I didn't GO to college, because I couldn't afford it, even with financial assistance. I joined the Marines, and was TERRIBLE at it – and was kicked out with a Bad Conduct Discharge after 3.5 years.
(I TOLD you I was bad at it!)
Yeah, I had some shit jobs when the economy was bad. I was fortunate enough to not have to go back to fast food once I graduated high school, but making $5.50/hr proofreading for a small town newspaper is just a half step from "d'you want fries with that" in an economic sense. I lived on spaghetti and store-brand sauce.
I didn't get my first car loan until 2005. I was 37. Prior to that, I paid cash for my cars. I've bought (more than one) car for less than the monthly payment was on the Rubicon I had in 2008.
I got a lucky break while working at the print shop, when they upgraded their typesetting equipment from 1970's vintage to brand new PowerPC Macintosh computers with QuarkXpress. I was "the computer guy" in shop, and that upgrade got me enough experience to land a job making $9/hr doing tech support for Supra modems, which got me a job for $10/hr, then 12/hr, then $40k/yr, and so on, and so on.
23 ("A year out of college") and can't afford two cars and a friggin' house?
You don't have my sympathy, +Jacob Childerson.
I believe you have an issue with 'expectation management'.
However, I'm not willing to just trash you without knowing you.
So, here, have some actual help.
Any one of these cars local to you should get you or your wife back to work just fine, so you won't have to turn down a 'better opportunity' again.
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/3872464201.html
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/3876324605.html
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/3884620739.html
http://carbondale.craigslist.org/cto/3874534489.html <– You will not be able to kill this truck. Promise.
Reshared post from +Eve Sullivan
A year out of college, Childerson says he feels like he can't grow up. He and his wife have about $92,000 in student loan debt combined, and the two are unable to buy their own place. They share a car because they can't qualify for a second car loan, which means carpooling to work and passing up better job opportunities that might be out of the way for one of them.
Cry me a river. I started working at a minimum wage job when I was 17 and worked my way up to where I am now; I certainly didn't expect my annual starting salary out of college to be greater than my student loan debt. Moving back in with mom and dad when I was struggling with debt was never an option for me.
I don't have a lot of sympathy for Millenials. The problem is by no means unique to their generation. Has no one told them that work experience plus education counts for more with most employers than a degree alone? Also, I question whether getting married, having a baby, and buying two cars and a house has ever been real part of the (American) rite of passage into young adulthood.
Millennials’ ball-and-chain: Student loan debt
For many 20- and 30-somethings, paying off the cost of college takes priority.
I'm also like "waa waa". I'm 34 and am still paying for students loans when I was 17 and I don't have a degree. Nor do I have a car as I've never made enough to purchase a car (hence why I live in Denver).
HOwever, I have to disagree with the author. I blame these people's parents. Because they obviously didn't care enough about you to actually get you to grow up. Perhaps instead of coddling you and telling you how great you are, they should have taught you about hard work and not given in to every temper tantrum you've ever had.
Maybe the problem is that you haven't taken your mom or dad with you on an interview to help get you a job because obviously, you can't live on your own.
I feel sorry for your poor child, whom I'm sure is going to grow up just like you.
I'm four years out of college and was only able to afford a house by moving to the Midwest. Though every time I read one of these, I'm grateful that I went to a college that had a commitment to need-blind admissions and provided excellent financial aid.
Even avoiding student loans (many thanks to my parents), my early years were still a significant financial struggle. The road to instant success is … not something that student loan reform will create.
That said, education costs are still fairly outrageous, and paying off those loans is, in fact, a drain on other resources. The whys and wherefores of education costs, education benefits, etc., are a separate debate, though. I think one can point to that as a problem while also noting that "kids these days" have an untenable sense of how much money they'll be making how quickly.
When will we stop believing the lie that if you go to college you'll get a good job? Then there is the secondary lie that you need to own a big house in order to get married and have a family. Rubbish.
I'm thinking of my son who was working part time at the library when he proposed. He was working retail when their first daughter was born. They moved 20 hours away to go a college that he could afford. Worked himself through a BA, working 3rd shift at a homeless shelter. Had 2 more daughters along the way, with his wife suffering from hyperemesis each time.
He has plans to get his MDiv, but right now they are having a bit of a normal life. He's working in a treatment facility; 4 years experience in the homeless shelter plus a college degree got him a decent job. When he goes back to school, it will most likely be online.
Some people think he should have had his ducks in a row before he got married and had a family. If he had done that, he'd have been over 30 before he married and started a family. He's under 30, has a wonderful wife, 3 beautiful daughters, and very little debt. It hasn't been easy, but he didn't have to but life on hold while he got (and paid for) his education.
I think our parents told us that going to college meant a good job because they didn't know better. They didn't go to college, and when they saw people who did going on to get better jobs, they thought that college was the key, unable or unwilling to recognize the other bigger factors at play like social status and networking, because those were things they couldn't give us.
Companies aren't helping, either, when they're requiring unnecessary degrees. My husband's company has a policy of snubbing their own talented and experienced employees in favor of kids fresh out of college for a job that's mainly manual labor, and can't understand why they have so many problems.
+Brittany Constable I'll definitely agree wtih you there. Despite being able to choose the degree I wanted, I still very much heard, "why didn't you choose this (usually business) so you could get a job?"
Ironically, college counselors are now telling students that the major doesn't matter, just the degree, but how do that justify spending $50,000 and being in debt for a piece of paper that will get you any job? That's a lot of money to waste on an underwater basketweaving degree and you don't do any underwater basket weaving at work.
I also blame companies, don't get me wrong. I read this article once that stated many businesses wouldn't consider hiring someone who received a degree online, despite it being from a school like DeVry or Sanford or U of Michigan. The reason?
Because being online doesn't mean being social. As though online students are living in the basement and never see the light of day. It's this attitude that sunk many corporations because they didn't want to acknowledge a change; this is what keeps people from moving up in companies; and why businesses hire kids right out of school.
Businesses don't want to take the time to teach their employees new ways of working, like social media. So instead, they just hire college students, who they assume know about social media because most social media folks are college kids, right?
No and not always. Recent studies have indicated that baby boomers and senior citizens are on the rise on all the platforms. And just because you understand social media doesn't mean you're a tech.
So many complaints and not enough time to rant about them.
+Regina Woodard
I read this article once that stated many businesses wouldn't consider hiring someone who received a degree online, despite it being from a school like DeVry or Sanford or U of Michigan. The reason? Because being online doesn't mean being social.
On the flip side, I'd argue that a company that isn't interested in keeping their HR department up with the changes in the educational landscape is probably lagging in several other key areas, and it's probably a good move (should an Online U grad bump into one of those companies) to move on and apply to every one of that companies competitors…
+Jonathon Barton oh no doubt. At this point, most of the people I've worked for are very in tech or want to learn more about it. I think what aggravates most are companies that require degrees for the most basic level positions.
For instance, when I was looking for a job, I'd hit the admin/office manager positions and there were several that I was actually over qualified for, but I didn't bother applying as they wanted someone with a bachelors.
Despite my 10+ years working various office settings or my 3 or so years as an office manager, I couldn't and still can't find a position unless I have a BA.
I think the general consensus now is that college is becoming an expensive luxury that isn't bearing that much fruit; yes, grads make more, but of course they need to. How else do they plan to pay off the debt they've just acquired?
For instance, when I was looking for a job, I'd hit the admin/office manager positions and there were several that I was actually over qualified for, but I didn't bother applying as they wanted someone with a bachelors.
Rule #1 – Apply anyway. Especially at smaller companies where it's less likely that you're going to go through a mechanical screening. There's an awful lot of "experience substitutes 1:1 for education requirements" that are often unstated.
As for college, I agree. Studies definitely show that the average college grad makes 100k more over their lifetime than a non-college grad – so, factor whatever you paid for your education into that, and you still come out ahead, but not by nearly as much as you might have imagined.
+Jacob Childerson said he had 60k in loans in that article – so the unfortunate reality is that his 60,000 education is ultimately only worth an extra $83 per month over his entire working lifetime.
That's a poor investment, I think.