According to an AP study released this week, 53% of young college graduates are out of work or underemployed. The alarming figures have created quite a buzz in just about every major news outlet, not to mention all manner of higher education and economics blogs.
(Apparently the iconic Starbucks barista is the preferred symbol of the underemployed young college graduate.)
The report ties in closely with a story we ran in the winter 2012 issue of The Delta detailing the possibility of a higher education bubble. In the process of examining the bevy of contributing factors, we pondered the possible silver lining for fraternities, namely, that Greek organizations can serve to connect job seekers and employers in a tough economic climate.
So we’re curious to know: Are you among the 53% of young graduates struggling to find full employment? Have you ever found a job through a Sigma Nu connection? Did the outlook of finding a job influence your chosen field of study? Share your experience in the comments section and we’ll compile and share them in a later post.
Serve in the Light of Truth 
I’m currently looking for full-time employment and have been looking since just shortly after my graduation almost 3 years ago now. Although my Sigma Nu connections have not landed me a job, my fellow alumni have helped helped feed me leads and beef up my resume to help make my search easier. I chose to study business admin in hopes that the versatility of the degree would help me to find something. Little did I know that the myriad of people out of work and looking for similar jobs would be valued more highly because of their experience. The higher education bubble has burst and the increasing costs of college are making those with ambition of trying to better their lives work from under a mountain of debt for a large portion of their lives while at the same time giving them nothing more than a piece of paper to show for it. A piece of paper while holds little weight as well. Sure there are opportunities for graduates and knowledge workers, but they’re overseas and there’s an abundance there as well. The recession and the higher education bubble have forced people who might’ve one day been able to live beyond the middle class to resolve themselves to the lower class and living like college kids years after they’ve graduated and joined the so called “real world”. A seemingly simple solution would be debt forgiveness. Sure, it seems like the cheap way out but, why not give people a chance to pump money back into society instead of into the pockets of student loan companies who most likely won’t see the majority of their “investment” returned to them anyway. Just some thoughts.