25 years old and deep in debt

[PDH]

Of course, there's the whole negative that she would have had to live in Wyoming which sounds rough even for a professed Cincinnatian.

What do you know?  You only saw Wyoming from speeds as high as 95mph on I-80.

[garbon]

Of course, there's the whole negative that she would have had to live in Wyoming which sounds rough even for a professed Cincinnatian.

What do you know?  You only saw Wyoming from speeds as high as 95mph on I-80.

And I saw enough.

[Valmy]

Wyoming winters are the best.  The finest 11 months of the year.

[Sheilbh]

I don't blame her nearly as much as the system/banks who are mad to be lending that sort of money. Over the entire system it looks like a bailout waiting to happen.

[Valmy]

I don't blame her nearly as much as the system/banks who are mad to be lending that sort of money. Over the entire system it looks like a bailout waiting to happen.

You think?  I just hope I can get out of here before the educational bubble bursts.

And education loans are the worst, you cannot default or go bankrupt.

[Valmy]

The funny part is, just like the real-estate bubble, when it does burst everybody will act surprised and call it a crisis...when it has been obviously coming down the road for years.

[Malthus]

Problem here is that in this economy there are few sure ways to a future. Kids are gambling that if they pay for a prestigious university - hard to get into and expensive - it will pan out in the form of a high-paying career that will allow them to pay off those loans and then some. Their parents keep telling them that education is the key, and tuitions keep getting more expensive. But getting such a career is increasingly impossible.

So kids are caught in a frustrating trap. If they gamble with buying an expensive education, chances are they will see no return (financial that is) other than a huge debt, and will like this author be ridiculed for piling up a debt they can't afford. This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers. Meanwhile, even entry level jobs require university degrees, simply as a matter of screening - why not ask for it when you have 500 applicants for every position?

Personally, I welcome this trend.  It keeps the young desperate and ready for manipulation. When I create my new, all-powerful cult of personality, it ensures a ready supply of recruits for my underground army of terror. 

[garbon]

Problem here is that in this economy there are few sure ways to a future. Kids are gambling that if they pay for a prestigious university - hard to get into and expensive - it will pan out in the form of a high-paying career that will allow them to pay off those loans and then some. Their parents keep telling them that education is the key, and tuitions keep getting more expensive. But getting such a career is increasingly impossible.

So kids are caught in a frustrating trap. If they gamble with buying an expensive education, chances are they will see no return (financial that is) other than a huge debt, and will like this author be ridiculed for piling up a debt they can't afford. This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers. Meanwhile, even entry level jobs require university degrees, simply as a matter of screening - why not ask for it when you have 500 applicants for every position?

Personally, I welcome this trend.  It keeps the young desperate and ready for manipulation. When I create my new, all-powerful cult of personality, it ensures a ready supply of recruits for my underground army of terror. 

Yeah I had this discussion with my mother and one of my sisters.  My sister was relating how a decent percent of people she knows have now sort of given up and working menial jobs as they don't really see any hope. That's sad.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Tuition and fees will continue to go up, especially in states where governments are cutting back on payouts to public universities and colleges. in the meantime from junior high on kids are told they have to go to college if they want any kind of future.  Mega loans are the new economic reality.  You can deride the kids who go for fine arts or whatever, but it has been hammered into them since they were 12 that the need a four year degree at least if they don't want to be working at McDonalds.  I had teachers telling me that it didn't matter if my degree was in basket weaving so long as I had one.

[Barrister]

This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers.

Out here in oil country (or up north in mining country) people in manual labour jobs are definitely not seen as underachieving slackers.

[Malthus]

This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers.

Out here in oil country (or up north in mining country) people in manual labour jobs are definitely not seen as underachieving slackers.

Yes, but we can't export our entire young population to Alberta to become roughnecks. Though you do raise an important point: ambitious people have to be willing to move about to go where the jobs are.

Unfortunately that can be a kind of trap as well - see for example how many have gone abroad to teach English. The risk is that, unless they want to live there permanently, their experience isn't translatable into future job expectations. 

[CountDeMoney]

Problem here is that in this economy there are few sure ways to a future. Kids are gambling that if they pay for a prestigious university - hard to get into and expensive - it will pan out in the form of a high-paying career that will allow them to pay off those loans and then some. Their parents keep telling them that education is the key, and tuitions keep getting more expensive. But getting such a career is increasingly impossible.

So kids are caught in a frustrating trap. If they gamble with buying an expensive education, chances are they will see no return (financial that is) other than a huge debt, and will like this author be ridiculed for piling up a debt they can't afford. This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers. Meanwhile, even entry level jobs require university degrees, simply as a matter of screening - why not ask for it when you have 500 applicants for every position?

There's nothing wrong with grad school, but this approach of getting the undergrad and then getting the grad/professional degree before having any work experience beyond Starbucks really doesn't make sense. 

Why the fuck young people think that employers--real employers--want somebody with an MBA by the time they're 25 when they haven't worked anywhere more than the occasional semester internship in a mail room or the morning shift manager at the local Denny's doesn't make sense.

Get your undergrad degree, join the work force, then progress as a working adult for a graduate/professional degree, and your career mobility will parallel your education. 

Going for the shortcut to a six-figure salary with just an education under your belt, with no real work experience, is really short-sighted.  Doesn't make any sense.  No wonder they can't get jobs:  they're not qualified.

[Malthus]

Problem here is that in this economy there are few sure ways to a future. Kids are gambling that if they pay for a prestigious university - hard to get into and expensive - it will pan out in the form of a high-paying career that will allow them to pay off those loans and then some. Their parents keep telling them that education is the key, and tuitions keep getting more expensive. But getting such a career is increasingly impossible.

So kids are caught in a frustrating trap. If they gamble with buying an expensive education, chances are they will see no return (financial that is) other than a huge debt, and will like this author be ridiculed for piling up a debt they can't afford. This is particularly true if they go on to graduate school. OTOH, if they don't gamble, and just go for the manual-labour type jobs you can get without higher education, they will be seen as underacheiving slackers. Meanwhile, even entry level jobs require university degrees, simply as a matter of screening - why not ask for it when you have 500 applicants for every position?

There's nothing wrong with grad school, but this approach of getting the undergrad and then getting the grad/professional degree before having any work experience beyond Starbucks really doesn't make sense. 

Why the fuck young people think that employers--real employers--want somebody with an MBA by the time they're 25 when they haven't worked anywhere more than the occasional semester internship in a mail room or the morning shift manager at the local Denny's doesn't make sense.

Get your undergrad degree, join the work force, then progress as a working adult for a graduate/professional degree, and your career mobility will parallel your education. 

Going for the shortcut to a six-figure salary with just an education under your belt, with no real work experience, is really short-sighted.  Doesn't make any sense.  No wonder they can't get jobs:  they're not qualified.

None of this has to make any sense. In the past, a graduate degree was in fact a possible key to a professional-type job - even though it made no more sense then than now. Similarly, employers now will demand a university degree for entry jobs they would never have required one for 30 years ago - just because they can.

[Josquius]

Plus lots of people don't plan their life around their career. Lots of people do masters and phds and all that because they love the subject and want to learn more. Or they can't face the real world and want to put it off as long as possible

[CountDeMoney]

Plus lots of people don't plan their life around their career. Lots of people do masters and phds and all that because they love the subject and want to learn more. Or they can't face the real world and want to put it off as long as possible

That's all well and good, and it's fine to pursue one's intellectual interests--but don't bitch about the reality of the situation living in Mom's basement with no prospects for marriage and $188,000 of debt.