Is Your Degree Your Job?

You did everything right. You got the degree, you walked across that stage and now you're drowning in debt and the job market just doesn't care. And here's how bad it's gotten.Listen to this. Recent college grad unemployment just hit 5.7% and that's a three year high.That's higher than the overall unemployment rate right now in the economy. Listen to this one. Recent grads are only 5% of the total workforce, but more than double their share of unemployment. Talk about chemistry majors.They can't get hired computer science grads. The unemployment there is pushing over 6%. And listen to this. The average student loan Balance is at $39,375. That's nearly double what it was in 2008.The formula they sold you, it's cracking. 63% Of registered voters now say a four year degree isn't worth the cost. That's up from 40% in 2013. Now maybe right now that's your story.Or maybe you're one of those folks who saw it coming and you skipped college altogether because the bill wasn't worth the promise. Factor in loan interest and lost income and that bachelor's degree can cost upward of a half a million dollars.A half a million dollars for a piece of paper and a prayer. Either way, you've got a real question sitting on you right now. Does a degree even matter? Can you build a real career without one?And here's the honest answer before we even get rolling today. It's complicated because there's nuances here.College grads still out earn non grads by about $10,400 a year on average, each, even after the debt payments. But adjusted for inflation, college grad workers are earning less than they did five years ago, while workers without degrees are making more.The gap is closing, the rules are changing. And the decision you make about education and debt, that's one of the biggest financial calls of your life.So let's break it down together right now on today's show. Hello and welcome to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph Estep Jr. And today's question is a college degree still the path to a stable career?And we've got a great listener message today. And this message isn't about a pep talk. It's what's the actual truth on the ground? She's watching.Degrees cost more and more and deliver less than they used to. So my goal today is let's talk about what the data shows, what's changed and and how to make the best decision for yourself.Let's get right to today's listener question.Listener writes this hi Ralph, I see posts on different areas of Reddit where even people with chemistry or computer science degrees aren't finding jobs, aren't in dire straits looking for work. This doesn't even seem possible to me.When I was younger, we were told that people in physical science and computer fields were doing quite well career wise. I considered a master's degree in English for about seven years before I decided that it wouldn't add any more income to my plate than a B.A.In English. I work with an editor with my B.A. I was scared of adding debt to my plate.My husband went to college a short while, but his aviation training in the military is what gave him a career after he left. Ralph, what is your experience or your opinion with getting a college degree these days? Thank you so much. Well, thank you so much for your question.And I want to start off by saying something rather bold. A degree today is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Now, I'm not telling you not to get one.There are still reasons to get a degree, but I think you've got to be smarter about which one and why. So let's talk about that on today's show. The first thing you've got to understand is what's changed.This is not the same economy that we were in five years ago, 10 years ago, or even 20 years ago. Right now, the market is flooded with more degrees and less scarcity of people that need to hire those folks.It used to be the old employer question was, does this person have knowledge? But it's not that way anymore. The new employer question is, can this person actually apply it? Do you understand the nuance there?We've gone from a place of do you have knowledge? To do you have the capacity and the ability to implement and apply that knowledge?It used to be if you got a chemistry degree, you get a chemistry job. They don't look at that anymore. They look at your ability to actually do the work. Look at your husband here in this particular question.Military training, no degree, same result. A degree in its very nature is knowledge in a box. A lot of people don't understand that, but that's what a degree is.The job requires proof you can use it. So before you do anything, run the numbers. Before you commit to this.Look at the average starting salary for that job or that career field you're going to get into. Don't look at the ceiling. A lot of people get stuck on. Well, here's how much I can earn. What is the average starting salary?Once you figure that out, look at the cost of tuition, look at the four years of lost wages. And don't forget, if you're borrowing money with student loan interest, you got to factor that into the equation as well.So now that you understand what the salary is going to be, you understand what the costs are going to be, then you can compare those real earnings in years one, in years two, and all that sort of thing up to year five. When I looked at the data, an engineering degree, it generally pays for itself in three or four years.But that history degree you're considering, it might never pay for itself in dollars. Now that doesn't mean it's wrong. It could be your passion. But you've got to understand that going into it.So run the numbers before you run into debt. That's a lot of people. Don't get that before you go take out those student loans. Understand the numbers. But here's the other key takeaway to this.What I said a little while ago about chemistry degree doesn't necessarily equal chemistry job while you're in school. You've got to build real work. Career and school aren't separate things anymore.What we're seeing is computer science majors are expected to build projects. They're expected to publish code. They're actually expected to have a portfolio while they're still in school.If you're a nursing major, guess what the schools are. Guess what the hospitals are looking for. They're looking for clinical hours to looking for internships.Graduates with three job offers on graduation day. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about building while you're studying.If you're in looking for a job in September, that's the you're already behind. Now you might say, ralph, that's not fair. But that's the real where we are. Because a resume without projects is just a piece of paper.And see, that's a big change as well. But here's the next thing you gotta understand. You got to know what your degree promises and have a plan for that before you graduate.When I broke this down, I really think there are two types of degrees. There's what I'll call a licensing degree and a filter degree. Let's talk about the licensing degrees first. You need them to do the work.Those are your engineering fields, your nursing fields, even the accounting field that I'm in.Your filter degrees are simply degrees where the employer wants proof you can finish hard things you can get through school when you're looking at a filter degree, the subject matter doesn't even matter that much. It just means can you survive to graduation. For example, let's say you get a business degree.If you get a business degree, that doesn't mean you automatically understand how to run a business. It just means you competed and you finished. And if your field doesn't require licensing, that's just a filter. That's not a guarantee.So as you're going to school, you got to build your network before you graduate. Find those mentors, find those professionals, find those people who know your work so that they can become references for you.And then know the companies that hire people in your field. Know the salary ranges and know the job titles while you're still in school. The problem is most students figure this out after graduation.My key takeaway today is do it before you got to know what your degree promises and have the plan ready before you leave. Now I want to sit here for a second with something deeper than the numbers.I know we've taken a little dive into numbers, but underneath our listeners practical question is something real. And when we pull back the curtain, it's actually a trust question.If you think about it, so many of us were told to do this and our future will be secure. How many of us heard, go to college, get that degree and you'll be fine.But right now you're watching that promise not come through for the people who did exactly what they were told. And that's not just confusing about jobs. It's confusing about what to trust. And I'm not going to tell you that faith makes this problem go away.I wish it did, but it doesn't. There are real people with real degrees and real debt and financial stress right now. Faith will never erase that. But here's what faith does offer.You got to remember something. Your security doesn't come from the system being fair. The system's not fair.But your security comes from a God who already knows you and he already loves you and he's not surprised by the world changing. Faith says you can be practical and smart with money without being controlled by fear. So ask the hard questions about debt. Study those fields.It actually works. Make a plan. And while you do know you're not abandoned in any of that, your worth is not on your resume.Your future is not locked behind some diploma someone told you to buy. And that's what it is. You're buying a diploma. And this changes the question entirely. You're not asking, will this guarantee me everything?You're asking a real simple question. Is this a why Step forward with what I know right now? And that's a much better question. And it's actually when you can answer.Your willingness to ask hard questions about debt and career is exactly the financial wisdom that will build your future. So here's your win for today. I always want to share a win with you. Might seem like I'm being really negative today, but I don't mean to be that way.I want you to spend one hour this week researching the job market for a field that interests you. Of course, you've got to have interests first, so make a list of those things.BLS.gov is a great place to look up salaries, job outlook, and what employers are actually wanting. And then I'm going to encourage you to do one more thing. Email a person in the field. Ask them a really basic question.Did your degree actually help you get your first job? I think you're going to be surprised with the answer. And don't try to decide about college today. Just get some real information.Because in the end, real information beats fear every single time. Well, let's get to our Bible verse today comes to us from the book of Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 15.It says the naive believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. Now I love this verse today because it's exactly what we're talking about.I'm challenging you to not blindly follow the system that you've been told by your parents, your grandparents, maybe for everyone around you asking you to think. I'm asking you to look at the numbers and ask some hard questions. Make decisions about based on what's real, not what you were told to expect.That's not doubting, that's actually wisdom. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, right now I'm praying for everyone listening who's trying to figure out education or debt or a career.And Lord, you see the people who do everything they were told and now they're still suffering in financial strain. You see the ones deciding whether to go on to school or to pick another path. And you know the weight of these decisions.I just ask that you would help them to think clearly about the real numbers, not those pie in the sky promises, Lord. And give them courage to ask the hard questions even when it means going against what everybody else expects.Help them to see the one path doesn't fit everyone and choosing wisely is still choosing faithfully. And most of all, Lord, help them hold up their identity separately from their resume.And let us all remember that our worth doesn't rise and fall with our career success. You know us Lord. You love us Lord, and you're not surprised by how the world has changed and we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen, friend.You already have wisdom about your own life. You just need some information to help you trust it.So right away go research the job market for that field that interests you, find that salary, take a look at that job outlook and email that one professional with a real question. But don't make a decision today. Just gather some information.And while you're talking about ideas and questions, I would love to hear from you directly. You can go and send me a voicemail by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail.We'll put a link in the show notes, but again that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail. Tell me what's going on in your world and we'll talk about it here on this show. Thank you so much for joining me today.I want to encourage you to stay financially savvy. May God bless you and you have a truly great day.