
TIME magazine publishes op-ed by President Judy Olian on costs of forgoing college
March 13, 2025
March 13, 2025
While rising tuition and student debt have led some to question the value of higher education, Olian challenges this perception with a simple question: "What if the most expensive decision is not going to college at all?"
"Financial security should be a factor young people consider when making decisions about their future — and so is job security," Olian wrote. "Most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data suggest that the unemployment rate for workers with only a high school diploma is 4.2% while the unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree is just 2.5%. And at the onset of COVID pandemic in April 2020, the BLS reported that unemployment among high school graduates spiked to 17.7% — more than double the 8.4% unemployment rate for college graduates. In a world of increasing unknowns, the inoculating effects of a college degree can be the difference between weathering a storm versus being swept away by it."
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