College bound: Follow your heart or follow the job?

College bound: Follow your heart or follow the job outlook?
(http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/vickroy/2059299,022110vickroy.article)
February 21, 2010
By Donna Vickroy

When times get tough, college-bound students, and their parents, start asking tougher questions. Is it smart to start at a high-priced university right out of high school? Is it wise to follow your heart when choosing a major, instead of following job outlook reports?

Even in a good economy, it's difficult to gaze into an occupational crystal ball and know what you're going to want to do four years down the line, let alone if the economy will let you do it.

With the job market now asunder and many seeing the effects of a lost job, or career, the pressure to choose wisely at the get-go can be intense.

Katie McKinney, a senior at Andrew High School in Tinley Park, is among those facing such decisions. She likes music. She's also interested in advertising. Will either discipline translate into an income?

Katie recently attended an open house for Illinois State University at the Tinley Park Convention Center. She hopes to go to that school, although her mom would prefer she start at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills.

Her mom is hardly alone in that thinking. Community colleges are booming, as record numbers of students of all ages head off to or back to school to sharpen skills, learn new ones or change direction altogether.

Enrollment at Moraine was up 37 percent in the fall, with a burgeoning number of those students coming straight off high school graduation.

"We're seeing students with ACT scores of 30 or even higher, who could have gone to a university, come here because they see us as being more economical," said Joann Wright, dean of counseling and advising at MVCC.

When used wisely, she said, community college can be a best buy. For that same reason, Governors State University, which serves upperclassmen and advanced degree candidates, is seeing a boost in its enrollment.

Carol Cortilet-Albrecht, assistant vice president of enrollment services at the University Park campus, said the school has seen a sharp increase in the number of students who thought an associate's degree would suffice but now are realizing they need that bachelor's degree to compete in a tight job market.

One of the fastest growing majors on campus is the interdisciplinary studies degree, which enables students to customize studies to their interests. Other popular majors include social work, health care and criminal justice.

While most high schoolers are inclined to follow their hearts, said Greg Meyer, director of student services at Oak Lawn Community High School, many parents can't help but focus on the practical application of that high-priced college education.

Wright said it's important to remember that a college education gives students solid footing in a variety of fields, not just the one they majored in.

Still, one mom of three, who watched her yet-to-be-hired oldest son send out hundreds of resumes after he graduated with a political science degree in May, confessed she is pressuring her youngest to choose a field that likely will have a job waiting at the end of the investment.

You might think that such goal-minded thinking is taking a toll on the liberal arts, often flaunted as that bastion of learning for learning's sake.

If so, you'd be surprised to know that interest in what is considered a somewhat esoteric field has grown steadily over the past five years at St. Xavier University in Chicago.

Philosophy professor Jack Montgomery said that a decade ago there were three or four students majoring in his field on campus. Now there are 25, plus a number of students minoring in the discipline.

Granted, many of them plan to pursue advanced degrees or are seeking religious orders, but between a third and a half are planning to enter the work force after graduation, he said.

Montgomery said it's nothing new for parents to worry about how their child will fare after college graduation.

"But," he said, "there are very few undergraduate degrees that guarantee a job."

A lot of parents think that majoring in business or accounting is a guaranteed ticket to a job. It isn't, he said, unless perhaps your degree is from the University of Chicago or Harvard.

"Philosophy will teach you to articulate yourself clearly, organize your thoughts, sift through information, anticipate and design solutions and present yourself with clarity and conviction. These are highly employable characteristics."

It's hard to know if an undergraduate degree will result in the ultimate job or if it will be a stepping stone to a different field altogether. The experts say that in an unstable job market, the ability to adapt may be the greatest skill of all.