Higher Education - Too much of a good thing?

As a junior in college, with only a few semesters left, it becomes increasingly disheartening when friends who have recently graduated tell you about their struggles looking for a job, or when you read articles like this, which states that the U.S. is producing too many college graduates, and it is starting to become a waste of time to invest in higher education. Has all the time and money I have spent on school really been a waste? With all the personal anecdotes I hear and the statistics I read, I can’t help feel like it is a waste sometimes, especially with a 22.5% underemployment rate. As the article states, due to the fact that we have so many college graduates, the pressure to have amazing credentials has increased; something so many of us feel on campus. I know many students who are currently juggling school, work, internships, and volunteer work in order to “meat up” their résumé, since the competition is so fierce.

As an incoming freshman back in 2008, was it foolish to think that I would graduate in four years and land a job that would jump-start my career? Perhaps that was a bit ideal, but my goals have changed, just as I as a person have changed. At the current moment, I am happy to be at school, absorbing every ounce of knowledge that is thrown my way, and living the college experience my mother missed out on. I am doing something which I truly believe later in life I will not regret, because I will be looking back on my experiences, not at how much money I made.