Is the 'Go to College' Message Overdone? Even in a weak job market, the old college try isn't the answer for everyone. A briefing paper from the Brookings Institution warns that "we may have overdone the message" on college, senior fellow Isabel Sawhill said. "We've been telling students and their families for years that college is the only way to succeed in the economy and of course there's a lot of truth to that," Ms. Sawhill said. "On average it does pay off... But if you load up on a whole lot of student debt and then you don't graduate, that is a very bad situation." One comment that people often repeat among the years of slow job growth has been the value of education for landing a job and advancing in a career. April's national unemployment rate stood at 7.5%, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate for high-school graduates over 25 years old who hadn't attended college was 7.4%, compared with 3.9% for those with a bachelor's degree or more education. The difference is even bigger among those aged 16-24. The jobless rate for those with only a high school diploma in that age group is about 20%. At the same time, recent research by Canadian economists cautions that a college degree is no guarantee of promising employment. Ms. Sawhill pointed out that among the aspects that affect the value of a college education is the field of one's major: Students in engineering or other sciences end up earning more than ones who major in the arts or education. The cost of tuition and the availability of financial aid are other considerations, with public institutions generally a better financial bargain than private ones. She suggested two avenues for improving the situation: increasing vocational -technical training programs and _ Europe's focus on early education rather than post-secondary learning. "The European countries put a little more attention to getting people prepared in the primary grades," she said. "Then they have a higher bar for whoever goes to college--but once you get into college, you're more likely to be highly subsidized ." She also is a supporter of technical training--to teach students how to be plumbers, welders and computer programmers--because "employers are desperate" for workers with these skills. People usually think that   _  .
the cost of technical schooling is a problem one will not succeed without a college degree technical skills are most important for landing a job there is an increased competition in getting into a college