Underemployed or Undervalued?

Image of a machine part with a red “For Hire” sign

Source: Matt Noble / Unsplash

Go to college. Get a degree. Get a job. Build a life. It’s a simple plan for success, right? Maybe not so much, anymore.

A recent study from the Strada Institute for the Future of Work and the Burning Glass Institute shows that more than half of today’s college graduates are underemployed (in jobs that don’t typically require a bachelor’s degree) a year after graduation, and 45 percent remain underemployed a decade later. Something is happening between college and employment, and on the face of it, it’s not good, by traditional measures of (financial) success.

But this is not, perhaps, the whole story. First, it largely puts much of the burden on the individual instead of the institutions. Much like The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting were labels placed on individuals doing the quitting, and less an examination of problems with work cultures and management, underemployment implies a deficit in the individual as opposed to addressing the root causes that created that outcome.

Second, the implied problem with underemployment is the value of the cost of a college degree. If more than half of graduates are in roles that do not require a degree, then what was the point of going to college in the first place (and potentially taking on a large amount of debt)? This is a good question for institutions of higher education. Another question is, why do particular roles require a college degree other than creating a barrier to access? What if, instead of talking about how individuals are underemployed, we talked about how they are undervalued for the skills and talents they bring to the workforce?

What’s the Value of a College Degree?

Many would argue that the point of going to college is to get a job, and not just any job, but a better, higher-paying job than you could get without attending college. As the Strada study explains it, a recent graduate employed in a college-level job typically earns about 88 percent more than a high-school diploma holder. An underemployed graduate typically earns only about 25 percent more than someone with no education beyond high school (though it must be emphasized, they are still earning more by this measure of success).

A recent study by The HEA Group examined the median earnings outcomes of approximately five million former students ten years after they initially enrolled at 3,887 institutions. It found that almost all were earning above the Federal poverty line ($14,580 per year); however, nearly a third were failing to earn as much as a typical high school graduate. And, let’s be honest: if earning above the Federal poverty line is higher education’s marker for success, then we’ve got a lot of work to do.

In addition to the financial benefits, I would argue there is more to college than getting a job, just as there is more to high school than to get into college. There is value in being an educated citizen in this world. There is value in knowing how to assess fact from fiction, problem solve, read critically, and engage and communicate with people across differences. The challenge is that these things are harder to quantify than earnings. But the institutions of higher education and the employers of current and future graduates need to do a better job of doing just that. What is the value of a college degree that makes it critical for both life and career post-college?

What Do Students and Graduates Say They Value?

Students and graduates connect the value of their experience in college to their perceptions of growth. A student’s sense of growth happens both in the classroom as well as through teamwork, leadership opportunities, solving real-world problems, and connecting with mentors and peers, and is the biggest factor in a student’s rating of overall satisfaction with their college experience. Additionally, gaining valuable skills is the second highest rated reason students say they are going to college, behind getting a degree (Felix & Lorenzo, 2023).

In a separate study by Strada, alumni who reported strong skill development while in college were earning more money in the first year after graduation and were at least three times more likely to feel their education helped them achieve their goals, was worth the cost, and had a positive impact on their career and life. The skills most positively associated with higher earnings were quantitative skills and critical thinking or problem-solving. The skills most positively associated with life impact were leadership, critical thinking, the ability to learn new things, and creativity (Saboe, 2022).

What Should Colleges and Employers Do?

There are some clear steps that both institutions and employers should take. As the Strada/Burning Glass report recommends, all students need access to internships and high-quality career coaching, as well as information on degree and occupation outcomes and access to degree programs that lead to college-level employment. And, as the research on student growth points out, that need doesn’t stop at the point of graduation. Today’s graduates are prioritizing growth and mentorship in their chosen careers, and they are willing to move if they don’t find it (Felix & Lorenzo, 2023).

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But more than that, both colleges and employers need to do a better job of making the connections between what students are learning while they are in college with the roles and experiences that are to come after college. For universities, that means getting explicit about the skills and outcomes gained from every experience, both inside and outside of the classroom, and helping students get connected to those experiences that will further their learning, whether through internships, research projects, employment, or other co-curricular and extracurricular activities.

For employers, it means getting clear about why and how a future employee will apply their degree to the role they are seeking. As an equity issue, it means making a college education a value add and not a barrier to access. For both universities and employers, it means connecting students and graduates with mentors and wise counselors who can guide them through that learning process.

I am a fan of higher education, so much so that I have built a career in it. I have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a doctorate. And in twenty-five-plus years of working, I never once have had someone ask me how I apply those degrees to do my job. I have never been asked that on a job description or in an interview. I would be hard-pressed to definitively say that those degrees alone make me qualified to do the job I hold today. By that standard, am I, too, underemployed? Maybe.

Or maybe I have been lucky to have had employers who see the value of the skills, strengths, and experiences I have had both inside and outside of the classroom, and mentors who have helped make those connections and open doors for me. All our graduates should be so fortunate.