About one in five Gen Z and young millennials say they may choose not to go to college. Many others see a less conventional path through education as a good idea. Over 30% of Gen Z — and 18% of young millennials — said they have considered taking a gap year between high school and college.
What’s more, 89% of Gen Z, along with nearly 79% of young millennials, have considered an education path that looks different from a four-year degree directly out of high school. For millennials, that’s up 18% from 2017. (Gen Z was not surveyed in 2017.)
“There are more options today,” Dara Luber, a senior retirement manager at TD Ameritrade, told MarketWatch. “More students are looking at online courses, doing classes at community college, commuting from home, or going to a trade school.”
Approximately 19.9 million students will attend college in the fall of 2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, down from 20.3 million a decade ago when some people likely decided to further their education during the Great Recession.
While college attendance has risen from 14.8 million two decades ago, the NCES expects it to remain relatively steady over the next five years. But the $1.5 trillion in student debt has given younger students pause for thought.
The burden of student debt
The average borrower now leaves college with about $37,000 of loan debt, up more than $10,000 from 10 years ago. And outstanding student debt owed by all borrowers reached $1.5 trillion in 2018. That’s nearly three times as high the collective $600 billion owed one decade prior.
“Rising college expenses are changing the modern college experience,” Luber said.
Just over one in four young millennials say they are delaying college due to the cost, according to the TD Ameritrade study. That’s up 7% from 2017. And 73% of Gen Z and young Americans say “they chose or would choose a less expensive college to avoid debt,” the study found.
“Paying for an education in America is ridiculously expensive, and I think that’s a huge reason why a lot of people in our generation are reconsidering if it’s actually worth it,” Vivek said.
Is a college degree necessary?
Parents still think so. Nearly all — 96% — of parents surveyed in the TD Ameritrade study said they do expect their kids to go to college. But a lot of young Americans don’t think a four-year degree is essential. About half — 49% — of young millennials said their degree was “very or somewhat unimportant” to their current job. Only 27% of parents said the same.