Beyond The One-Size-Fits-All College Degree

Nearly 90 percent of high school graduates say they will seek a bachelor’s degree, according to a 2004 national survey. But only 28 percent of community college students who want to earn a BA will actually get one—and it often takes them six to eight years to do so. Studies show that attending college has little impact on students’ earnings unless they obtain a credential. But most students fail to get any credential at all, so they leave community college in debt, and with job prospects that are no better than those who simply graduated from high school.