Because the Class of 2025 embarks on their ultimate yr of school, a brand new survey from Handshake reveals a sobering outlook. Key findings from the survey present {that a} important 57% of this yr’s seniors really feel pessimistic about beginning their careers, with competitors for jobs, scholar mortgage debt, and the rise of generative AI contributing to their considerations. This marks a stark improve in pessimism in comparison with the Class of 2024, which noticed 49% reporting related emotions final yr.

The survey, which included responses from 1,925 college students throughout 521 U.S. schools, highlights the extraordinary pressures going through this yr’s graduating faculty class. 

Class Of 2025 Scholar Mortgage Debt

Scholar mortgage debt was highlighted as an enormous concern for the Class of 2025. Greater than half (54%) of the scholars pointed to scholar loans as a big stressor. Solely 46% imagine the quantity of scholar mortgage debt they’ve is manageable.

If you examine this survey knowledge with our personal Scholar Mortgage Debt Statistics that present that the common scholar mortgage borrower may have over $37,000 in scholar loans, it may be daunting.

This common month-to-month scholar mortgage cost for 2024 is at present estimated to be $504 per thirty days. Nevertheless, that quantity is skewed due to the excessive variety of debtors in income-driven reimbursement plans with $0 funds.

Profession Prospects

College students stay hopeful about their long-term profession prospects, however most acknowledge rapid challenges. 57% of respondents to the survey really feel pessimistic about their rapid job prospects. This nervousness is exacerbated by a turbulent political local weather and uncertainty concerning the influence of AI on the job market.  

Whereas rapid job alternatives appear bleak, a majority of scholars nonetheless imagine their faculty expertise has geared up them with the talents mandatory for private {and professional} progress. 

Based on the survey, 88% of respondents felt that faculty contributed considerably to their private improvement, whereas 68% believed it’s going to assist them safe a well-paying job.

Nevertheless, many college students are nonetheless taking proactive steps to enhance their job prospects. The survey discovered that 68% of seniors have been attending profession gala’s and networking occasions, 63% have been making use of to extra jobs, and 61% have been pursuing internships. 

Nevertheless, not all college students are participating with obtainable assets: one-third of respondents reported having no expertise with their faculty profession heart. That is regarding. 

Last Ideas

The Class of 2025 is simply the newest class to face a troublesome job market and scholar mortgage debt. This has been an on-going wrestle for school graduates for the reason that early 2000s.

Nevertheless, know-how and rising prices are making the identical struggles appear more difficult and are permitting them to be extra seen to the general public. 

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