The average cost of attendance for a California State University school is $30,000. That price rises to about $40,000 for a University of California school and then doubles to about $90,000 for a private California university.

However, does a student gain more with that price than a diploma with a university name stamped across the top?

From a news headline that alarms us about underemployed college graduates or a TikTok video that ranks the least valuable college degrees, we often put an ultimatum on college degrees: if you’re not “using” your degree or if it did not cost $90,000, it is less valuable. Our value of a college degree is outdated.

According to Pew Research Center, the number of college graduates who have obtained a bachelor’s degree has steadily increased over the past decade by 7.5 percent. This means that as students funnel out of university and into the workforce, with their diploma in hand, they are met with a more competitive job market.

This also means that those walking out of college with a degree and no job that requires a degree, fall into the category of the unemployed. The tens of thousands of dollars spent would have gone down the drain.

The student should not be at fault, however, since on paper, they took all the right steps: applied to college, studied hard, and walked out with a degree. They should not have to suffer the consequences of a primary and secondary school system that streamlines them into higher education, making them walk into college expecting that their degree is their one-way ticket to a six-figure salary.

Additionally, the new generation of college graduates is not expected to count down their days to retirement at the same company they started their career in, like the previous generations may have done. In recent years, the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life.

An outdated school system means a call for adaptation. Instead of teaching students how to get the diploma, K-12 schools should educate students on the reality of the new workforce and normalize non-traditional career paths that may not require a college degree by encouraging more diverse student programs.

Those who want a college degree should be educated on networking and internships to make landing a job out of college much easier.

Living in an age where everything around us is constantly evolving, we must adapt our education system to reflect these constant changes, and that could start with changing the way we view a college degree.