Although the financial gap between college graduates and those with a high school degree or less has never been greater, the percentage of Americans who think college education is necessary to be considered middle class has fallen.
In 2012, 37 percent of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center deemed a college education necessary to be classified in the middle class, as compared with only 30 percent in 2015.
The value individuals place on a college degree differs significantly by income, according to Pew. For those making less than $30,000 a year in salary, 40 percent say a college degree is necessary to be in the middle class, compared with 26 percent of those who make up to $74,999 a year.
Chuck Stokes, assistant professor of sociology at Samford University in Birmingham, previously worked for the Templeton Center for Thrift and Generosity and spent a lot of time thinking about what the middle class is and its importance in society.
“Good financial habits are essential (to be part of the middle class),” Stokes said. “But good habits are supported by good financial institutions, what we called ‘prudential’ institutions (at the Templeton Center for Thrift and Generosity). One reason why the middle class is eroding … is that lower middle class folks are now surrounded by ‘anti-thrift’ institutions like payday lenders, lotteries and casinos that encourage them to spend now and pay (with interest) later. Upper middle class folks have greater access to prudential institutions which encourage them to save money, things like payroll deductions for retirement, zero percent financing for those with good credit, banks and credit unions that lend conservatively and at regulated interest rates and so on. One of the most prudential middle class institutions has historically been marriage, where adults (and their children) shared goods in a household, reducing waste and pooling resources.
“But marriage has been disappearing in the lower middle class,” Stokes said, which relates back to the idea of completing a college degree to be in the middle class.
“Completing a college degree has increasingly become the dividing line between upscale and downscale America. Look at all of the prudential institutions, including marriage, and you’ll see that the college-educated have disproportionately better access to the helpful, thrifty institutions. Thus, while a college education may not be necessary to get you into the middle class, it is absolutely important to help you stay there.”
So why is it that so many Americans do not think college education is a requirement for being classified middle class?
Stokes speculated “most Americans think of themselves as middle class but most … haven’t finished college,” making it appear that a college degree isn’t necessary to be middle class.
“Second there are still plenty of jobs available for the non-college educated,” Stokes said, which implies that a college degree is not necessary to have a job in America.
One also doesn’t need a degree in order to save, Stokes said.
“Finally a few wealthy Americans (some of them college dropouts) have complained about how college doesn’t give a good return on investment for many Americans. I suspect enough of that sentiment has filtered through popular media to reduce Americans’ confidence in the ability of a college degree to deliver on its promise of an upper middle class lifestyle.
‘Going against the grain’
“So you can make it to the middle class, even the upper middle class, without a college degree. But you’d be going against the grain. Most Americans will be better off playing the odds and striving to finish college,” Stokes said.
The Pew survey also found that overall, Hispanics were more likely to consider factors necessary to be considered in the middle class — like owning a home or having a secure job. About 6 in 10 Hispanics say owning a home is necessary, compared to 38 percent of whites. Blacks fall between these two groups on most measures, Pew reported. However, 89 percent of both whites and Hispanics think having a secure job is a necessity for being deemed middle class, whereas 85 percent of blacks see it as necessary.
‘Financial insecurity’
“Middle class is, almost by definition, a class of financial insecurity,” Stokes said. “The truly wealthy don’t have to work and the truly poor can’t work enough to make ends meet. But the middle class work for a living. Maybe you don’t have to work all your life, but you have to work. … In the middle class if you stop working too soon, your middle class way of life is in danger. So jobs are just absolutely fundamental to the middle class.”
He said it is vital to have a healthy middle class in America because the country began as a middle class society.
“For good or bad, America with a robust middle class is a restless society, never quite satisfied and very innovative. Middle class Americans have to be involved in their government to ensure policies are enacted that protect against both oligarchy and anarchy.”
Stokes believes America’s middle class has never really reached the “middle class ideal” and said growing a “healthy middle class is an ongoing project.”
Comparing today to eight years ago, a recent Gallup poll found 50 percent of those surveyed say they feel financially better off and more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans say they feel better off.
The poll also found that 13 percent of Americans are “saving a lot” and 37 percent are “saving a little;” 27 percent are “making ends meet” while 8 percent are “drawing on savings” and 13 percent are “running into debt.”
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