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We want to talk about what is actually happening to young men right now, and why college is making it worse, not better. The data is not subtle. Gen Z men with college degrees now have the same unemployment rate as degree-free Gen Z men. Four out of ten students who start college never finish.

Of those who do graduate, 41% end up working jobs that never required a degree in the first place. And the mental health picture on campus is not better. Depression and anxiety are the most common outcomes we see, not employment. The reason most parents miss this is that they are not in the classroom.

They see the grades drop and the mood tank, but they do not see what is actually happening inside those classrooms. Professors who cannot communicate clearly. Coursework with no connection to real American hiring practices. Career centers handing out personality quizzes and calling it guidance.

Here is what we know from working with these families directly: 18, 19, and 20-year-olds are not hard to place in entry level work. Employers are more willing to hire a young adult with a little hustle than a recent grad who expects a salary that does not match the role. The problem is that most families have never even tried that path.

They go straight to college because that is the only option anyone handed them. The fix starts with one question. Not what major, not what college. What life does your son actually want? Start there. Work backwards to the career that fits it. Then find the strategic entry level work that gets him moving.

That momentum is what these young men are missing, and it is completely within reach.