College Unaffordable Even in Higher Income Brackets
I think a reality that will hopefully soon catch up with societal stigma in the United States is that college isn&#x27;t right for everyone. I understand this as a separate point from college being unattainably expensive, but it is an important point.<p>I have friends who would be mechanics, Peace Corps volunteers, electricians, or plumbers if they hadn&#x27;t instead gone to a private 4-year institution, pressured to attend the best schools possible because they did well in high school. The permanent solution for this is either adjusted student loans or free community colleges, or some combination of the two. People on the opposite side of this issue I&#x27;ve talked to have often expressed concern that the bachelor&#x27;s degree will basically become devalued if everyone has access. My response is always &quot;it already IS devalued, but hardly anyone has access&quot;. It&#x27;s near impossible to get a job in a desirable field without a college degree and relevant experience, but it&#x27;s also prohibitively expensive to get a degree. Where will the 22 year olds with $100,000 worth of debt working at McDonald&#x27;s going to be in 30-50 years? I have friends who in their early 20s are recognizing it&#x27;s worth accruing more debt at even higher education in hopes of getting a job that will make the investment worth it.<p>&gt; Unless we make college affordable for people of all financial means, opportunity through higher education will be a false promise.<p>But this is half of it, right? Plenty of people who walk out of colleges with no debt still can&#x27;t find a job because the market is changing so much. As today&#x27;s jobs move towards automation, I think most here can agree that current careers will change forever (frequently on HN the conversation steers towards more technological jobs). What I don&#x27;t frequently see posted here is that automation will free up creative jobs where going to college is a necessary path. Writers exposed to other young writers can become inspired for life, especially given the opportunities. This turned into sort of a soapbox and is mostly anecdotal, but I think most would agree a national conversation needs to be had about this.