Every year at about this time Aquinas gets ready to shove a new bunch of unsuspecting undergraduate students into the “real world.” This year the “real world” seems especially bleak. Michigan is now reporting an unemployment rate of above 12% and an underemployment rate of 19.1%. Essentially, these numbers mean that one in five Michigan workers who are seeking full-time employment cannot find it.

Historical trends have shown that, during times of recession, college seniors tend to view continuing their education as a good way to avoid the rough economy.

“I’ll hide out in grad school for a few years,” students say, “until the economy gets better.”

But is this really the best idea in a recession? The answer is a complicated “maybe.”

There is evidence to suggest that an advanced is a wise investment from an economic standpoint. Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz have written that, since 1980, the wage inequality between those with a college degree and an advanced degree has been “particularly large.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2008, the average weekly income for a person with a Doctoral degree employed full-time was $1,555. For a Professional degree, that income was $1,522, a Master’s degree was $1,228, and a Bachelor’s degree was $978. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts it, “education pays.”
There is also other evidence to suggest that getting a degree beyond undergraduate can have additional benefits. Unemployment rates decrease as the level of education increases. Last month’s unemployment data shows an 8-point difference between those without a high school diploma and those with a college degree, with 12.6% and 4.1% respectively. Most economists agree these trends will continue after the recession has subsided.

Economist David Autor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently told Slate.com, ““When things recover, it’s going to be the highly skilled who are still in greatest demand (as has been true for the last three decades). So, for someone considering engineering, medicine, computer science, economics, law, biology, etc., I would say ‘go.’ ”

Students seem to be taking his advice – law schools are reporting a 2% increase in the overall number of applicants since last year.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Beth Jensen sees graduate school as a wise investment for her students.
“Well, I’m only a chemist and can’t speak to other fields, but graduate school is nearly always a benefit to science students,” she said. “ Even one or two years of post-graduate education can positively affect a person’s salary and job potential, but a Masters or Ph.D. degree puts the person into a different category altogether where the competition may be less than for BA/BS holders.”

This is not to say, however, that everyone thinks graduate school will always be financially lucrative after the recession.

William Pannapacker, associate professor of English at Hope College, wrote an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education titled, “Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don’t Go.” Pannapacker’s assessment of graduate school in the Humanities, as the title suggests, isn’t positive.

Pannapacker points to one projection that full-time hiring may be down as much as 40% this year, while adjunct hiring will increase. He surmises that, after the recession, colleges and universities will make the cuts permanent because departments will have demonstrated they can work with fewer full-time, tenured faculty.

He also points out, “There is work for humanities doctorates (though perhaps not as many as are currently being produced), but there are fewer and fewer real jobs because of conscious policy decisions by colleges and universities.”

Dr. Brent Chesley of the English Department also advises students to consider graduate school carefully.
“A student shouldn’t go to graduate school in the humanities to get a job. A student shouldn’t go to graduate school because she or he doesn’t know what else to do,” he said. “A person should go to graduate school in the humanities only because she or he loves the subject and wants to work with the methodology of that discipline.”
Whatever the economic forecast, there are a few pieces of common advice. Almost everyone suggests trying to make contacts in the field in a student intends to work in. It appears as though, especially in a recession, networking can provide an incredible resource for finding a job.

Many also suggest that students, before going to graduate or professional school, carefully consider all options. Most of the experts suggest taking am objective view of the total cost of a degree, the employment prospects and earnings potential. With these steps, one can assured that education really does pay.