anjo6991]

08:50 AM on 06/10/2010

Exactly; I teach at a high school and we market for colleges/universities also; telling the kids how much more earning power they will have if they graduate from a four year university or college, and how that amount increases significantly if they go on for a post graduate degree...little talk happens about the debt side of the issue...and the very real possibility that they may end up like me; in a job outside of my field that I don't actually like, student loans to pay off and a sister who went to community college and took a few classes for a certification in HR that now allows her to out earn me, travel, company perks, etc. and she has no student loan debt. I'm jealous!

[Caleb Owens]

10:22 PM on 06/10/2010

Up to them and all of their family's connections/friends/networks, to put their education to good use. It's who you know, not what you know.

[Ben Cohn]

08:24 PM on 06/09/2010

Of course they don't when we continue to promote a policy that "everyone" should go to college. This is just a ridiculous idea. All it does it both devalue jobs you actually need to go to college for, AS WELL as devalue in peoples eyes the value of jobs that you really don't need a college degree for.

Colleges need to eliminate programs like COURSE FORGIVENESS, and NOTE TAKERS. Bring it back to the time our parents went. If your not doing well, YOU FAIL OUT. That is how it is suppose to be. All these programs are guised as helping students make it through, when their only real purpose is to continue having kids that have no buisness being in college continue to pay tuition.

[MJVs Common Sense]

08:45 PM on 06/09/2010

I completely agree with your point about "failing out." Grade inflation is a huge problem, especially the higher up you go in the rankings. Why? Because of the rankings! When you base your rankings on graduation rates, the best schools are going to hedge their bets by inflating grades, thus ensuring that the vast majority of their students graduate. Harvard's graduation rate is something like 99% thanks to their famous grade inflation (nearly half their students graduate cum laude or higher), yet they are still rewarded for grade inflation in the rankings. You want to fix that problem, you have to change the way you rank schools.

That being said, having everyone pursue higher education doesn't devalue the degree, it increases the base knowledge of society (something that can only help in the long run). The people who want to stand out, will pursue higher degrees (there are still two more levels above a Bachelors). I do agree that a Bachelors degree isn't for everyone, but some form of post high school education is necessary today, since a high school education is generally pitiful. When we have great secondary education in this country, THEN people might not need to get a degree above the G.E.D.

P.S. Notetakers are generally only offered to students with visual, audio, or learning disabilities. You can't get rid of those because it would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[Ben Cohn]

08:55 PM on 06/09/2010

The people that got note-takers that I knew all had "ADD or ADHD". Those should not be a legitimate reason that SOMEONE ELSE takes your notes. This is part of the problem. In the real world even if you have ADD you don't get a note taker. College should prepare you for the real world, not baby you along.

And it does devalue the degree, but more importantly it has completely erased any value in jobs that don't require a college education. The reality is not that we need more people with college degrees to then become auto mechanics (which is what is happening), its that we need to properly value jobs like that which MUST exist so that people want to go into them instead of going to college.

The reality is that if you are not going into an Engineering field, Business, want to be a college level professor, or go to some sort of post-graduate (Law, Medical), you shouldn't need a college education. For K-12 teachers there should be a completely separate school that is at most 2 years.

ITS ALL A SCAM, this idea that you need to take 4 years worth of class for most jobs. A person who wants to be a high school history teacher (say they get a BA in History), should not have to take 13 credits worth of "natural sciences" just because they are getting a BA.

[Ben Cohn]

08:56 PM on 06/09/2010

And its not "grade inflation" as much as keeping kids in school that have no buisness being there. At CU where I went if you got a D+ in a class or below, you could RETAKE that class. Both would show up on your transcript (which no one looks at), but only the second grade will count towards your GPA. ITS INSANE.

[LogicOnlyPlease]

05:43 AM on 06/10/2010

And to think that half the people on HP want college to be free. That would only dumb down the system and force people to get Masters or Doctorates if they want to be distinguishable in the job market.

[Anjo6991]

08:59 AM on 06/10/2010

Where have half the people here said they wanted college to be free? Further, the system is already dumbed down and a bachelors is no more than a high school diploma these days; you already need a masters or doctorate to stand out...so what's your point?

[MikeDu]

08:01 PM on 06/09/2010

What degrees do is somewhat improve your chances playing the game of 'employment musical chairs'. But industry continues to take chairs away (and ship 'em overseas). The corporate oligarchs deliberately and methodically stripped living wage jobs from the country. I don't know what but they did. The upper-middle class weren't so concerned when it was only blue-collar working class jobs being outsourced. Now that their college grad children are being affected its a national scandal!

[mcarlsonus]

02:25 PM on 06/10/2010

They're not JUST shipping those jobs overseas! Despite existing laws that appear to limit instances where US-based employers can IMPORT labor, violations of those laws are routine and violators are NEVER punished - or even pursued. Look what's happened to just ONE field of endeavor that USED to be promising here in the States: Information Technology !

[therealist2000]

01:05 PM on 06/11/2010

MikeDu, Well Said!

[MSGH]

07:19 PM on 06/09/2010

Part of the problem is our "user-pay" philosophy, which assumes that the only person to benefit from the degree is the person who receives it--so the costs become astronomical. Yet I wouldn't like to have my children taught by someone without a university degree, nor would I like to drive across a bridge designed by someone without an engineering degree. I don't want to be nursed by someone with no qualifications beyond high-school biology (you can add your own examples here). Students & universities should be financially supported by the society which benefits from their skills instead of forcing them, as some of my students do, to work three jobs and borrow money they'll have trouble paying back. I'm the first person in my family to get a university degree and the only one to get a PhD. Now I teach university & make a good wage--but I paid a high price for it: no children (couldn't afford them), 1st time homeowner at age 63, still digging myself out of debt--and I consider myself lucky next to most of my students, whose prospects are even less.

[Van Carter]

05:36 PM on 06/09/2010

Structural poverty is not addressed with a college education, it really is that simple.

While a college education might function to permit some individuals to mitigate the effects of structure, the majority will still find themselves in the same circumstances they were in before obtaining their education but with a greater debt burden.

Unfortunately, as long as we regard poverty itself as the issue and not the structure of a system that leads to poverty, we are probably better served in encouraging the poor to seek education in technical degrees or in specific fields that make them more attractive to the labor marketplace.

Making individuals more palatable to the maw of capitalism however should not be our end goal and we need to escape from the system that compels us to consider humans as nothing more than their economic output.

[fem56]

07:12 PM on 06/09/2010

A technical degree is a great way to go for a lot of people and certainly not just people from poorer families. Too bad it regarded as second best by some. We will need auto mechanics, air condition repair people, plumbing specialist, x-ray technicians etc during boom times and lean times. Some people struggle at the bottom of the class barely getting though, taking the easiest majors possible. Some students just never catch up inspite of remedial courses. Why this is so I don't know but it can't be good for their self esteem or future. Isn't better being a very competent mechanic?

[Ben Cohn]

08:26 PM on 06/09/2010

EXACTLY, it used to be that you went to college and if you couldn't hack it, the school actually let you fail out. And then you got a technical job. Now the schools are full of "help programs" that do nothing but keep failing kids in school and paying tuition. ITS A SCAM.

[PartyPartyParty]

05:05 PM on 06/09/2010

CEOs used to prize employees who had a good liberal arts education. They took it as evidence that the employee was capable of abstract thought, knew how to learn something, had at least decent writing skills and could follow a project through to completion.

Nowadays, CEOs don't want to hire anyone like that, because they'd see through the corporate b.s. in short order.

[Robert Masters]

05:17 PM on 06/09/2010

You assume so much. A liberal arts education is not necessarily a good liberal arts education and a degree is not necessarily worth the sheep skin it's printed on if it is from a poor school.

The schools suck and behavior of students count.

I don't value a college education in my employees because I have seen too many college educated idiots looking for work. We now have to test people and virtually ignore the degree to determine if the person has any value in the workplace.

[PartyPartyParty]

06:09 PM on 06/09/2010

I'm not assuming anything.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2009/05/in-defense-of-the-liberal-arts/17725/