College dropouts can be worse than high school graduates

Some college can be worse than no college at all.

The Wall Street Journal said that people entering the workforce with some college credits but without a degree are at a greater disadvantage than those equipped with only high school diploma. College dropouts are excluded from professional-track jobs and face the disadvantage of entering the workforce years after their high school graduate peers. Moreover, they are potentially saddled with debt from student loans.

While college dropouts have lower unemployment rates than high school graduates — 12.1 percent versus 15.5 percent, respectively — the median earnings in 2012 for both groups was $15,640, according to a Drexel University Center for Labor Markets and Policy analysis. The same survey found that in 2011, wages for college dropouts were lower than those for high school graduates.

The WSJ said that employers are turned off by college dropouts, as they seem to have “given up” on their degree. Any amount of college experience used to be considered as an advantage in the job market, but today, college degrees are no longer a rarity. College dropouts are having difficulty competing in the workforce.

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