Over half of Gen Z today view their college degrees as a waste of money, according to a survey by Stagwell’s Harris Poll, working with Indeed. 

And when you think about college debt today—around $1.7 trillion—that's a lot of wasted dollars. Interestingly, the survey found that 38% of those polled feel student debt has hindered their professional growth more than their degree has helped. 

Slightly fewer Millennials (41%) view their degree as a waste while only 20% of boomers feel that way. For a lot of boomers college was a ticket to delay military service and possibly going to Vietnam, so college was well worth the price of admission. That wasn’t an issue for future generations. 

The study also found that nearly half (45%) of GenZ and 30% overall believe AI has made their college education irrelevant. Those are probably the students that figured out how to use AI to write their term papers without getting caught. Very clever of you. 

I wonder how many Adland folks think their days spent at university were a waste? I’m not sure what the answer is but the survey found that 68% believe they could their job without a degree.   

Clearly advertising is a profession where you learn just about everything you need to know to do the job on the job. Especially now with AI becoming so front and center of most of what the industry offers. Yeah, those clever college kids were on to something.