Adulthood comes with its fair share of questions. Will you enter college or the workforce? Stay home or move away? What will your educational or career focus be?
A seemingly straightforward path now exists for many high school graduates: four years at college, maybe an internship or two, and then entering the workforce in a likely white-collar job. But as this path has become the expectation, it has also become less attainable for graduates with fewer resources.
In 1985, 16% of women and 23.1% of men had completed at least four years of college. In 2019, that statistic had risen to 36.6% of women and 35.4% of men. But with this increase in education, so has the number of jobs that prefer or require education beyond high school. Between 1980 and 2015, the number of jobs requiring higher-level education grew by 68%, whereas occupations that did not only grew by 31%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But instead of college being easier to access as these expectations has risen, it has arguably become more exclusive.
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College tuition is now higher than ever, having risen 213% from the 1980s, according to the College Board. In an effort to keep up, student debt has also risen, with 2019 college graduates having an average debt of $29,000, and 69% of grads having at least some debt. Americans now owe over $1.71 trillion in student debt, and despite recent talks with the White House to diminish that number, little effort has been made on that front.
Even getting into college can be an arduous task when families and high schools alike have fewer resources. In East Portland, several school districts had more than 50% of their student bodies qualifying for free or reduced lunch, a program based on proximity to the poverty level. At Parkrose High School, that percentage was 61.31%. At David Douglas High School, the number was even higher, at 64.41%.
Graduation rates and test scores are lower, impacting access to higher education in particular, but also certain professions, and in many classes, there simply aren’t enough educators for each student to get the assistance they need.
“When we talk about East Portland, not unlike a lot of parts of the country, if you look at the counselor to student ratio, it’s extremely high, and much higher than you would find in a private high school, which probably skews to a different income bracket,” said Roger Thompson, a University of Oregon professor specializing in education accessibility.
The recommended ratio of counselors to students is 250:1, according to the American School Counselor Association, but few schools in communities like East Portland are able to follow this recommendation. At Parkrose High School, the ratio is a whopping 490:1.
As a result of these numerous obstacles, the transition to adulthood looks a lot different for these young adults, involving a lot more trial and error. Many of them have even been forced into adulthood earlier than anticipated.
Han Martin, who graduated in 2019 from Parkrose High School, recalls having to move in with a friend after being more or less kicked out of their dad’s house, and suddenly being hit in the face with all that they now had to provide for themselves.
“Honestly, a big thing was just, like, having to pay for literally all of my things, including [things that were] at the time, like pretty expensive––like regular medications and mental health co-pays on like a very [regular] basis,” Martin said.
In the years since graduating, there have been other complications––Martin was laid off from their job at Burgerville at the beginning of the pandemic, and briefly held a job at a gas station before settling in with a young services program.
Meanwhile, Martin realized the reality of their career path. After originally starting at Western Oregon University in the theatre program, Martin now wants to continue to work with nonprofits specializing in LGBT youth.
“I really thought I wanted to do tech theater, like live sound, [or] some sort of technical aspect of theater. And while that remains to be an interest of mine, it's not something I'm interested in pursuing as my primary money making career just because I've really figured out that it's not very reliable,” Martin said. “Like, I mean, I took online theater classes and I was like, this is a waste of money, like I'm wasting my money here.”
That kind of reality check hits low income students frequently. Keely Byerly, a 2016 grad of Parkrose who now tutors current high school students, has noticed students go from being super inspired and interested in pursuing a career they love to switching tracks when reality sets in.
“I don't see many young kids defaulting to be like, oh, I'll just choose the easy option. Trade school, working, a degree. They're still kind of pushing for it,” Byerly said. “And I'm seeing adults my age, my group, kind of not regretting [it] but changing their plans because they have to economically. College students aren't going to be able to all be art majors, you know, and that sucks because they want to. I think that around their senior year, everyone kind of gets glum because they realize they have to be realistic.”
Despite efforts from schools and outside (or independent) programs to increase motivation and opportunities for these students, the disparity is still erroneously large. Wealthy kids are 8 times more likely to graduate college than poor kids. Not only that, but wealthy kids with poor academic skills are more likely to graduate than poor kids with strong academic skills.
“I think we’ve had a fundamental shift that higher education is more of a private good than a public good,” Thompson said. “[And] I don't think that's quite right.”
Perhaps, then, it makes sense that students are pivoting from focusing on scaling educational and financial ladders. Emerging adulthood––the transition time––is longer now than it used to be.
“People are delaying parenting longer, you know, having children and having a family. And that basically gives people the freedom to not decide,” said Chris Murray, a professor of education at the University of Oregon.
Martin is trying to focus on this freedom, and not give into societal definitions of what their next step should be.
“I feel like a big thing for me that I've been dealing with is like there is a lot of pressure to graduate in four years. And that is really not, like, realistic for most people,” Martin said. “We're figuring some things out with our life right now, and are maybe thinking about moving to the beach and moving to Newport.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also influenced this approach, which has both limited job availability but also emphasized the importance of personal wellbeing.
Byerly, who graduated from Portland State University in spring of 2020, is currently working at a weed dispensary in Portland while she figures out her next steps, and whether or not she’ll stay in the public health sector.
“It's very hard to get my foot in the door, especially being a first generation student. I don't have [many] resources. So going to grad school is even a little bit harder because it's more expensive. There's not as much financial aid,” Byerly said. “And I don't have a college prep class [like] I did in high school."
Because of this, Byerly feels that the break she’s taking from public health isn’t really a break at all. Instead, it’s time that Byerly has to devote to rigorously going over all her options and sorting out any potential obstacles, by herself this time.
Part of the decision to take a break or stray from the path is reactionary––in a rigged system, there are limited pathways towards success for disadvantaged students. But part of it is also rebellious, refuting the traditional adulthood that many are told is the only way to succeed.
“I am currently working at [...] a nonprofit youth shelter that's [in] a residential environment. And I just got that job at the beginning of February,” Martin said. “I can see myself staying for a couple of years at least. I honestly felt if I needed to and felt like it and liked it enough, I could see myself just like having a fulfilling career there.”