It still pays to earn a college degree. That is, if you get the right one. Georgetown University published a report Wednesday that looked into this dilemma.
"The labor market demands more specialization. So, the game has changed," says Anthony Carnevale, report co-author and director of Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce.
If she could go back, she says she would have done more research and maybe even held off on going to college to save up money. Her former high school classmates who don't have four-year degrees have moved up, working as medical assistants or retail managers.
"It's sad to see that a lot of people who I went to high school with who didn't go to college are doing much better than I am," Mantilla says.
She's not very optimistic, she says, but her parents and fiance are.
"So whenever I get extremely negative, they are the ones keeping me going," she says. "And I just try not to stay still and not doing anything. I keep looking every morning, I sign up for job announcements, I get emails and I keep applying and I'm hoping that one day something will come my way."
Carnevale says Mantilla's lack of guidance is not uncommon.
"The United States really has no counseling apparatus. We have [300] to 400 students for every counselor in high school," he says.
Meanwhile, Carnevale says, college guidance offices are generally geared toward fulfilling curriculum requirements rather than shaping long-term career goals and expectations.
'If I Had A Time Machine ...'
Timothy Ryan also could have used some extra advice. He has a bachelor's degree in communications from Rowan University in New Jersey.
Carnevale says unemployment for communications majors is "relatively high" at about 8 percent. Ryan says he had no idea.
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