There is an epidemic of college students across the country choosing majors at four-year universities that do not lead to a viable career path after graduation. The “underemployment rate” for young college graduates is 44 percent. What does that mean? Almost half of the recent graduates in the United States are employed in positions that do not require a college degree.

Many may argue that getting a four-year college degree is the key to achieving the American dream and the only path to upward mobility in terms of economic prosperity. But when my students can go to a two-year technical school for about $20,000, receive an associate degree in welding technology and reliably earn a wage of up to $59,000 (some specialties, like underwater welding, can command up to $90,000 and more, with experience), I find the idea of a four-year university, where students graduate with an average of $30,000 in loan debt, the least logical path of upward economic mobility.