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Your College Education Won't Save You

For-Profit Colleges

Chris Goodney, Bloomberg / Getty Images

There are many warnings in Jed Graham's latest post—including a warning that college applicants need to shop more carefully. People who start college but do not finish are now more likely to be out of work than people who graduated from high school only:

For the first time in history, the number of jobless workers age 25 and up who have attended some college now exceeds the ranks of those who settled for a high school diploma or less.
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Mostly, this dramatic shift reflects broad demographic forces. A greater share of the population has attended college, at least for a time. Meanwhile, older Americans who were less likely to pursue higher education are exiting the work force.
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But along with the increasing prevalence of college attendance has come a growing number of dropouts, who have left school burdened by student loan debt but without much to kick-start their careers.

college-chart

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About the Author

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David Frum

David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor. He is the author of eight books, including most recently the e-book WHY ROMNEY LOST and his first novel Patriots, published in April 2012.

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