The College Rat Hole

Are You Throwing Good College Money Down a Rat Hole?

We received an email yesterday from a mom whose 24 year old, college educated son cannot find employment.  He claims to want to start his own business but can't seem to come up with a good idea. She was looking for our input.

Her son graduated from a mid tier (at best) regional college with a degree in psychology. His high school grades were not good enough to get him into a business education program.

Now what? He may be stuck for a very long time. In this very tough job market the recent college graduates with the best chances of landing entry level jobs are the ones from the pedigree colleges (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, you get the idea) or with degrees that are really applicable such as accounting, finance, IT and in other similarly core knowledge subjects. Even degrees from the Ivies won't necessarily cut it. Witness the glut of unemployed lawyers from the best law schools that are on the bricks.

And how likely is the son to succeed as an entrepreneur when it is his mother calling looking for input and direction?

As you already know it takes a certain type of person to succeed as an entrepreneur but I am not sure this young man is that type. I suspect not.

 The mom quickly signed up for our new Garden State Woman complimentary newsletter for entrepreneurs.

The game has changed. Be smart how you play.

This job market will get tougher before it gets better, if in fact it ever gets better. If you have kids of pre-college age:

• Work with them to get good grades in high school so they have a shot at getting into the right program in a better college. The days of any degree from any college being an automatic way to getting a good job are pretty much over.
• Strive to get your son or daughter into the very best possible college. Sounds logical but too many families don't have high enough aspirations when it comes to picking colleges for their kids.
• Encourage your son or daughter to earn a degree in a field where there will be job opportunities when he or she graduates.

If you don't develop a winning college plan with your son or daughter it is very likely you will be just pouring money down the drain with very little ROI.