Amid rising tuition fees and increasing student debts, a new report from CIBC World Markets shows that the value of a bachelor’s degree is declining. Released in August, the report shows that the cost of earning a university degree has increased by 20 per cent since the late 2000s, while the unemployment rate of university graduates is only 1.7 per cent less than those with high school diplomas.
Benjamin Tal, the deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets and co-author of the report, says a bachelor’s degree no longer offers the high premiums it has in the past. “Years ago, a university degree was a necessary and sufficient condition to get a job,” says Tal. “Today, a degree is necessary but no longer sufficient.” Tal notes the reason for declining employment rates among
university graduates is students pursuing fields in which the job prospects are the lowest.
“We have more and more people enrolling in bachelor’s of arts degrees and incurring debt, but less people getting jobs.”
“Almost half of all students who graduated university last year pursued a degree in the humanities, arts, and social sciences despite knowing that such degrees yield the lowest returns,” says Tal. Canada has the highest number of adults with post-secondary education among the countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,but the country still faces a shortage in high-demand fields such as medicine, law, and engineering.
“We have more and more people enrolling in bachelor’s of arts degrees and incurring debt, but less people getting jobs,” says Tal, a situation he believes can have negative macroeconomic effect in the future. In order to address the problem, Tal believes that students must be taught the foundations of science and math properly in high school in order to feel prepared to pursue programs such as engineering and medicine.
While he understands that not all students are inclined to pursue engineering, medicine, or law, Tal encourages being practical when choosing a degrees, adding that it’s about balancing practicality with their interests. The report further cites that increasing employment among post-secondary graduates will depend on universities increasing accessibility and resources for students.
“I think it’s time to look at the education system as a whole and increase cooperation between universities and colleges so students can pursue their interests while attaining practical skills,” says Tal. Irina Oganesyan, a second-year biochemistry student, says even though her degree is among those in demand, she will still need to pursue graduate studies in order to get a good job. She says she chose her major by combining her interests with what she believed would help her get a job.
“I think it depends on what a person wants from life. If they want to be happy, they should choose to do what they enjoy, and if a person wants a job and more money, then they can choose to do something they don’t necessarily like,” says Oganesyan.
Jessica McCormick, national chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, says that high tuition fees for programs such as engineering, medicine, and law act as deterrents for students, thus resulting in them pursuing degrees with lower returns.
However, she disagrees with the report’s way of measuring a degree’s value, and says that basing the value of a degree solely on its return on investment creates the idea that post-secondary education is a private transaction between students and universities.
“We ignore the benefits of society having a more educated population,” she says. McCormick believes that in order to truly increase the value of a university degree, Canada needs
a flexible, accessible, and affordable system of post-secondary education that allows people to shift fields of study and retrain when market demands shift.
Rameeza Ahmed
Assistant News Editor
