College and the Labor Market

The obsessive focus on a college degree has served neither taxpayers nor students well. Only 35 percent of students starting a four-year degree program will graduate within four years, and less than 60 percent will graduate within six years. Who can blame them? Sit-down learning is not for everyone, perhaps not even for most people. There are many roads to an education. Consider those offered in Europe. In Germany, 97 percent of students graduate from high school, but only a third of these students go on to college. Instead of college, German students enter training and apprenticeship programs—many of which begin during high school. By the time they finish, they have had a far better practical education than most American students.