If you are lucky enough to be finishing up the last year or even semester of your academic career, you are probably being forced to address that question that lingers incessantly in the back of every good collegiate mind: Should I go to grad school or not? Yes, you probably should and here’s why.

The job market for recent college graduates is in the worst shape it has been in for the last 27 years, according to a Los Angeles Times article that breaks down the 2009 statistics gathered by the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to these statistics, “the unemployment figure for college graduates in [the 20-24] age group was 10.6 percent in the third quarter — the highest since early 1983 and more than double the rate for older college-educated workers.”

There are several reasons for this recent trend, but the most apparent one is the declining value of bachelor’s degrees.

“I definitely think the value of a bachelor’s degree has decreased,” said Alisa Smith-Riel, who is currently pursuing her Ph.D. and working as a teaching assistant in the English Department. “I think that is partly due to the misguided belief, thanks in large part to No Child Left Behind, that everyone should or must go to college.”

According to the aforementioned Los Angeles Times article, the number of students who had full-time jobs within six months of graduation is declining, with 67 percent in 2008, compared to 77 percent in 2006.

It bears repeating that this is, in part, due to the bachelor’s degree losing its luster in the professional world. In such drastic economic recessions, it is not unusual to see universities flooded with students who would not otherwise pursue higher education. The result is a domino effect that ultimately hinders all college graduates in their occupational endeavors.

“Expectations and demands are lessened and degrees lose their value,” Smith-Riel said. “So the bachelor’s degree is now required in the same way that the high school diploma once was in order to get a decent job – not a good one, just a decent one.”

That’s not to say graduate school is essential for all students. If you were wise enough to pick a major geared towards a specific career such as education or journalism, you will still probably be able to find that low-paying dream job you spent the last four years working towards.

“Disciplines like psychology and English often require graduate school because they are more general degrees,” Smith-Riel said. “And the graduate work allows the individual to use their graduate school time to specialize their interests toward a career.”

Before I get any strongly-worded letters from irate parents worrying about having to pay for their son’s student loans so he can spend two more years pursuing that elusive master’s degree in philosophy, let me first say that grad school is not something you should rush into just because no one responded to your Monster.com resumé.

After all, if everyone started doing that, we would find ourselves slightly deeper into the same problem.

I am simply saying that if you have chosen a major that can potentially be put towards building a career, but would be greatly benefited by the addition of a master’s degree, now would be the time to do so.