A college education was once considered a ticket to a better career, but there are signs that degrees are losing their sparkle as graduates suffer buyer’s regret.
More than a third of recent graduates felt their degrees were a waste of time, while two thirds did not believe they had benefited from a university education, according to a new survey.
Arts and humanities students seem to suffer the most, with almost two thirds of geography and history graduates claiming never to have used what they had learnt on their degrees in their subsequent employment, and arts subjects dominating the list of degrees viewed as ‘most useless’ by graduates.
The findings threaten to further undermine the case for going to college, at a time when graduates are facing record levels of debt and uncertain job prospects.
More than two thirds of noughties graduates felt they had not benefited from their degree, while 36% said their degree was a waste of time, according to the survey of 1,000 recent U.K. graduates.
Almost half - 48% - believed they would be earning more if they had gone straight into employment after finishing school, and 35% said they wished they had not gone to university at all. More than a third - 34% - were actually embarrassed by their degree.
Two thirds said they would be in the same position without a degree, while 36% said a university education was a waste of time and 31% said it was a waste of money.
Many graduates had taken on board the emphasis on education championed in the 1990s without seriously considering what they wanted to do after graduating, said Gary Measures, managing director of construction training company Able Skills, which commissioned the survey.
‘Evidently, further education is not the best career route for everyone and is such an investment that young people seriously need to consider their skill set and future before taking on such a commitment,’ he said.
‘More needs to be done to educate young people on the other options available to prevent another generation making the same mistakes when they could be earning and on a career ladder.’
Buyers’ regret seemed to be most acute among arts and humanities students. While a quarter - 27% - of graduates said they had never used their qualification at work, that figure rose to 62% for history and geography graduates.
And when graduates were asked to rank degree subjects in order of those considered most useless, art history came top, followed by film studies, media studies, religious studies and fashion.
The findings chime with a survey carried out for the Edge Foundation, a charity promoting technical and vocational education, which found more than a third - 35% - of post-2010 graduates felt their degree offered them poor value for money. More than half - 52% - said they would be unlikely to go to university now.
‘All degrees are marketed as the passport to a good job, career progression and a high salary, but the disappointing reality for many is low-skilled employment and the burden of over £50,000 ($66,000) of debt,’ said Edge chief executive Alice Barnard.
The Edge Foundation is calling for a greater focus on careers services to emphasize employment prospects and better links between employers and higher education.
‘Graduates are rightfully concerned that the return on their investment can be so low,’ Ms Barnard said. ‘Encouraging much stronger links between higher education and employers can add value to students’ studies, helping them to get the jobs they want and shape the careers they aspire to.’
Graduate anxieties are exacerbated by many ending up in jobs where a degree is not needed.
Another survey, this time for the CIPD, the U.K.’s professional HR body, last week revealed that just half of recent graduates were in graduate-level jobs six months after graduation, and almost a third were on salaries well below the U.K. average.
Despite widespread calls for more students to study STEM subjects to meet the demand for science, technology, engineering and math professionals, STEM graduates were more likely to be unemployed after six months than the average graduate.
Universities need to justify the high-level of fees they charge through delivering better outcomes for graduates, said CIPD skills adviser Lizzie Crowley.
