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 ...
I thought I had child proofed my house, but they kept getting back in.....
Here’s the scoop. Back in 1993 the a federal civil rights law made it illegal for an employer to give basic intelligence tests to potential employees. No more basic math tests, etc.
So, to get around this, employers started requiring “some college” or a college degree for even entry level jobs, saying that they wanted a promotable job candidate.
Now, the government says that it is racist to require a college degree for a job that could be learned through on the job training. I’m not kidding you, the city of Seattle has this statement in one of their minority jobs programs.
Isn't that an oxymoron?
As long as we have Guaranteed Student Loans, available to any person who wants to borrow money today, and is unaware of his inability to re-pay it tomorrow; the colleges will continue to raise tuition. No matter what the cost of tuition, students will rally to borrow money from the GSL program - without a thought to their career or future earnings.
I know of “Theater” students, working on their “Masters” and with over $240,000 in school loans; that are now volunteering (as in ‘free’) at local theaters, and making minimum wage who are just now begining to realize that they will be forever poor. They spent this money on a degree of “Let’s pretend”, and now are realizing that this degree costs ‘real money’ - money that could have bought and furnished a nice home. Now, they can’t afford to marry and start a family - they have the equivalent of a large house payment, for a degree that is utterly worthless.
And meanwhile, these taxpayer funded schools of eduation are raising tutition yet again, and getting fresh crops of suckers.
Cut GSL, and you will cut 90% of the problem. If a student has to earn and justify his education; and has to present a business case to further his career - you will wind up with students getting a degree that actually means something.
My college roommate (this was in the 70s), graduated with a Theater Arts BA, within a year, discovered it wasn’t all that marketable, so went to school again and has been gainfully employed since as a Phlebotomist.
“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.” ‘
Hey Generation Boomer, what was that about the whole ‘tune in drop out generation?
At least we’re working and we aren’t out promoting the counterculture or whatever such nonsense. What, have you finally found yourselves?
A FAR better question for CHRISTmas morn would be:
Are you seeking and following God’s plan for your life?
Because employers have drunk the kool aid that a Bachelors Degree means you pop out fully trained and prepared to take the job and be productive day one, with no employer investment of time or money towards training required.
Yeah, I don’t buy it either. But they do.
Let's be fair, back when "mom and dad" were starting out, they has something called "Job Security". Do your job, keep your nose clean; and it was reasonable to expect to retire at that job. It was reasonable that if you did your job well, you would be promoted because of your skills - not because of education - but because of your skills. We had folk become VP's and Presidents of companies, who had never set foot in a university. These were good folk, smart folk, who earned and worked their way to the top.
Today, what do we have? Well, we have a workplace where your job is utterly disposable, where your career can be sidetracked because some CEO 'thinks' that the profit the company earned wasn't "good enough", so he will cut entire divisions to "streamline" the next fiscal year. Short sighted business decisions and personal gain will trump a hard work by dedicated workers 100% of the time. We see entire divisions closed down and sent overseas; leaving the people who created the company broke, forced to sell their homes and hoping to get another job that paid something close to the job that they lost.
Then, we look disparagingly upon the kids who are reaping the rewards of policies that were started in motion back in the 1980's.
I’ve heard that now that employers can’t give prospective employees an IQ test, they use college attendance details as a substitute.
Why is my child in college? Because she wants to be a doctor and having college classes and the subsequent degree is about the only game in town. (Yes, she COULD take 60 hours and go to a Caribbean medical school, but since those are non-US schools there will be problems and complications down the road when she tries to comes back for residency.)
Here’s a better question — Are you learning skills and knowledge that you can only get in college and how will you use this information to support yourself in the future. If the look is a blank stare, then maybe, just maybe, the college is a very expensive babysitter.
We are raising our children so that they understand that a liberal arts degree in Underwater Basket-weaving is a useless degree that will not support them in the future. They will need to get an education that will support them and keep them gainfully employed.
The difficulty in doing this is trying to look down the road and determine which fields will be the ones that will be in demand.
I don’t know what the economy will look like for my children and what employers will be looking for in the future.
I don’t want them to be educators because I hate teachers unions. I don’t want them to become doctors because I think Obamacare will make that line of work very difficult. I don’t want them to just get a degree that will be in high demand that will keep them employed, but won’t fulfill them as human beings. At the same time I don’t want them to keep their heads in the clouds and not be financially secure.
I should have taken up tea-leaves reading long ago. (Sigh.)
Never had time to drop out, tune in, protest, etc. Worked in my parents’ restaurant before college, local bowling alley during college, saw people with degrees in my major (music ed) not finding jobs, so left college after three semesters, and kept working. Learned everything I know for my current job (IT Support) at home on our own pc, or on the job training.
Griggs v. Duke Power
My across-the-street neighbor told me she’s looking at going to St Mary’s University Law School (my alma mater). When I graduated, tuition was an ungodly $406/hr. She called - it’s now $960/hr. Stuned my beiber, I’ll tell ya - especially considering what it’s turned into: a mill for “social justice” types who have trouble passing the bar exam because they’re not being required to take the courses that are ON THE BAR EXAM.
Ridiculous.
For my nephew, the part time job is only temporary, but for my daughter there are hopes.
It looks like businesses are testing the young folks these days. And the American Dream is much harder.
Then again, I guess fewer jobs for lawyers is a good thing for society.
In my experience, employers still do value the bachelor’s degree. It is a bit mystifying. But I don’t know if I see that changing in the near future.
I think it’s almost like, “everyone has a college degree so you must be a TOTAL loser if you don’t have one”.
As they say, college is the new high school.
And employers do want at least a high school “education”. So I guess that is sort of the reality.
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