Let’s be Honest DCUM Moms: Half of your kids should not be going to college

[Anonymous]

We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

[Anonymous]

You’re a snob. My state u student is graduating with a degree in business and has landed some impressive internships and offers. There are lots of smart kids who choose a public education to graduate debt free. What matters is work ethic and what you make of the college experience while you’re there.

[Anonymous]

We’ve known this for decades. But it doesn’t matter, people bought into college marketing and boom tuition skyrocketed.

[Anonymous]

Bizzare post. What do you do for living? Where did your kids go to college and grad school? What jobs do they have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re a snob. My state u student is graduating with a degree in business and has landed some impressive internships and offers. There are lots of smart kids who choose a public education to graduate debt free. What matters is work ethic and what you make of the college experience while you’re there.

My spouse went to a school no one has heard of and doing very well in tech. AI is a tool but you need skills to build and run it.

[Anonymous]

DC is 2-1/2 years through college. The lessons they have learned about how to be independent, dealing with - and conquering - learning challenges, have been absolutely golden. That has been worth the price. There will be no debt afterwards.

[Anonymous]

What the heck? This is such a strange rant.

[Anonymous]

Ok you go first. Don’t send your kid to college.

Good luck with that!
PS- some of us can afford college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

If you rearrange DCUM it spells dumb.

Holy mother of stupid posts. We export millions of jobs to Asia because our politicians have sold American kids out. Plenty of jobs requiring degrees/higher level training.

[Anonymous]

Why would "Johnny at State U" be graduating with six figure debt? If the school is in state and you are UMC (as most DCUM families are), he should be able to attend an in state (or even many out of state) college with no debt, or very minimal. And the long-term benefits of a college degree continue to include much higher lifetime earnings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop looking at a degree as an automatic "upward mobility" button and start looking at it as a high-risk capital allocation. The data is clear. we have a massive surplus of low-value degrees and a labor market that is already starting to discount them. Unless your child is attending a top-tier target school where the institutional prestige acts as a hedge against mediocrity, they are likely walking into an underemployment trap. Johnny from State U is graduating with six-figure debt into a world that doesn't need another generalist with a "Business Administration" degree. We’ve flooded the market with credentials, and in doing so, we've rendered the mid-tier degree effectively worthless for anything other than basic administrative work. but no problem….at least they recorded their fair share of TikTok dances in their SEC sororities….
The "dumbification" of American higher ed is the quiet crisis no one on this board wants to admit. To keep the tuition checks flowing, universities have traded academic rigor for "student satisfaction" andt grade inflation. We are producing a workforce that can follow a rubric but lacks the cognitive stamina for first-principles thinking or problem-solving. While parents are busy comparing "Little Ivies," their kids are losing the ability to synthesize complex information without a digital crutch. We’ve turned college into a four-year delay of adulthood where students learn to navigate bureaucracy instead of mastering a competitive skill.
If you think the ROI is bad now, calculate the impact of AI over the next four years. If your kid is a freshman today, they will enter a 2030 job market where agentic AI has already cannibalized the majority of entry-level white-collar tasks. The "junior analyst" or "entry-level coordinator" roles that used to be the traditional starting point for college grads are being automated out of existence. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to train kids for roles that a $20 monthly subscription will do better and faster by the time they graduate. If your child isn't in the top 5% of their field or pursuing a specialized technical trade, you aren't buying them a future…… you're buying them a very expensive seat at a table that is being removed from the room….

Anyway…..keep it up….

If you rearrange DCUM it spells dumb.

Holy mother of stupid posts. We export millions of jobs to Asia because our politicians have sold American kids out. Plenty of jobs requiring degrees/higher level training.

Invest 300k in appreciating assets for your kid's future instead of throwing it down the toilet not to mention the lost 4 years.

We ain't in Kansas anymore mommys.

[Anonymous]

Some kids have a free ride to college.

[Anonymous]

This should be- let's be honest US Moms.... DCUM skews more educated and wealthy. for people on here, the kids will go to college and be successful.

OP this is not your target audience. Try fox.

[Anonymous]

Your post is so offensive. My senior, with an unweighted 4.0 GPA, is going to a trade school next fall because that is his dream and passion. So we are happy for him and support him in that.

But who the hell are you to tell any kid that they should or shouldn’t go to any college that they got accepted into and want to attend? MYOB

[Anonymous]

6:38 again, and it is not a financial decision. He has a well funded 529 and is currently in private school. Let that blow your mind, OP. Some pick this path because they want to, not because they have to. We are proud of him.