New grads question value of college

The survey reveals that only half strongly agree that their college education was worth the cost.

50 percent of all USA college graduates said they “strongly agree” that their undergraduate education was worth the cost.

According to a report released yesterday, concerns about student loan debt and rising tuition costs have many college graduates now questioning whether their education was worth the expense. But that figure drops sharply among graduates of private for-profit universities, only 26 percent of whom agreed.

The study does note that recent college graduates might be more apt to have student loan payments.

Almost half of recent graduates who incurred any amount of student loan debt reported postponing further training or postgraduate education because of those loans. The study noted that the latter was also apt to have more debt from student loans as well.

After more than 60,000 college graduates were surveyed, it was found that 63 percent of students who graduated within the last ten years used student loans. And what we know is that less than 20 percent who took out $50K or more feel that it was worth it. That’s a big eye opener.

More than three of every four grads agree or strongly agree their college’s cost did not outstrip the value of a diploma later in life.

“Some, like the great brands of Harvard, a few people would argue that it doesn’t matter what they do, they’re still going to have a great brand”, he says.

In this May 31, 2014 photo, graduates throw their caps in the air in triumph at the University of Delaware’s commencement ceremony in Newark, Del.

These Purdue University students will be the first to say a college education isn’t cheap. “The GPI provides critical new data and information on the factors that drive these outcomes”.

The current Gallup-Purdue Index results reaffirm the importance of supportive relationships between undergraduates and professors and other mentors. These three items were having professors who cared about them as a person, having a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams, or having at least one professor who made them excited about learning. It also outlined the relationship between the level of student debt and a graduate’s well-being and entrepreneurial experience.

The survey, which will continue annually through 2018, is an attempt to fill the void created by superficial ways of measuring the quality of colleges such as U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, which use an institution’s wealth and selectivity as proxies of educational quality.