ELI5: A college degree is no longer a guarantee for a good job after graduating.

ELI5: A college degree is no longer a guarantee for a good job after graduating.<br><br>EDIT: Holy cow! I just woke up and there are all these replies and it's on r/bestof. I don't know what to say, other than that I'm agreed with, more or less, most of the top voted replies. Well, except the ones insulting me personally, but that's totally expected.<br><br>Now, yeah, ?This is a problem with supply and demand?. Which is correct, and also sort of a tautology. ?This is a problem because we have a huge supply of college graduates caused by huge demand for college degrees caused by employers conditioning their hiring on college degrees? doesn?t help much, because it ?s basically just saying ?This is a problem because it?s a problem because it?s a problem because it?s a problem.?<br><br>The problem isn?t that too many people are going to college. The problem is that a college degree is seen as a ?mastery? of some field, when college really just gets you to the apprentice level. The problem is that college takes too much time and money relative to what you gain from it ? a 4 year degree that ?helps you all through life? is ridiculously frontloaded with respect to benefits vs costs. The problem is that college costs are increasing wildly out of control, to the point that student loans are becoming an unsustainable burden on college graduates.<br><br>This ?get a degree and you will be set for life? thinking that everyone has because of some weird post-WWII assumption is just a myth that needs to be squashed pretty damn quick, because it is doing far more harm than good? both to college graduates and to college itself. At this point we need to drastically rethink what college is for, and how college works.