FOR THE Class of 2015, the University received 23,942 applications. This figure represents a 6 percent increase from the number of applications submitted for the Class of 2014. The University's steadily increasing applicant pool mirrors a nationwide trend - enrollment at degree-granting institutions increased 14 percent between 1987 and 1997, and an astounding 26 percent between 1997 and 2007.
At the same time as this boom in demand for college education, college costs have risen dramatically. Since 1982, tuition and fees at the average American college have skyrocketed 439 percent - double the increase in the cost of medical care and quadruple the rate of inflation during that time. Students and their families have accommodated these prices by accumulating unprecedented levels of debt.
National student debt levels are startling. For the first time in history, aggregate student debt now exceeds aggregate credit card debt. Americans collectively owe $850 billion in student loan debt, compared to $828 billion in revolving credit. Much of this debt consumption is fueled by low-rate federal loans; federal spending on student financial aid has doubled over the course of the past decade.
Accruing substantial amounts of debt to finance an investment - in this case, a college education - only makes sense if the debtor either expects the investment to increase in value or to pay sufficient dividends to cover debt payments. A growing body of data, however, indicates that the return on the investment in a college education is not particularly encouraging.
Education is a good investment from an economic standpoint to the extent that it imbues the student with marketable skills. Yet according to a new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" by University Sociology Prof. Josipa Roksa and New York University Prof. Richard Arum, 45 percent of undergraduates included in their study "demonstrated no significant gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communications during the first two years of college."
Poor educational results stem in part from the fact that students today study an average of only 14 hours per week, down from 24 hours per week in 1961. Furthermore, the studying and learning that students do engage in is often unnecessary from an employment perspective. A significant number of majors - Religious Studies, Studies in Women and Gender, etc. - provide few marketable skills. Thus, students frequently enter sectors of the workforce requiring a subset of specific skills totally unrelated to what they just spent four years studying.
As the number of undergraduates swells, a college degree no longer serves to delineate exceptionally qualified potential employees. Shockingly, between 2000 and 2005 the real average wages of college graduates actually declined. The prospects for imminent graduates are even bleaker. The unemployment rate is more than 9 percent for men and women under the age of 24 who possess at least a
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