@juillet:
" If you can get a job with a bachelor’s in biology, even if it’s not directly related to biology and doesn’t require a biology degree specifically, then who cares whether someone with a business or art history or philosophy major could also have gotten that job? "
That’s not the point that I was making. There are people with college degrees who are working the same jobs, same pay as people -without- college degrees. IOW, their college degree or major did not improve their wages or employability.
@juillet:
" $33,000 a year for a new graduate isn’t out of the ordinary and is enough to live a middle-class lifestyle in most areas of the United States. "
That will qualify you for a $770/month mortgage, which doesn’t buy much of a house in most places, and none at all in some large cities. The prospects are worse if you have student loans to pay down. And where is the down payment coming from, on $33,000/year? You would be “middle class” only if you were the sole person in your household.