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Comment by paulpauper | Hacker News Reader

Elite overproduction is not as big of a concern as the hype would seem to suggest

Despite record high college attendence, the college wage premium is fatter than ever, and unployment for grads is really low at just 2 percent, the baritista meme not withstanding.

The majority of grads major in actionable fields with good career prospects, not journalism or the humanities. Liberal elites who write highly publicized articles about matters pertaining to gender studies or politics are of the minority of majors. Most grads just want the requisite credentials for a middle class lifestyle, not to change the world or rise to the highest tiers of power.

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> the college wage premium is fatter than ever,

The more accessible (and popular) college is, the bigger signal it is that someone didn't go. That premium could just as well be the result of the (relative) wage floor falling out for non-grads.

No comment on the greater thesis. Just noting that those two things might not relate.

Absolutely. FiveThirtyEight has an excellent article [1] from 2016 that reiterates what you say here. In short: A lot of the tropes about college elitism are bogus. (But instead of relying on conventional wisdom to support their argument, they use data, and some might find that too elitist.)

[1] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/shut-up-about-harvard/

Why do the tropes persist? Do the people writing these articles not know anyone with an accounting degree from a state school?

It does feel like people like me are forgotten, ignored and dismissed by these cosmopolitan selective school elites.

The only time you hear these people speak is when they tell you how much they saved on tuition. So they are pretty rare.

Memes. Ideas get into the water of society and get spread without re-examination.

> and unemployment for grads is really low at just 2 percent, the barista meme not withstanding.

That 98% number includes barista employment.

If that's the case, then why is student debt such a problem? Or is that equally overhyped?

The wage premium holds even after accounting for debt

Student debt is structurally not the same as other debt because it's non-discheargeable and this changes a lot including who is offered the debt in the first place.

The latter difference is a good one in a great many cases. If asked to name two major factors to elevate people into the middle class, I’d choose education and ownership of their home.

Policies and structures to allow people on the precipice access to funding required to take the leap and which attempt to keep the system stable by putting personal “skin in the game” find support with me.

> unployment for grads is really low at just 2 percent

Not long ago it was below 4% for all workers, how recent is that number?

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