More Young Men Are Giving Up On College

A Pew Research Center study shows a sharp drop in male high school graduates shunning a pathway to higher education for other lifestyles. The study found that attendance has waned in the male Latino demographic from 42% to 33% since 2011.

College Dropouts No More

However, while the 2022 figures make for grim reading in the Spanish-oriented community, Latinos who graduate high school are snubbing college at the same rate as their white male counterparts, whose numbers went from 49% to 40%, respectively. To give context, white female high school graduates enroll at 50% of all graduates.

Meanwhile, college enrollment is down five percent: 42% to 37% for black male graduates. The numbers are down across the board for all the mentioned races; however, male students generally go to university at eight-percent lower rates — down at twice the percentage of women. Curiously, Asian or First Nations numbers were not included in the study.

A Downward Trend

Sadly, there is a widening gender gap among American college applicants: the number of women 25 years and older with bachelor’s degrees has grown from only eight percent in 1970 to 39% in 2022. Men’s graduation rates have climbed from 14% to 37%.

The main reasons for not attending college now include not desiring the hefty financial risks, needing to work to help the family, or simply not wanting a degree. Other factors include career choice and having doubts about getting into a four-year course. Moreover, with many esteemed college campuses being such politically charged hotbeds of activism, protests, and ideological tension, one must wonder whether this is also a factor.

The College Conundrum

With the recent revelations that a growing number of college graduates choose not to pay their college loan debt, citing the impossibility of ever affording a mortgage, it’s hardly a surprise that fewer people want to burden themselves with a potential six-figure debt hanging over their future.

The current economic reality some Millennials face means they will be paying their college loans well into the middle ages. Since World War Two, America’s economy has grown exponentially, requiring highly skilled, well-paid jobs. However, the Economic Policy Institute reported in 2022 that while productivity has rocketed since the late ‘40s, wages have not kept up.

Working More For Less

The equal rise in productivity and compensation- which had always kept parity until a 1979 turning point- unraveled. The report visually represents the difference since this year, showing that while productivity went up 164%, wages only went up 115%, which means Americans are doing more work for increasingly less money.

Mark Twain once famously said, “Some people get an education without going to college- the rest get it after they leave.” There are many adages about college to recall, and perhaps Twain’s is most poignant for modern times. Maybe the youth are deciding that amassing income instead of debt is their only option for survival.