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I knew I was one to something!!!
Published on December 12, 2005 By joeKnowledge In Blogging
Many moons ago I wrote about how "Is It Really As Simple As 'Work hard and you will make it'? and it would seem now that I have found out why I feel that way.

In a MSN Money article about college debt and over spending I read how basically most people my age (between 25-35) who went to school and *gasp* finished did not get the jobs, the money or any of the stereotipical stuff you usually would think you would get after *ahem* working hard through school (maybe even working full time while full time at school).

What most people think happens is that you get a job eventually and a few years from that you will have some real earning power. So, you finish school at 22-24 and by the time your 30-33 your getting paid, planning to buy a home and either are married and/or planning to have kids.

But as it turns out... your not getting paid and your about 20 to 60,000 in debt in school loans and what you also find out is that most jobs, at minimum, want you to have a degree. What I find is that most jobs want you to have experience of around 3-5 years.. for ANYTHING!!! Especially now that this is an employers market, there are plenty of people who want the job, so they have their pick of who is the best pick.

Nothing wrong with that.

What it also seems to happen is that employer don't hire as much either. So between your competition and the fact that there is only one spot, your left trying to get something else... and something else is a long way off from now.

Getting a grad degree is out of the question because now instead of being 30 G's in debt, its now 100 G's. And then still no promise or even a bigger chance of having a better job 2 - 4 years later.

Yet, educational costs are sky rocketing up as if the education you get


I know people literally who are getting jobs without degrees at all. But get what? They have like 10 years work experience! Also, knowing hiring managers by now, some want younger employees or less educated employees so that there won't be any problems during the course of them being employed there... problems ranging from having someone who will end up quitting a few months later or someone who will know employment rules and end up causing other problems.


Anyway, enough ranting... I have to go to work and unload boxes out of a truck. Boy, I am sure glad I have a degree.
(Author note: I still plan on going back to grad school even with the costs because I am doing technology and I can start my own business and do consulting... extra income for someone who will be about 80,000 dollars in debt when I finish.)

College debts and broken dreams


"This is the first generation who won't necessarily do better than their parents," says Tamara Draut, director of the economic opportunity program at Demos, a research and advocacy organization in New York. "They've been told: 'Apply yourself. You'll get a job, a home.' For many young people that's not the case."

Turning 30 has long had iconic status in American society: It is associated with a seriousness of purpose, a willingness to plan for what still might be an indistinct future. But student-loan debt can diminish that sense of stability. Michelle Chin, a scrappy, confident, 31-year-old graphic designer who lives in East Los Angeles, says what bothers her most about her financial situation is that she can't save much money. She graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., seven years ago and now has $42,000 in student loans and $7,000 in credit-card debt. As Michelle says, "I'd like to hold on to more of my cash, but that almost feels frivolous."

Thirty years ago, when many of their parents attended school, it was entirely possible to get through college with modest family savings and steady work during the summers. Since the mid-1980s, though, tuition has been growing far faster than many families can afford.

The price of public colleges, where about 80% of all students are enrolled, increased 28% in the past five years alone, far more than in any five-year period since 1975. At private colleges, the total cost increased 17%. Those figures, it should be noted, already take inflation into account. At the same time, outright grants have been shrinking as a proportion of total financial aid. "The costs of education are moving from the government to families, and in families from parents to kids," says Melanie E. Corrigan, associate director of national initiatives and analysis at the American Council on Education in Washington....




For more, please read the article.

Comments
on Dec 12, 2005
Real earnings for full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 34 who have only a bachelor's degree have, in fact, dropped by almost 10% since 2000, by 5% in 2004 alone. This exaggerates the burden of their debt. For many 30-year-olds, establishing themselves takes longer and is more complicated than they thought it would be. "It's so much more difficult to achieve the adult milestones today than it was 30 years ago," says Draut of the think tank Demos. "There is some sense of betrayal."

I definaitly feel that one.

I used to not curse allot, now I do it all the time. I am angry far more often than I usually am, and find myself giving up faster and not having any sence of a future.

Nice to know that I am not the only one...