Four million fewer teenagers enrolled at a college in 2022 than in 2012. For many, it’s the price tag that has simply grown too exorbitant to justify the cost. From 2010 to 2022, college tuition rose an average of 12% a year, while overall inflation only increased an average of 2.6% each year.
Today it costs at least $104,108 on average to attend four years of public university — and $223,360 for a private university. The salaries students can expect to earn after graduation haven’t kept up with the cost of college, making the outlay of so much capital hurt even more.
A 2019 report from the Pew Research Center found that earnings for young college-educated workers had remained mostly flat over the past 50 years. Four years after graduating, according to recent data from the Higher Education Authority, a third of students earn less than $40,000 — lower than the average salary of $44,356 that workers with only a high-school diploma earn. This student-debt-driven financial hole is leaving more young graduates with a lower net worth than previous generations.
The focus now, especially in the midst of so much uncertainty in the economy, is on using college to prepare for a single, overriding goal: getting a good job. Of course, this is not a totally new phenomenon; college professors have been complaining loudly about the laser-like focus that students have been bringing to the classroom for the past decade and more, on just the skills they want, and rejecting the very idea that the purpose of a college education is to broaden your general field of knowledge as well as to acquire a skill set. The ever-increasing price tag of education leaves no room for “exploring oneself” or “widening your cultural horizon.” As a result, Gen Z’ers who do decide to attend college enter with a whole new set of priorities. They’re not as interested in the typical “college experience” of dorms and frat house parties.
A 2022 survey by Morning Consult found that only 41% of Gen Zers said they “tend to trust US colleges and universities,” the lowest percentage of any generation. It’s a significant shift from when millennials were in their shoes a decade ago.
The single-minded focus on jobs is transforming what colleges actually teach. Degrees that lead to better-paying careers — computer science, engineering, business, and health science — are soaring in popularity. At UC Berkeley, computer science is now the most popular major, and in response to demand, the university recently unveiled its first new college in more than half a century: the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. Data science, a degree established only five years ago, is now the third-most-popular degree the university offers.
“Students are increasingly drawn to subjects like artificial intelligence, data science, business analytics, and social media,” James Connor, the dean of the School of Business and Information Technology at San Francisco Bay University, said. “This surge reflects their understanding of these subjects’ importance for career competitiveness and longevity.”
Students are also devoting their free time to maximizing their career prospects. They take workshops to better understand the current economic situation and they constantly compare notes on the job market. “One may still play a game of Ping-Pong in the open room,” Connor said, “but the discussions of those watching on the sidelines are very different.” Instead of talking about “local leisure activities around San Francisco and Silicon Valley,” as they did four years ago, he said, they’re now more likely to discuss whether they made a mistake in choosing computer science given the rise in tech layoffs or whether they should get an MBA to avoid the job market until fears of a recession have passed. “The pandemic forced students to think broadly about their lives and careers — and in a long-term way.”
These factors are reflected in the curriculum: as majors in computer science and engineering have soared, those in the humanities have plummeted. Last year, only 7% of Harvard freshmen planned to major in the humanities. In February, Marymount University voted to drop nine liberal-arts majors, including English, history, and philosophy.
Gen Z is taking a hard look at the “essence” of college, and their changing views “will fuel the drive for innovative, value-driven alternatives to college.”
