Is College Worth the Cost?

According to the American Council on Education...

"Half of students who start college drop out....Half of college graduates are underemployed."

This data suggest that if 100 students start college in the fall, only 25 of that 100 will be working in their intended field.  Duquesne University, my Alma Mater, just graduated a university record number of more than 1600 students.  If the American Council on Education's data holds true, only 400 of these students will be working in their field.  I graduated Duquesne in 2001 as a licensed high school English teacher.  That career lasted less than two years because of the small number of jobs versus the vast number of job candidates.

Do not get me wrong.  I would never trade in my Duquesne experience or education.  The data, however, does raise an interesting question.  Is college worth the cost?  The Council also indicates that the average individual student debt is now slightly more than $20,000.00.  We all know that student debt can reach much higher levels depending on the degree, school, etc.  A colleague of mine is a recent criminal justice graduate from a well-respected university.  After two years of job search in his field, he just recently accepted a position at a local bank earning just above $26,000.00 per year.  That is about $12 per hour before taxes, rent, gas, etc., etc.  How many dollars from that twelve will be going towards a student loan?

Thoughts? Comments?