For those who espouse that the school curriculum designed for the world of work may provide students with a narrow perspective view of the world, I suggest you walk in the shoes of college graduates. Here are some hard cold realities students faced when they graduate from college:
More than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, 40 million borrowers, an average balance of $29,000 in the United States. Across the border, graduating Canadian students carry an average debt burden of about $27,000, according to the 2015 graduating student survey by the Canadian University Survey Consortium, which takes on average 10 years to pay back, according to the Canada Student Loan program.
Over 25% adults aged 18 to 29 mention college costs as the biggest financial problem their families are dealing with.
The poverty rate for millennials with a college degree or greater is nearly 6 percent, roughly twice as high as it was for Generation X in 1995 or the early boomers in 1979, and higher than the 4 percent rate for late boomers in 1986 (data for the silent generation was not available).
Only 11% of US business leaders who strongly agree grads have necessary skills.
87% of recent grads feel prepared for their job. Only 50% of managers feel the same.
40% of college seniors fail to graduate with the complex reasoning skills needed in today’s workplace. On a range of nearly 20 skills, employers consistently rated students much lower than they judged themselves. While 57% of students said they were creative and innovative, for example, just 25% of employers agreed.
Higher education institutions and employers are not actively communicating and collaborating with one another. 6% of graduates strongly agree they had a meaningful internship or job.
35% strongly agreed that they could find many ways around problems that arise in their lives.
The outlook for college graduates in Canada is not any better. According to Statistics Canada, high school grads are making wage gains, while the earnings of holders of a post-secondary school degree are staying flat — and in the case of young men, even decreasing. The results were counter-intuitive, in that education didn't lead to greater wage gains, at least in the short term. Post-secondary degree holders still earned more than their lesser-educated peers, but not by as much as during the previous period.
Education attainment in Canada is among the highest in the world, however the proportion of university-educated workers in lower skilled jobs ( not using their university degrees), is 39%.
While the current statistics can be discouraging, the good news is that 83% college and university chief academic officers and provosts say their institution is focusing more on the ability of its degree programs to help students get good jobs. This is the first step in the right direction. Perhaps it is time for companies to put money where their mouth is. For companies who feel that there is a disconnect between what their needs are and what higher education institutions are producing, it is time for business leaders to increase their level of collaboration with higher institutions.
References
Atfield, P., & Havlak, C. (2017, January 27). Canadian University Report - Paying For It.
Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/canadian-
university-report/what-it-costs-to-go-to-university-in-every-province/article32375427/
Connelly, G., Blair, G., & Ko, A. (2013, November). Retrieved from
http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/news/itstheirfuture
Gallup. (2017, February 26). Retrieved from
http://www.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/190544/career-financial-literacy-skills-key-students-
futures.aspx
Selingo, J. (2015, January 26). Why are so many college students failing to gain job skills before
graduation? Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade
point/wp/2015/01/26/why-are-so-many-college-students-failing-to-gain-job-skills-before-
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