That is the sort of shit people say who don't understand what degrees do and mean.
Firstly, degrees are not just tools, or if you like "means", they are also ends. A product that you might want for the sake of wanting it, not because it serves any other purpose. Human understanding of value goes beyond money and utility. What ultimately justifies the existence of a degree program is that people are willing to do it.
Secondly, any degree is worth something. The professional world is full of people doing worthwhile jobs that they don't the ideal degree for. Degrees are in large part general indicators that you should be able to work reasonably hard, have a certain baseline intelligence, and various skills and aptitudes. What precise subject your degree is in often does not matter much to many employers.
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Basically, that centre has been assaulted not on any economic argument - whether it provides opportunities for those who do it or whether there is enough interest to bring in funds to run it. It's been trashed just because it offends the ideology of the current Florida government.
Yeah, if you are rich, well-connected, and or lucky, maybe, but for most people, you will have a higher chance of being underemployed in a position unrelated to your degree if you get a gender studies degree. U-6 unemployment is a thing too.
Data on employment outcomes for new graduates and young workers.
www.newyorkfed.org
There is already high underemployment for fresh graduates in fields in demand, like engineering, having a gender studies major in a college I have never even heard of is downright predatory. I don't know what country you are from, but in the US, we don't have universal healthcare, even getting SSI disability payments or unemployment is hard enough, and it's even harder in red/republican states. We don't have rent-controlled apartments, or free housing like in Sweden. The longer you don't get a good-paying job, the worse your outcomes will be in all domains of your life, unless you are already rich.
For example, I used to want to do aerospace engineering but couldn't do calculus at a fast enough level because of ADHD. and the Boeing plants were in Seattle. Then I wanted other forms of engineering, so I couldn't do that, Then I wanted to do finance because it's marketable, but I couldn't pass the business statistics class because I had untreated ADHD, so I did political science with a focus on international relations, realized I would never get a job, and double majored with a BA in economics. Even though that has an underemployment rate of 34.9%, if I could do calculus, and was not neurodivergent, you bet your ass I wouldn't do IR or Econ, but that was the highest I could hit with my condition.
Some people could do calculus or organic chemistry have some college departments who are straight-up lying to them and getting them into debt. Again, it happens, I have seen it happen with too many immigrants from said Hispanic American communities who brought in another idea that all you needed was a college degree when in reality you need connections, and skills, maybe signaling that you aren't a bum who won't show up late.
