Several years ago I was invited to a university to give a career presentation and then visited a restaurant just off campus afterwards for dinner. My waiter was a young college student who found out why I was in town and did not hesitate to tell me that she had never visited her universities Career Services Center, and quite frankly, never would based upon the Centers reputation.Unfortunately, this is a story I hear regularly from college students, high school students and parents as well. 

Most of us did not and yet it is such a critically important role to play well, as it can make a dramatic difference in a young person’s career and life.

As parents we are caught between some very polarizing thoughts when it comes to college. We have the belief that if we just get our children through college they will have a successful life and career knowing full well it is only part of the answer, while universities fuel this thought in their race to fill classrooms.

It did not work 25 years ago and it certainly does not work now.

The majority of students start and end college with very little clarity around why they are in college other than to get a “college education”. That ‘education’ is now placing more and more students (and their parents) in debt up to their ears for years to come…and it gets worse…now a new shark has entered the college waters called the credit card shark.

This predator makes it easy for students to rack up additional costs at even higher interest rates and in many cases leaves students not only in debt, lost career wise, but also saddled with damaged credit scores as well.

Sadly, upon graduation many of the students who did know what they wanted to do, and most of the students who had no clue, now have to take the highest paying job offer to make ends meet while putting any ideas about their best fit career on hold until they can afford it.

Of course, the highest paying job rarely fits them so it is not sustainable in the long run and it begins to impact their lives in so many nasty ways.

So who is really benefiting here? The universities and the banks are…while the actual client is left behind the 8 ball even before getting out of the starting gate.

Does any of this make sense? College is meant to help everyone advance their career and life. For many students it leaves them as lost as the day they started with the added liability of serious debt.

Now clearly not every student runs up debt in college, or gets a credit card or lands on campus with no idea what to study. But stats show that enough do – well over half the population – to warrant a better system that truly caters to their real clients, the students and the parents.

There are a multitude of solutions to the many systemic problems. However, very little has changed or is currently being done to address the issues. It is still business as usual and the students are still the prey. High school, immediate post high school, and college years are critical years in a young person’s life.

In my world, it starts with the career counseling programs at the high school and college level. The methodologies and systems exist today to greatly enhance a students focus, effectiveness and success in their high school, post high school and college studies which in turn can translate to a much happier, successful and fulfilling life.

So how about you? Did you have a positive career and life enhancing experience with your high school or college career counselor? I’d love to hear about it.

 

Image: IStockPhoto / Stockphoto4u