Marjorie Sener was still in her 20s when she took out a loan for about $5,000 to get some college credits she hoped would eventually add up to a bachelor’s degree. That goal was thwarted when her partner became ill. “The burden of our living expenses fell on me,” said Sener, who lives in the Dallas suburbs. “I devoted all of my resources to keeping our heads above water.” But while Sener never got her degree, that student loan kept growing, fattened by compounding interest.
Career planning is just about the biggest scam we’re sold when selecting an education.
Nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, can predict what the job market will look like 5-10-15 years into the future, and yet we’re asking people to gamble in the casino of life to get an education and take on debt (even if you are going to a less expensive school - the person you’re replying to had parents working minimum wage, nobody in that situation has the kind of spare capital to fund any education without a loan) in hopes that their chosen profession will a) still exist when they leave university b) remain viable long enough to repay their debt and c) the economy doesn’t contract significantly while they are in school, resulting in a “lost generation”.
You need to have a seriously high powered crystal ball to make a prediction that accurate, or just admit that we’re effectively forcing kids to gamble with their futures.
You don’t have to be a fortune teller to know a bachelor’s in psych is basically useless on it’s own, but no matter what you choose, getting in and out in 4-5 years is critical, 7+ years of even modest loans is going to crush you. That’s the bigger point.
That’s not the point I am trying to make. The point is that even those “common sense” judgements change over time, and even if you manage to get out in 5 years or less that career you picked based on common sense might be going through a recession, regression, is being replaced by foreign labor or technology, etc. etc.
Yes the employment market fluctuates, but it rarely dies. Lawyers probably had the worst of it recently, but very few majors end up with limited options rhat didn’t start that way. People that entered education knew the pay sucked well before they enrolled. Tech had layoffs at the beginning of the year, but places are already hiring again.
Career planning is just about the biggest scam we’re sold when selecting an education.
Nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, can predict what the job market will look like 5-10-15 years into the future, and yet we’re asking people to gamble in the casino of life to get an education and take on debt (even if you are going to a less expensive school - the person you’re replying to had parents working minimum wage, nobody in that situation has the kind of spare capital to fund any education without a loan) in hopes that their chosen profession will a) still exist when they leave university b) remain viable long enough to repay their debt and c) the economy doesn’t contract significantly while they are in school, resulting in a “lost generation”.
You need to have a seriously high powered crystal ball to make a prediction that accurate, or just admit that we’re effectively forcing kids to gamble with their futures.
Not just people, we are asking TEENAGERS to gamble on what they even like ornare interested in doing in 4+ years. These are kids!
And let’s not forget that the majority of college grads are not even working in the same field as their degree.
You don’t have to be a fortune teller to know a bachelor’s in psych is basically useless on it’s own, but no matter what you choose, getting in and out in 4-5 years is critical, 7+ years of even modest loans is going to crush you. That’s the bigger point.
That’s not the point I am trying to make. The point is that even those “common sense” judgements change over time, and even if you manage to get out in 5 years or less that career you picked based on common sense might be going through a recession, regression, is being replaced by foreign labor or technology, etc. etc.
Yes the employment market fluctuates, but it rarely dies. Lawyers probably had the worst of it recently, but very few majors end up with limited options rhat didn’t start that way. People that entered education knew the pay sucked well before they enrolled. Tech had layoffs at the beginning of the year, but places are already hiring again.