Matthew O'Brien, business editor for the Atlantic​, reports that a majority of unemployed Americans have attended college.  O'Brien reports that this has never before been the case among those falling within the definition of unemployed.  The good news, according to O'Brien, is that the statistic does not suggest that a college degree is no longer a prudent long-term investment.  The bad news he suggests, however, is that although more and more Americans are attending college, the spiraling cost of a college education is preventing more and more of those attending college from completing their degree:

But there's something of a chicken-and-egg problem here. More students would finish school if they could afford it. That's certainly not the only reason our college dropout rate is so high, but it's certainly one of the reasons. 

 

In other words, the high cost of college is disguising the payoff of college. There still aren't many better long-term investments than a college degree. Graduates have lower unemployment. They earn more. And the gap between what college and high school graduates make is only growing. But you know what they say about the long-run. It can be awfully hard to get there when the short-run costs are so high. That's why reining in college tuition is so critical. It will both help young graduates struggling with the terrible economy, but also help more people become young graduates.