Posted on 12/14/2011 6:54:19 AM PST by suspects
Dear Massachusetts Moms and Dads:
When your kids come home from college this Christmas season and you’re gathered around the tree in the warm glow of an open fire, take a moment to lean over, put your arm around them and ask: “What the hell are you thinking!?”
It’s called the “Higher Ed Bubble,” and it’s about to burst. For years the costs of college have been rising much faster than the rate of inflation while the vast increase in the number of degrees — particularly low-brain-wattage bachelor of arts degrees — has lowered their marketplace value.
As a result, that little bundle of joy of yours is building up around $25,000 in student loan debt, along with an average credit card debt of more than $4,100, and for what —the chance to move back in with you after four (or five or six) years of college?
According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, 59 percent of parents said they have been or are giving money to their adult kids. About half (!) have had their kids move back in with them.
I knew when I left for college that I was never moving back in with my parents (particularly after they changed the locks and stopped answering my phone calls). But it’s different for Generation Cupcake. They look at Mom and Dad’s house as their “home until I get a home.”
As a result, when your kids come home for the holidays to once again raid the refrigerator and trash the game room, it won’t be a glimpse of Christmas past as much as a vision of your future.
But no one seems to ask “Why?” Why did you send your little snowflake...
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
My elder daughter graduates tomorrow with a BA in Anthropology/Primatology. She wants to do the rehab/re-release/habitat conservation thing. In her defense, she’s had actual hands-on experience with exotic animals for 4 years, and she’s worked the entire time she’s been in college (mainly retail). Didn’t ask me for help with grad school, doesn’t want to GO to grad school. I guess we’ll see what happens...
25 years ago, there was one lawyer for every 327 people in San Antonio. The market’s only gotten more saturated, with people who have to hang their own shingle because they’re just not prepared to practice and firms don’t want to have to train them and pay them at the same time. Lots of the folks I deal with as an attorney and a judge should be suing to get their money back, because they obviously didn’t get the education they paid for.
I don’t know what the economy will look like for my children and what employers will be looking for in the future.”
Engineering
Accounting
Finance
Medicine/Nursing
That is what I encourage every chance I get.....
Ah yeah, right. I got your fulfillment right here.
The kids can cough up 50% of tuition in cash just like my brother & I did.
Very nice to come out of college with zero debt - AND a viable & relevant work record.
Oh, and I intend they will each own a house (however humble) outright before HS graduation. None of this BS about requiring college-owned dorm residency at outrageous prices & morals.
“Tax-sale” property is cheap, and Tumbleweed Homes has house plans for $20, buildable for ~$10,000.
Not a bad substitute. A degree, however lame, demonstrates an accredited ability to choose, commit to, stick to, and complete a 4 year full-time project to the satisfaction of dozens of certified experts in the given subject. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Congratulations to both you and your daughter.
Thank you, ma’am - an emotional roller coaster for the last 4 years, but she’s come through it well and I’m proud of her.
Are you always so rude and obnoxious to a mother when they talk about how they are raising their children? Or do you just single out ones randomly to pick on when the mood strikes you?
You truly are a miserable little creature. Why don’t you go crawl back under your rock, now?
Our kids work every summer but what they make in 2-3 months won't even cover a semester. Not much you can do if you're White working class folks but pay, pay, pay.
bttt
So you did drop out. Funny how that works.
Someone who gets it. Thank you.
Bravo for telling the painful truths that nobody wants to ‘fess up to.
Well, I did the same. But it took me 8 years, with work and all to finish. Got through 3 but that last year was a real bear, as I’d exhausted what I had saved up.
It’s tough when you’re 21 in the centre of the recession out there, looking for a job to finish up your schooling. I ended up eventually moving back and enrolling in an entirely different school. But I finished with zero debt.
You’ve seen how well the economy has done since 2000. That’s been my whole working life, so thanks boomers. Really appreciate what you’ve done. 12 years later, still hoping, still praying that the boomers will be done giving us the shaft so that we can finally move on with our lives.
But we shall see. The lineup of Newt - Romney - and the O, means another wasted 4 years. What a pity.
The youngest of my kids went to grad school and then took (paid) internships until he got a real job.
We’re going to be having a difficult conversation with my daughter in a few days. She’s out of money and we don’t want her taking out more student loans. She’s only got a few thousand dollars in loans now but it can get quickly unmanageable. We’re going to encourage her to get a full time job and attend college part time as the money is available. She’s not wasting it by any means. She’s working hard, earning money at a decent part time job, living off campus rent free with her grandmother but when there’s no money, there’s no money.
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