In 2026, the Trump Administration halts COVID-19 era Student Loan Forgiveness plans, with wage garnishes to resolve owed college debt. And this costs coming should make people think, if this was a product, should the inability to pay back the loan due to under-employment be the first sign their college was a red flag and a scheme?
The average student loan amount in 2025 is $29,000 – $49,000 for a Bachelor level degree. At least $100,000+ for advanced degrees.
The following professions as the top loan for advance degree recipients:
Dentist, Orthodontist top the most owed with at least, $300,000 +
Doctors/Physicians $250,00 +
Pharmacists (PharmD), $170,000+
Veterinarians (DVM), $150,000 +
Lawyers (JD level) at least $130,000 +
For bachelors with high student loan debt:
Behavioral sciences, $44,000 +
Engineering-Tech, $41,000 +
Communication and Social Sciences, $35,000+
Marketing, Biology $30,000+
This means if you owe $75,000 or more for getting a masters in Social Working, you’re un/under employed, you got played. The first rule should be, if your end game salary cannot pay off your student loan within 5 years, the value isn’t comparable. This means the salaries of the job should be honest with the value of education needed to successfully contribute as a worker. If the value of education to do the job, won’t pay a salary equal or more to the tuition amount, reconsider the career or the school.
As students question if college is needed, the concerned once raised in 2009 by Urban Magnate was that college should have been investigated no different than the Sub Prime loan issues during the housing crisis arrests and lawsuits post 2008. In that inquiry was the hypocrisy of Occupy WallStreet complaints raised by university culture, yet no one questioned the ethics of the value of a degree and professor salaries raising the price-point of higher education. As time as passed, a different question was now arising, should colleges be held responsible for the 20+ year post grad job crisis, while gaining federal/corporate funding if the value of college not meeting workforce needs, the price tag of college, the need for $100k loans for mediocre professions, the lack of internships, and dismissive corporate partnership not being leveraged for students or alum?
The solution could be a simple as those same corporate endowments investing in students and presenting past student talent with these university-partnered corporations with a minimum of 3-5 years of portioned salaries to cover the tuition. Yet the corporations teamed up with the university for athletics, research, and private endowments simply provide income for the administration and the students tuition end up providing the income to pay staff and faculty. And with the H1-B visas now up for debate, another student income revenue used to keep the proverbial lights on would now be erased. This could lead to schools leaning into alternative (defense, health services) kinds of federal funds or private corporate investment, sans student investments/internship as supplemental income for these institutions. Even state and federal jobs aren’t guaranteeing across the board, with professional development in some cases becoming moot, simply because the aged out entry/mid leveler workers just don’t want it; the young workers are too low skilled or gate-kept by older establishment workers.
In the end, when looking to go to college, there needs to be a reality check, colleges are basically baby corporations. With all these same corporate climbing culture, wrapped in Gnostic oaths. The professors become greedy, bullies, and competitive with other peers or students. The administration becomes just as secretive an EPA violating corporations, and the overall moral of the school is evaluated through dozens of psych evaluations, found in the find print of every enrollment.
It would be fun to note, Vault Tec of the Fallout Universe, started as a non branded university, eventually falling into pure mega corporate structures. In Handmaid’s Tale many of the Gilead order were prior educators, and the recent murders and sexual harassment cases on current university campuses should stop the idea that college in itself is to high brow and evolved to fall in to the traps of low human behavior. And that presumption is probably why they always get a pass, while corporations are seen as “capitalist machines against society.”
For those still interested in college, understand, the job-placement and internship culture needs to be highly considered to simply not waste time. If college was a corporation, it would have long been collectively investigated for presenting a product, only for the consumer (student) to end up with a student loan that can’t be fulfilled due to poor post college frameworks. That’s the key to resolving college culture, requiring the schools to think about the long run and not simply employing floating, under-employed student bodies to supplement its serif class known as staff and faculty.
There are still colleges with genuine interest in building sustainable workers. And there is truth to understanding the quality of education and overall interest in being educated is the real root of building America’s highly skilled workforce. But, there has to be a reality that if the interest of professional development isn’t there, college also shouldn’t be forced to make fetch happen with people not willing to do the academic learning, yet still looking for quick fixes.
Schools Genuinely Trying
Colleges with the very highest post‑bachelor job‑placement success tend to be highly selective tech/business schools. Groups of smaller career‑focused colleges that report 90%+ of graduates employed or in grad school within 6–9 months are considered successful. This does not factor in the social issues of racism, sexual harassment, or admin level embezzlement but, its a start providing the information needed to know there is a fighting chance for high skilled-economic security:
Excellent placement and school rankings at the top or near the top in global employable rankings and data‑backed “career success” lists:
High Priced Tuition:
MIT, Stanford, Caltech – frequently top 3 in graduate employable rankings for getting a job, especially in STEM and tech.
Princeton, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Cornell, Stanford – LinkedIn’s 2025 “Top Colleges” places them at the top for job placement and long‑term career outcomes.
Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech – known for strong engineering/CS recruiting pipelines and high employment rates.
Moderate Priced Tution:
Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley, Missouri S&T – named among top public schools for “Best Career Placement.”
Arizona State University (Tempe) – highlighted for extensive career services and recognized among top U.S. publics for employable graduates.
Michigan State University – reports about a 93% placement rate within six months for bachelor’s grads. These schools combine lower in‑state cost than elites with strong ties to employers and internships.
Affordable Priced Tuition:
Bucknell University – about 93% of the class of 2024 in career opportunities within nine months, with strong average starting salaries.
Babson College – around 87% employed within six months; stands out for entrepreneurship and business careers.
At these universities, most students secure full‑time roles or grad‑school spots soon after graduation, especially in engineering, CS, finance, and consulting.