–Ian, 20, Union Square

“I have a lot of students loans and I feel like the system is broken.  The loan companies assume that I can pay off my debts with a job, but where are they?”

–Rashid, 23, Union Square

Today when I went to Union Square I targeted people who were just out of school.  After a lot of trial and error, I talked to Rashid and Ian who were sitting on the steps.

“The testing room began to fill.  The examiner checked her identification and assigned her computer No. 12.  She drew another deep breath as she walked to her place.  She was about to sit down to take a $256 pass or fail entrance exam into the American middle class” -204

Angela’s story in Angela Whitiker’s Climb, Isable Wilkerson’s article in Class Matters, provides solid evidence that a college education is a ticket to the middle class.  The paragraph above illustrates a moment before her nursing certification test after finally getting her degree.  As a single mother, Whitiker’s story is not uncommon in America.  Through hard work and ingenuity, she went from welfare to becoming a nurse.  By selecting a profession that is both in demand and well compensated, Whitiker made a smart choice that many undergraduate students fail to make.  She viewed her college degree as a stepping-stone, rather than a place to ‘find herself’.  While not undervaluing adolescent soul searching,  Whitiker proves undergraduate degrees are a catalyst for social mobility.

“I defiantly want to go to college.  Because I am smart and I am a good person.”

–Nikayla, Age 8, Harlem

“You have to go to college, man.  Do you want to live with your mother forever? Yeah, That is what I thought!”

–Stephen, Age 12 Harlem

Unlike the jaded upper middle class college students in Washington Square Park, every child I spoke to was eager to go to college.  Many of them saw an undergraduate degree as the only way out of Harlem.  An interesting point about my interviews, was the vocal mention that the children wanted to go to college.  When I asked the children what they wanted to do when they grew up,  many immediately said, “I want to go to College” instead of  a ballerina, firefighter, doctor, etc.

-Amanda, 16, Upper East Side

“To be honest, middle class is just a base level of where I want to be.”

–Caitlin, 15, Upper East Side

I contacted these girls on the Upper East Side through a connection I have with my roommate.  She attended an elite private school on the Upper East Side, but I am not mentioning the name at the request of one of my sources.  Both girls are college bound and headed for top tier institutions.  Compared to other interviews that the class has experienced with Upper East Sider-s, the girls were very open with me about class and education.  Both of them felt obligated to pursue a post-secondary education because of familial pressure.

Melanie R. Benson’s article, At What Cost?, explores the pitfalls of student loans and the changing face of financing an education.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released an Employment and Unemployment Among Youth Summary.   Even the economic situation, diploma no longer grantees you a spot in the entry-level labor force.

While no 22 year old college graduate is entitled to their dream job a month after they graduate from college, the recession has put new pressures on the labor market.  In the past, an undergraduate degree provided the holder with a degree of job security.  This isn’t the case today with more of the population applying to graduate schools and professional degrees.

Here are the facts:

“From April to July 2009, the number of employed
youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 1.6 million to 19.3 million,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics of  the U.S. Department of Labor reported
today.  This year, however, the pro- portion of young people who were
employed in July was 51.4 percent, the  lowest July rate on record for
the series, which began in 1948.”

 –Employment and Unemployment Among Youth Summary, 8/27/2009

-Adam, 19, New School Student

“Even though a college degree is necessary, it doesn’t mean you’ll be rolling in the dough.  It just makes it so you don’t have to work at Taco Bell.  If you want to get rich, do something like banking.  Don’t complain if you sent four years studying something like linguistics and then can’t find a job.”

–Jessica, 20, New York University Student

“Canada wanted to find a way off the treadmill. So he asked himself a series of questions, and gradually his thinking took shape.

Who did he want to help?

He wanted to help poor children.

What was his goal for them?

He wanted them to be able to grow into fully functioning participants in mainstream American middle-class life.

What did they need to do to accomplish that?

They had to survive survive adolescence, graduate from high school, get into college, and graduate from college.” (Tough 4)

Paul Tough’s book, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, charts Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone and the opening of Promise Academy in Harlem.  It is clear from the book that Canada views a college education as essential to creating responsible citizens.  By providing them with a nurturing environment in Promise Academy, Canada intents to teach the value of both a high school and college education.  By encouraging students to enjoy learning, he attempts to create a revolution within his community in Harlem.

What is interesting about Canada’s approach is that instead of simply educating his students, he teaches them to enjoy learning and value education.   Valuing education is a quality linked to the middle class.  Canada refers populations of his students’ parents that have a “middle class set of aspirations” (108).  Canada points to a college diploma as the best ticket out of poverty, but what if a university graduate is unable to secure a job? Is graduate school the new ticket to the middle class?

Exactly how much is my college degree worth?

Will I be able to get a job when I graduate?

Is it my ticket into the middle class?

As an undergraduate at New York University,  the prospect of graduation is frightening.  Instead of looking forward to the ‘real world,’ I realized that I am graduating into a world much less hospitable than my parents.  The intention of this blog is not to complain or whine,  but to create an accurate picture of what a college degree is worth in December 2009.