Congratulations, graduates. You have survived four (more likely, six) gruesome years of higher education. You are brimming with potential, looking forward with optimism, ready to show the world what you’re made of. (Insert cliché here.)

Well, guess what? That world will not be so kind to you.

The unemployment rate in the United States is currently 9.2 percent (in California 12.3 percent, in Fresno County 18.4 percent) and the underemployment rate, which includes the unemployed, those with part-time work and those who have stopped looking for work, sits at 17 percent.

Suffice it to say, the job market is pretty weak.

Many of those who have been laid off have been college graduates themselves, making recent graduates plight (who would take a college grad with no experience against one with experience?) no less easier.

On top of all this, you have likely incurred thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off. According to FinAid.org, two-thirds of undergraduates complete their education with debt. Those who attend even more school rack up between $27,000 and $114,00 in debt.

While on the campaign trail in 2008, then-Sen. Barack Obama attempted to appeal to the American working class by saying that he and Michelle had just finished paying off their student loans. However, instead of conveying that Barry was “just like us” ”” a dubious claim, considering he is a Columbia University and Harvard Law School graduate who edited the prestigious Harvard Law Review ”” it showed how much of a commitment being a student really is.

Which begs the question: Is it worth it to go to college?

For this writer, a political science major and history minor, the answer to that question is undoubtedly yes. Where else could I have read and understood political thinkers from Burke to Marx to Nietzsche, or gotten in-depth teaching on the Civil War and World War II?

For the majority of students, however, the answer is more than likely no.

According to the College Board, it takes 14 years before a college graduate’s income exceeds what someone with only a high school diploma earns. In this uncertain economy, which is beginning to look like something more than just a regular recession, toughing it out with a high school diploma might be smarter way to go.

This is besides the fact that many simply aren’t cut out for the college life to begin with. Colleges spend billions of dollars on remedial courses for students not ready for normal college classes in subjects such as English and math. And according to one survey, college freshman are more stressed out than they have ever been before.

What is to be done?

Incoming college freshman should really think about the decision they’re making. Is it worth it? If all they’ll be doing is participating in the hook-up culture that is ubiquitous on college campuses, then the answer is no.

But what about our current crop of graduates? Is there not any hope?

Luckily, yes. College grads still, over time, make more money than their high school counterparts. On the whole, the unemployment rate for college grads is still lower than it is for everyone else.

There is hope yet. At least, that’s what I, a junior, keep telling myself.