GENERATION CRUSHED

Some 25 million young adults are living with their parents, chiefly for economic reasons, according to U.S. Census data.

Among 18 to 24 year olds, 57 percent of boys and 49 percent of girls live with Mom and Dad.  So do nearly 20 percent of men and 10 percent of women aged 25-34.  For women, this is about a 30 percent increase from 1980.  For men, the increase exceeds 80 percent.

Young adults remain at home or return there chiefly because they don’t have a job, or the job they have doesn’t pay very much.  Only 46 percent of Americans aged 16-24 have jobs, the lowest percentage ever recorded.

Typically, labor force participation rates are highest among Americans aged 25-54.  But the unemployment rate for Americans aged 25-34 is now higher than the national average.

A majority of 872 young adults polled last fall said their yearly incomes fall under $30,000.  The two advocacy groups which conducted the poll estimated that 16 percent of Americans aged 25 to 34 were underemployed.  Among those aged 16 to 24, a whopping 29 percent were underemployed.

Total student loan debt, $200 billion in 2000, now approaches $1 trillion.  Last year’s graduates owe, on average, $25,250.

 Since 1980, college tuition and fees have risen three and a half times faster than inflation.  They’ve continued to soar even though the real earnings of college graduates have been declining since 2000.  Last year tuition increased 7.9 percent at public universities, 4.5 percent at private colleges, according to the College Board.

When the cost of room, board and textbooks are added in, a "moderate" budget for an in state public college this academic year is $21,447, the College Board says.  For private colleges, it’s $42,224.

During the 1980-81 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees, room and board was $6,320 at public universities, $13,861 for private schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

College students today aren’t getting much for all that additional money. There is a pressing need for graduates in math, engineering and the hard sciences, but most students major in subjects with little economic value.

"If you think about someone going to school to pursue a career in say social work, a noble career, is it really worth it to go $100,000 to $150,000 in debt for a career that pays $30,000 to $40,000 a year?" asked Mybudget360.com.

And the content of most liberal arts courses has been dumbed down:

"To major in English at many institutions these days, you’re no longer required to take a course in Shakespeare, but a course in "post-colonial feminist film" is practically mandatory," wrote Charlotte Allen of the Manhattan Institute.

"Today’s college degree is the equivalent of a 1950’s high school diploma," asserts Aaron Clarey in his book: "Worthless: The Young Person’s Indispensible Guide to Choosing the Right Major."

Federal aid is the chief driver of college costs.  It permits schools to keep raising tuition and fees because the purported beneficiaries pay a diminishing proportion of the bill immediately and directly.

A record number of Americans now have college degrees.  And a record number of college graduates now are unemployed.

Despite this, President Barack Obama wants to increase federal aid.  To insist that even those with little aptitude for academic work go to college does them no favors.  It’s bad enough to be unemployed.  It’s worse to be unemployed — and owe $25,000 or more for a worthless degree.

Young people "should to go to college for a good reason, and one particularly good reason is to study science and engineering," wrote law professor Ann Althouse. "If they are going to study in some softer, less career-oriented area, the mushy notion that everybody ought to go to college is not enough, even if the President of the United States tells them it is."

Mr. Obama’s plan would boost the cost of college even more.  That will make it harder for those willing to study science and engineering to afford college.

But college faculty and administrators have been making out like bandits.  The president’s plan "is a transfer of taxpayer cash to a crucial Democratic Party voting bloc," said Andrew Cline of the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Inspired by his message of "hope and change," young people voted 2-1 for Mr. Obama in 2008.  But his policies are crushing their hopes, and leaving them with little more in their pockets than spare change.  An entire generation is being stunted.