Opinion: The job market has become too competitive with most jobs requiring a college degree. A simple solution is to raise the cost of college tuition.

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I’ve worked my fair share of minimum wage jobs. Between working at a gym, a lumber yard and in the food industry, I would argue I have plenty of work experience. However, getting a job that pays enough to actually afford surviving as a human being now requires a college degree. 
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “About half of the occupations analyzed by BLS typically require some type of college degree: associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral or professional.”
Among the nearly 158 million people who were employed in 2021, how am I supposed to stand out even with my college degree? The answer might be simpler than expected: raising the cost of college tuition.
The cost of college is already largely unaffordable, however it is with the assistance of government programs such as the Pell Grant or additional individual college scholarships that many students are able to attend such schools. In a study done by the National College Attainment Network, only 23% of four-year public colleges were affordable in the 2018-19 school year with the data being based on students who received the average Pell Grant amount.
If schools, such as the UO, were to raise their tuition and reduce the amount of financial support they provide students, fewer people could attend college. Reducing the number of college attendees would result in fewer degree recipients. Thus, those with college degrees, like I’m going to be, will be able to create and survive in a more competitive job market.
The impacts of this change would even extend beyond the job market. A reduced number of students means I wouldn’t have to compete for parking and could walk shorter distances to class, I wouldn’t have to wait 30 minutes for coffee at Unthank during rush hour and I could always book a private study room at the library during finals week.
April Fools.
Raising college costs would only push our society further and further away from valuing human life. By increasing the level of debt an individual is stuck with, people are forced from not being able to take time off of work and using the savings they’ve earned to reward themselves to pay off the continually interest-gaining loans they borrowed decades ago.
This makes no sense to do when current college costs are outrageous. With the UO’s tuition varying from $14,420 for in-state students to $40,464 for out-of-state students like myself, college becomes more and more unaffordable each passing year. Meanwhile, each class of first-years is larger than the last, meaning we pay more to enter a job market with more competition than ever before.
A true solution to the problem here is two-fold. First, the U.S. must do better in loan forgiveness programs and federal assistance. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government froze student loan payments. That deadline has been extended to May 1. But beyond May, there must be other solutions in place. Our elected leaders cannot use division in Congress as an excuse not to help the 44.7 million people with outstanding student loans.

Additionally, businesses must begin to look past the expensive piece of paper when hiring. Hiring managers must shift their focus from whether a person passed their classes to what skills the applicant possesses. Do they have good communication skills, time management and organization? These skills, yes, can be developed in higher education, but higher education is not the only way for a person to learn them.
After high school, many Americans set on the path toward a college degree. However, this path may result in more harm than good if it continues to put people in worsening debt with no job solutions.