Prediction: Only “Trade” Degrees Will Matter

Prediction: The Only Valuable Degrees Will Be From “Trade” Majors

Status: Happened

“Yes, college grads still earn more and have lower unemployment, but the aggregate numbers hide one uncomfortable truth. The most valuable degrees come from a handful of “trade majors”. Trade majors? Yes, a few majors that teach specific, job-related skills produce the highest salaries. Engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, medicine, and finance. Financially, an arts or writing degree -without a dad named ‘Spielberg’, is like punching your parents in the stomach and setting their house on fire.”

Unshackle The Debtors, Jan 2014

What Happened

We’ve said it before – college education only leads to higher pay in select TRADE MAJORS (engineering, medicine, sciences, finance, etc) & top schools. If you’re not in either a trade major or a top school, a degree is likely to be a waste of time…

Going to university is more important than ever for young people – But the financial returns are falling, Jan 2018

the graduate premium is flawed. Even within countries the average conceals wide differences. Most students know that a degree in mathematics or finance is likely to be more lucrative than one in music or social work. What fewer realise is that the graduate premium overstates the financial benefit of embarking on a degree if their school grades barely qualify them for entry, no matter what they study.

College Is Trade School for the Elite Even education in the humanities has become vocationalized, through the transformation is subtle., 2017

Vocational training is what higher education has been doing without even realizing it.

I Needed a College Degree for This? Why Companies Are Failing at Hiring, Mar 2017
Requirements far exceed the skills that many entry-level jobs demand

The Economic Returns on University

$78,000 of Debt for a Harvard Theater Degree