One of the ongoing themes of these weekly blogs is the fact that the current college system is broken.

This system not only limits those who chose not to attend a university, but also a significant portion of those who graduate. The fact that employers tend to favor college graduates over those who did not attend university has not only saddled a large segment of the population with debt, but has also caused businesses to overlook many skilled employees.

There have been countless case studies and surveys conducted which have shown that in many cases graduating college alone does not properly prepare an individual to complete tasks at their job. There is no significant difference between the skills of someone who graduates from a university and a high school graduate in entry level positions.

Within the Bloomberg article “Do You Really Need a College Degree for That Entry-Level Job?” Peter Coy compares the job experiences of college graduates to high school graduates.

Because employers tend to respect candidates with college degrees more, graduates have an easier time receiving a position​ that high school graduates. However, 49% of recent college graduates indicated that they “didn’t have to go to college to acquire the skills they needed for their current jobs.”

This data might cause one to reconsider the college process altogether. If college does not prepare a young adult for an entry level position, then why are they placed at a premium?

The article’s second case study further proves that a college diploma may be overvalued. A new research algorithm (funded by the Rockefeller Foundation which was created to test employee skills) indicated that 83% of high school graduates without college experience performed at a level comparable with the average entry level employee at various businesses.

While we can all agree that there are several benefits to attending university, perhaps it is time for us to stop placing so much importance on it.

What do you think?

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Colin is a native of Hyattsville, MD who will graduate this spring from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with degrees in History and Psychology. He’s currently learning Japanese and working on a documentary about community progress in Quince Orchard, Maryland. He lends his voice and talents to help our job seeker community advance their progress in landing their dream jobs.