Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession

A new Heldrich Center survey of college graduates from 2006 to 2011 finds:

• Recent college graduates are struggling to find full-time jobs. In fact, just over half of recent college graduates are working full time.

• More than half of the nation's recent college graduates are struggling to pay off their student loans and many are borrowing to obtain additional education.

• While the majority of college graduates are satisfied with their college education, if given the opportunity to start college over again, most would have either chosen a different major, taken different courses, or participated in more internship and work experiences.

• Only about one-fifth of recent college graduates believe that their generation will have more success than the one before them, and more than twice as many think their generation will be less successful than the one that preceded them.

These are some of the main findings from Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession, a new report from the Heldrich Center. The Heldrich Center interviewed a national sample of 444 graduates of four-year colleges and universities in April 2012, using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel conducted by Knowledge Networks, a GfK Company, of Palo Alto, CA.