How the Nation s School Counselors are Failing America s Students

Closing the Gap between College and Career

Today, college students face a world where inflation and political strife are up while earnings and life expectancy are down. Likewise, the continuing introduction of technological innovations and alternative working arrangements are reshaping the workplace while existential threats such as global warming, ongoing global pandemics and even nuclear war loom prominently on the horizon. As a result, selecting a viable career path against this backdrop is a challenging goal and an increasing number of young people are deciding that it is not worth the investment and are choosing to avoid college altogether. To determine the current situation, the purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant literature concerning the changing purposes and expectations of completing a college education as well as the manner in which college students are currently selecting a professional career. In addition, the argument is also made that there is a profound lack of career counseling currently available in most high school and colleges and many students continue to rely on the same methods that have been used for decades to find a lifelong career that matches their aptitude and preferences. Finally, the paper provides a summary of the literature review and the key findings that emerged from the research concerning the foregoing issues in the conclusion.

Changing Purposes and Expectations of a College Education

It is reasonable to suggest that some young people enter college in an effort to learn about the world and their place in it. This type of “knowledge for knowledge’s sake” goal is laudable but untenable for most college students who expect to receive a hefty lifetime return on their investment of time and money during this critical period in their lives by securing that “piece of paper” rather than actually acquiring an education. In this regard, Stanek (2019) asks, “If a university is not a place where intellectual curiosity is to be encouraged, and subsidized, then it is nothing. Are we going to college to get an education, or to secure a paycheck alongside that diploma?” (para. 4).

Certainly, many people have both expectations about their college education and succeed in obtaining a degree while also going on to secure meaningful employment in their preferred professional field, but this conventional scenario is increasingly being replaced with one that is focused primarily on receiving the additional financial rewards that accrue over a lifetime to obtaining a college degree in today’s marketplace. This shift in the primary focus of college students today has not gone unnoticed, and a growing body of scholarship confirms that growing numbers of young learners are, for example, less interested in ancient history or metaphysics and more interested in cybersecurity.

In reality, however, even though such a pragmatic approach to obtaining a college education may not include the academic Ivory Tower experience of yesteryear, the workplace of the 21st century is dramatically different from that of just a few decades ago. Indeed, the skill sets that were acquired from a business management or even a liberal arts degree 50 years ago could help a graduate secure a professional position in a wide range of fields but this is generally no longer the case. Today’s marketplace demands highly specialized skills in high tech industries or health care settings, and the intensive study needed to obtain a degree in these fields at present leaves little room for the humanities. Therefore, the career selection strategies that are used by students who are primarily interested in pursuing a college education to secure a good job after graduation will likely differ from those who want the traditional “college experience” and these issues are discussed further below.

How College Students Select a Career

The constellation of individual reasons for selecting a given career are virtually limitless and are unique to every college student. People’s career aspirations change over time, though, and few individuals actually go on to become what they visualized for themselves during their childhood. As comedian and pundit Stephen Colbert famously observed, “Thankfully, dreams can change. If we\\\\\\\'d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.” Indeed, the number of occupations that are already available continue to expand as new technologies create entirely new fields of business, and it is little wonder that many college students are confused about what career is best for them.

Although earning potential is typically ranked high among these reasons, the research to date indicates that people select a career for some unexpected reasons as well. For example, a study by Hassan et al. (2020) found that the main reason medical students were pursuing a career as a doctor was prestige (a construct that does not necessarily equate to higher earnings) and altruism (which does not pay anything beyond moral rewards). Other factors besides money that are frequently cited by college students as the main reasons for selecting a given career path include the flexibility in scheduling and employment stability (Watad, 2019).

In addition, recent surveys have also identified some other reasons that college students routinely cite for choosing a given career field, including having a longtime interest in a profession; receiving encouragement from a family member (especially those in a specific profession), recommendations from a close friend or respected teacher or professor; and learning about a potentially interesting profession through books or films (Clark, 2021). In other words, many students still rely on the same methods that have been used for decades to choose a lifelong career, and it is not surprising that college graduates continue to encounter obstacles to securing employment in their desired field.

It is also noteworthy that none of the students in these studies cited consultations with a high school or college career counselor as one of their reasons for selecting a career path. While school-based career counselors are in a good position to help young people identify optimal career paths, far too many students either disregard this guidance or lack access to a trained professional counselor. In fact, there is an average of just one school counselor for every 450 students in the United States while the recommended ratio is one school counselor for every 250 students (Brennan, 2019).

Furthermore, the responsibilities of school-based career counselors have also expanded greatly in recent years beyond just helping students find an appropriate career, and now include psychometrics and evaluations as well as mental health counseling, among others (Han?mo?lu, 2018). This expansion of responsibilities has translated into busy caseloads for most high school career counselors who now lack the time to spend with each student that is required for them to informed career decisions (Behrendt et al., 2021). In fact, Brennan (2019) emphasizes that just one-third of the high schools in the United States currently have career counselors that are specifically dedicated to helping students locate and prepare for college. Citing the typical overcrowded caseloads of career counselors, Brennan (2019) adds that even in the high schools that do have career counselors, “It’s nearly impossible for that staff member to spend meaningful time with all students, as the critical ninth- and 10th-grade years are often overlooked for shorter-term planning and crisis management with students in 11th and 12th grades” (para. 7).

The research to date also confirms that students who receive one-on-one assistance from a qualified high school career counselor are far more likely to attend and complete college (Brennan, 2019). In far too many cases, however, high school career counselors report that they lack the training they need to help young people prepare for college and the career process, and many believe that the scant training they did receive becomes quickly out of date (Popescu, 2021). In other words, a growing chasm currently exists between what college students need in terms of career guidance and what they are actually receiving in the nation’s high schools and colleges and closing this gap represents a timely and valuable enterprise as discussed further below.

Closing the Gap between College and Career

Complex problems demand complex solutions, and closing the gap between college and career is no exception. There are some steps that educators and policymakers can take, however, that will help directly address the current constraints to career counseling that are being reported across the country. Addressing some of these constraints, such as the glaring shortage of high school career counselors in the United States today, will require additional taxpayer resources thereby making them politically unpopular and unlikely to succeed during a period when schools are already operating on razor-thin budgets.

Despite this obstacle, hiring more career counselors is an essential part of closing the gap, but there are some other, less-costly steps that can be taken that will also help address the problem. Many career counselors report spending an inordinate amount of time responding to the multifaceted questions high school students have about their future. For example, according to Brennan (2019), “Counselors have reported spending upwards of 3-4 hours to track down the correct information for a single question. Given the multiple roles that many counselors play, they need quick and efficient ways to access up-to-date, comprehensive and trustworthy information” (para. 9).