Getting through college is tough. Less than half of all college students at four-year colleges finish in four years. The reality is that most students need six years to graduate. The six-year graduation rate at a public college is 67.4%, and at private colleges, it’s 77.5% But it turns out that getting through college isn’t enough. 

After those kids limp across the graduation finish line and take the obligatory pictures with cap and gowns, most don’t find college-level work. They find jobs that don’t require a college degree. They’re manning the desk at Enterprise Car Rental franchise or fulfilling orders for full figured bathing suits at a Lands’ End phone call center. 

Recent studies show that fifty-two percent of college grads are underemployed a year after graduation. And those numbers don’t budge much over time. Ten years later, 45 percent of college graduates are underemployed.

Read more at Apt. 11D, the newsletter