More Americans are realizing a four-year degree is an expensive scam

More Americans are wising up to the fact that higher education has become a raw deal for all too many young people.

A new NBC News poll finds that a full 63% of voters believe a four-year college degree now isn’t worth it, since many students graduate with “a large amount of debt” but no “specific job skills.”

That’s up markedly from 2013, when a majority took the opposite view, as 53% called a degree “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime.”

That was the case for generations of Americans, who saw college as a key step to higher-paying jobs and a better life: “Upwardly mobile” was almost entirely synonymous with “college educated.”

But over the last few decades, the dynamic has shifted: Far too many college degrees guarantee nothing . . . except onerous debt.

Tuition costs have skyrocketed, doubling over the last 20 years (a redoubling from two decades earlier), as universities jacked up prices to match increased “help” such as federal aid and ever-larger government-facilitated student loans.

But in return for 70 grand or more a year, students today too often don’t get prepared for a lucrative or even stable career.

Countless colleges have transformed into woke indoctrination factories that churn out grads with liberal arts degrees and zero specialized skills.

A report last year found that two-thirds of colleges require DEI-related courses to graduate, offering classes like “Understanding Diversity in a Pluralistic Society” and “Abolition of Whiteness.”

Why take on huge debt to be pummeled nonstop with identity politics?

Meanwhile, grade inflation and faculties increasingly dominated by leftist ideologues reduce the return even on “real” classes.

Plus, a rapidly changing economy is making white-collar jobs an increasingly unsafe bet.

Prospective students once could safely bet that a hard science or math degree was a sure winner, but the rise of AI is already wiping out options for recent grads in countless sectors, including tech.

Americans have noticed: College enrollment has plummeted these last few years, while numbers of Gen Zers are eyeing high-paying, high-demand careers as welders, plumbers and electricians.

Trade school was once stigmatized as a less-appealing option than the hallowed halls of the Ivy League, but a less expensive, more focused education that teaches a highly valuable skill now often seems the far wiser choice.

Yes, college can still absolutely make sense for many young people, especially at the schools that have kept tuition affordable and academic standards rigorous — but the idea that everyone should go never made much sense, and is plainly false today.

Higher Ed, Inc. is on notice: Squeezing students with sky-high tuitions while offering subpar, ideology-driven curriculum is a death sentence.

America’s students have caught on to the scam.