What’s a bachelor’s degree worth these days? I’m not talking about the cost to obtain it. I’m talking about the credentials it affords in establishing a secure career. It’s become more common than ever. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2009, 70 percent of high school graduates began pursuing the degree at college. But that common pursuit of a bachelor’s degree does not seem to be because it affords job security upon completion.
In fact, there is a lot of talk these days about the difficulties in getting a job even with a graduate degree! The number of people with advanced degrees is increasing, too, and yet they’re no guarantee of financial security in the corporate world. Some twenty-somethings have had to cobble together a number of part-time jobs in order to pay back student loans and make ends meet. Others have yet to obtain independent living quarters. I read a “lifestyles” newspaper account earlier this summer of a 29 year old with a master’s degree in forensic psychology making ends meet as a nanny and waitress.
Now, if that’s the intended choice of a 29 year old with a master’s degree, then I am all for that. Those can be satisfying, engaging jobs. But if that situation is by default, I wonder about the possibility of a home-based business for those individuals as a way to use their professional skills without having to convince someone to hire them. Just like we work at home moms want an outlet for our professional skills without having to punch the corporate time clock, this option seems like a no-brainer for the underemployed college grad as well.
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