\n<\/p>\n
Graduation typically brings feelings of jubilation, but with the high cost of living and a competitive job market facing college graduates, students report feeling more anxious about their future prospects. <\/p>\n
A recent Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed<\/em> and Generation Lab found that nearly one in five college students say their top stressor is affording life after graduation. A similar share worry that they don\u2019t have enough internship or work experience to be successful.\u202f <\/p>\n The survey, fielded in August, includes responses from over 5,000 college students, including 1,000 two-year and nearly 2,000 first-generation college students.\u202f <\/p>\n \u201cStability is really important to this generation of job-seekers,\u201d said Shawn VanDerziel, chief executive officer at the National Association of Colleges and Employers, citing the organization\u2019s own student surveys. \u201cFor the last several years, students regularly report to us that, in their first job, the most important thing is stability.\u201d <\/p>\n That means having a reasonable living standard as well as an employer who provides sufficient benefits, work-life balance and assurances against layoffs, VanDerziel said. <\/p>\n Christine Cruzvergara, chief education officer of the job board Handshake, said the trend doesn\u2019t surprise her because it mirrors similar data her organization collected earlier this year, which found that AI, changes to federal policy and a competitive job market are among the factors impeding students\u2019 confidence after graduation. <\/p>\n \u201cThe cost-of-living piece is very real,\u201d Cruzvergara said. \u201cThat is, anecdotally, something that we do hear from students, even in the four-year space: \u2018Everything is so expensive; I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to be able to live.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n Nationally, the American public is feeling strained financially. A recent McKinsey survey found that 45\u00a0percent of consumers said \u201crising prices or inflation\u201d is their top concern; an additional 24\u00a0percent pointed to their \u201cability to make ends meet,\u201d and 19\u00a0percent cited job security and unemployment. <\/p>\n \u201cI know no one is going to hire me in an economy like this,\u201d one student at New Mexico State University\u2013Dona Ana wrote in the \u201cother\u201d response option on the Student Voice survey. <\/p>\n The cost-of-living squeeze has pushed more graduates to consider housing and grocery prices when selecting a city to live in. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, you may have found other things that have risen to the top, like vibrant nightlife, environmental issues, recreation. All those things are still on the list, but cost of living is No.\u00a01 in the minds of graduates today,\u201d VanDerziel said. <\/p>\n Handshake has seen more applicants looking toward smaller markets, or \u201cB-list cities,\u201d for their first destination after college, \u201cbecause you might be able to get a good enough job that you can actually have the quality of life that you\u2019re looking for at the same time,\u201d Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n Internships needed: <\/strong>Students\u2019 perception that they lack skills and experience points to a growing need for higher education leaders to provide work-based learning to prepare students for the workforce. Some institutions now guarantee experiential learning or internships as part of their strategic plans, Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pleased to hear that students are concerned about internship opportunities, because that tells me that they are in tune with what\u2019s happening in the world and the fact that employers see internship experience as being the best of everything,\u201d VanDerziel said. <\/p>\n Four-year students are more likely to have enrolled in college directly after graduating from high school, which could explain why this group of students is more likely to fret about their lack of work experience, Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n \u201cIf they didn\u2019t do an internship, or they only did a part-time job in the summer, they might feel as if they\u2019re at a disadvantage because they haven\u2019t been in a more traditional white-collar work environment,\u201d Cruzvergara said.\u202f <\/p>\n Older students (25 and up) or those who have worked full-time were less likely to cite anxieties over a lack of work or internship experience, despite being statistically less likely to complete an internship while in college. Handshake data from earlier this year found that about one in eight students have not participated in an internship and do not expect to before finishing their degree, in large part due to time constraints caused by other work or homework, or because they weren\u2019t selected for an internship role. <\/p>\n While some employers value all work equally, others believe it\u2019s important for students to have work experiences specific to their intended professions, VanDerziel said. <\/p>\n A soft landing: <\/strong>College and university career centers can help address some of students\u2019 anxieties about graduation by connecting them to employers the traditional way at career fairs, Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the face of emerging AI in more industries, roles and sectors, I actually find that what\u2019s become really quite popular again for students in order to get a job or an internship is good old-fashioned networking,\u201d Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n Attendance at networking and employer-led events hosted on Handshake (either virtual or for registration purposes) has tripled this year, according to the job board\u2019s data. <\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s not new; career centers have been doing this for a long time, but do we need to do it more? Do we need to do it in a different way?\u201d Cruzvergara said. <\/p>\n Colleges should also consider their own departments as employers to host interns. <\/p>\n \u201cThe school is a business in and of itself that has all these different functions,\u201d Cruzvergara pointed out. \u201cSo how are you creating an internship within your own finance department? How are you creating an internship within your own legal department?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Graduation typically brings feelings of jubilation, but with the high cost of living and a competitive job market facing college graduates, students report feeling more anxious about their future prospects. A recent Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab found that nearly one in five college students say their top stressor is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[535,342,1317,20464,4006,678],"class_list":{"0":"post-36738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-cost","10":"tag-living","11":"tag-postgraduation","12":"tag-stress","13":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}