So here we all are, hoping to graduate within the next decade if we can get those breadth requirements out of the way and not switch from majoring in biology to English senior year.

But recent studies have shown sporting a hat with a tassel at the end of our college years may not be our ticket to champagne and ever-increasing incomes. The Wall Street Journal, reporting on discussions at the recent American Economics Association meeting, highlighted some of the most recent changes economists are finding in what a college degree means for future earnings. David H. Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a panel discussant, suggests while most high-earners are college-educated, not all college-educated people number among the high-earners.

Economists are noticing that while there continues to be a difference in the average wages of the college educated and those with only a high school diploma, the difference is no longer growing, a phenomenon known as the leveling off of the college premium. Additionally, the average could be hiding great individual differences, with some college grads earning significantly more than high school grads and others earning at the same level. As high schools tighten graduation standards, college students can expect more competition from those with high school diplomas.

College graduates earn on average 45 percent more than those with only a high school diploma, but the figure has remained roughly the same since the late 1990s, with little change in the decade prior.

About 30 percent of the U.S. population has a bachelor’s degree. The relatively low percentage of college graduates often has us thinking there is a great, growing demand for our talents and an increasing gap between what college and high school graduates earn.

Apparently that’s not the case.

While the term “knowledge-based society” is the buzzword du jour, the incomes of the college educated are rising no faster than the incomes of the high school educated, and economists are now saying that the degree alone is not enough.

“Simply having a college diploma is far from a guarantee of great success in the labor market. Workers need to have real skills to be successful,” Autor observed. “Some of these skills may be very specific depending on the job: engineering, computer programming, accounting, writing and editing, etc. Other skills are more ‘high level’ and are not necessarily taught in college. These might include organizational, managerial and problem-solving skills. Not all well-educated people have such skills, but they are valuable.”

The value of our degrees depends on how valuable we make our college education and on taking the time to develop high-level skills along the way. The key is in successfully balancing the social with the studying, taking challenging classes, getting involved in what we’re passionate about and enjoying the overall package.

Paul Graham, a dot-com millionaire turned essayist, suggested students seek out those professors whom they feel they can truly learn from.

“They’ll appreciate someone who’s genuinely curious and not just trying to pump up their GPA,” he said.

Graham also had a few other suggestions for college students.

“Do the study abroad thing. You learn how different things can be in other countries and you don’t take things for granted,” he noted. He also said students should hunt for challenging course work. “Don’t believe the polite fiction that all departments are intellectually even.”

Looking at the University of Wisconsin scholarship reports, it’s clear you can get As in some courses without trying. But by doing so, you might not be getting your money’s worth in terms of education and skill development.

Graham remarked many programs rely heavily on recommendations. “It’s all about recommendations,” he said. “The stupider the selection process the more it relies on GPA.”

Autor agreed: “Taking easy classes to get a high GPA is probably a waste of the amazing educational opportunity afforded by having four years to choose what you want to learn.”

Not bad thinking. While we’re living in the bubble that is college life, why not get more out of it than 120 credits?

Graham also cautioned on reading too much into some economic studies. “It’s easy to measure how many people go to college,” he commented. “It’s harder to measure whether they learned anything while they were there or if they’re intelligent or have an imagination.”

Unless Daddy’s going to pull strings and get us a job, it’s up to us to make sure our degrees are more than pieces of paper or lines on our resumes.

Cynthia Martens ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Italian and European Studies.