Questions on college degrees have started rising in rich countries including the USA and Britain, and this has many reasons, the first major reason being the college fee getting hiked rapidly. With the rise in inflation, college fees have gone up, because of which students are being forced to take hefty loans for higher education. As per a survey of the Wall Street Journal, 56 percent of the Americans aged between 18 and 34 are of the opinion that a 4-year degree is not capable of providing them with the kind of job or earnings they want.
They added that the time and money invested in getting college degrees do not provide returns of the same value. On the other hand, another fact which has emerged is that in Britain, as compared to white students, the chances of employment are higher for south Asian (Indian) students who are degree-holders, because they study subjects like business. In the USA too, as compared to white and non-white students, Asian students face less problems in paying their education loans back.
Till the end of 1990, there was no tuition fees in England, which is now 11 thousand dollars annually on an average, or around 9 lakh rupees, which is the highest among the rich countries. And in the USA, the average graduate degree student out-of-pocket fee was 2300 dollars or around 1.9 lakh rupees in 1970, and in 2018, it went up to 8000 dollars or 6.6 lakh rupees.
In the 1980s, a jump started taking place in the earnings of those who had a college degree, all across the globe, and then, it was named ‘college-wage premium’. During that period, those with a college degree earned, averagely, 35 percent more than those who had only passed high-school. By 2021, this difference became 66 percent. And now, the wage premium is falling in many countries.
According to research firm Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), 25 percent graduates and 15 percent degree-holders in England earn less than those who are not graduates. Further, dropping out without any skill can cause big damage too. Less than 40 percent people are being able to take their degrees in the decided time period.
