2. The cultural wisdom, at least 15 years ago, was that having any degree would be a worthwhile investment that would absolutely pay off long term. I remember a lot of graphs explaining how a college degree in any subject/industry would net bigger earnings over a lifetime.
It does!
Not always, and not necessarily in the same way as in previous generations.
It used to be that a college degree was
sufficient to get your foot in the door of a decent office job. A relevant degree was a plus, of course, but there was plenty of room in the general office for liberal arts folks who could process paperwork all day. Just having that piece of paper all but guaranteed that you would find a white-collar position somewhere.
Nowadays, a degree is no longer
sufficient, but increasingly
necessary for those same jobs. There are tons college grads in the job market these days, and fewer generic paper-pusher jobs (relatively speaking) with the advent of computer automation. So on the one hand, students with generic degrees aren't guaranteed a job anymore, which is why you see so many stories of degreed folks working in coffee shops etc. Meanwhile, employers have also felt free to slap degree requirements on jobs that didn't previously have them, since they know they can easily fill those jobs with grads. So the situation for non-grads is even more grim.
One way to look at it is that a college degree now is more and more like a high school degree was in past years: absolutely essential for finding a job in most white collar (and even some blue-ish collar) industries, but carrying no guarantees whatsoever. It's the new bare minimum, in other words. The only difference is, this new minimum educational bar comes with a hefty price tag.
It's also worth noting that actual pay rates of those generic office jobs haven't kept pace with either the elite specialist positions
or the non-degree trades. So even the "lucky" ones that do land those office positions are paying more for the privilege and getting less in return.