Fortune | FORTUNE 07月20日 20:44
Gen Z has regrets: 1 in 4 say they wish they hadn’t gone to college or would’ve picked a higher-paying industry
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当前,大学教育的价值正面临Z世代的审视。曾被视为通往职业稳定和财务保障的“通行证”,如今却因高昂的学费、沉重的学生贷款以及不确定的就业市场而备受质疑。许多Z世代受访者表示后悔上大学,或希望选择更高薪的领域。调查显示,近四分之一的Z世代后悔上大学或希望选择技术、金融、工程或医疗保健等高薪行业。另一项调查也指出,62%的年轻成年人并未从事其理想的职业,25%的人在寻找目标领域的工作时遇到困难。高昂的学费和AI技术对就业市场的影响,使得大学教育的投资回报率变得模糊,家长也开始支持子女选择技校或学徒制等替代路径。

🎓 大学教育的传统价值正在动摇,Z世代对其作为职业“通行证”的效用产生怀疑。过去,大学学位几乎是就业的保证,但现在,随着高等教育普及化、入门级职位减少以及技术飞速发展,毕业生面临更多不确定性,许多人后悔接受大学教育,或希望选择技术、金融、工程、医疗保健等高薪领域。

💸 学生贷款债务和就业市场的不确定性是Z世代对大学教育持保留态度的关键因素。美国大学平均年费用已超过38,000美元,并且在21世纪翻倍,导致许多Z世代背负巨额债务。同时,他们发现即使拥有学位,也可能面临就业不足或被忽视的困境,这让他们质疑大学教育是否仍能提供实际价值。

🤖 人工智能(AI)的兴起正在重塑就业格局,即使是工程、计算机科学和营销等技术性强的专业也无法保证就业安全。这使得Z世代在选择专业和职业道路时面临“两难”境地,无论选择什么,都可能面临挑战。他们需要在一个与先进技术竞争的经济环境中为自己争取机会。

👨‍👩‍👧 家长对大学教育价值的认知也在转变,更倾向于支持子女选择技校或学徒制等替代性职业路径。70%的青少年表示,父母更支持他们放弃大学教育,转而从事技工学校或学徒制等其他追求。这反映出社会对传统大学教育投资回报率的担忧,以及对职业技能培训日益增长的认可。

The sentiment about going to college is changing, career counseling experts say. It used to be seen as a one-way ticket to a career and eventual financial stability, but mounting student loan debt and a shaky job market have turned earning a college degree into more of a question than a given. 

“Many older generations had the luxury of living in a market where their college degree was practically a get-a-job-free card after graduation,” Kolby Goodman, a career coach at Employed By Graduation, told Fortune. “Now, with more and more people pursuing higher education, fewer and fewer entry-level roles, and the breakneck speed of evolving technology, there’s a lot more uncertainty and lack of guarantees.”

ResumeGenius recently surveyed 1,000 full-time Gen Z workers across the U.S. on their views of college degrees and whether they’d choose a different career path. A lot of them wish they had made different choices, the survey revealed. About one in four said they regret going to college or wish they had chosen a higher-paying field like tech, finance, engineering, or health care. 

This report mirrors another survey conducted by career consultancy Tallo, which also recently surveyed more than 2,000 adults aged 18-30 about their career journeys and showed 62% of young adults said they aren’t in the career they intended to pursue. Some25% said they are actively struggling to find a job in their intended field.

“Many Gen Z students feel they were told college was the only path, only to see people with strong degrees underemployed or overlooked,” Tallo CEO Allison Danielsen told Fortune.  Plus, they’re “questioning whether college still delivers real value.”

The average cost of college in the U.S. is more than $38,000 per student per year, according to the Education Data Initiative; this means the average cost of college has more than doubled in the 21st century. Meanwhile, more than 4 million Gen Zers are jobless and blame their “worthless” college degrees.

The ResumeGenius survey showed only about a third of Gen Z workers were content in the choice they made about their education and wouldn’t change it. Even parents have started to recognize the fact the value of a college degree is changing. Another recent survey by American Student Assistance of more than 3,000 middle- and high-school students showed 70% of teens say their parents are more supportive of forgoing a college education for a different pursuit like trade school or an apprenticeship. 

“Parents are waking up. College doesn’t carry the same [return on investment] it once did because the cost is outrageous, and the outcome is uncertain,” Trevor Houston, a career strategist at ClearPath Wealth Strategies, previously told Fortune. “Students now face the highest amount of debt ever recorded, but job security after graduation doesn’t really exist.”

A Catch-22 for Gen Z workers

Younger generations feel stuck when it comes to choosing whether to go to college and what field to choose, Colin Rocker, a Gen Z content creator focused on career advice for early- and mid-career professionals, told Fortune

“Damned if they do or don’t [go to college],” Rocker said. “On one hand, their parents, counselors, and professors urge them away from more liberal arts majors like literature or history, but everyday in the news, they see thousands of people laid off who work with more technical degrees like engineering, computer science, and marketing, as AI starts to take over.”

There’s “no easy choice” anymore when it comes to choosing a career path, Rocker said. It used to be that pursuing business, tech, or health care were a shoo-in for success, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore considering how AI is changing jobs across the board. 

Gen Z “is now faced with carving out a place for themselves in an economy where they’re fighting for opportunity against the most advanced systems and technologies we’ve ever seen,” Rocker added. 

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大学教育 Z世代 职业规划 学生贷款 人工智能
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