Posted on 08/30/2018 9:12:49 AM PDT by 11th_VA
For Alexandria Butler-McDow, 28, going to university didnt provide the freedom and financial security she'd hoped for. After graduating with an associates degree from the California Culinary Academy (CCA) in San Francisco, CA, in 2008, Butler-McDow struggled to find a job that would allow her to support herself and her disabled mother while also paying off her enormous student loan bill.
Hopeful that a more advanced degree would help her make more money and better manage her debt, Butler-McDow went on to pursue a bachelors degree in culinary nutrition, concentrating on clinical dietetics at Johnson and Wales University (JWU) in Providence, RI. By the time she had finished her second degree, Butler-McDow was even deeper in debt.
Now, nearly four years after graduating with her second degree, Butler-McDow (better known as Chef Alexandria at Better Taste Productions) is a Los Angeles-based chef and culinary consultant focusing on nutrition and education and she is still six figures in debt. Though she has defaulted on her loans and deferred some of her payments, the end of this ordeal is still out of her reach. We are sold the notion that getting an education is what will improve our socioeconomic standing, Butler-McDow told Refinery29. My degrees were supposed to bring me out of poverty but theyve just anchored me. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
It also means that the entire article beginning this thread is a lie.
Heck, she doesn’t deserve to cook >.<
https://www.gofundme.com/literally-my-last-resort
I’m in a financial bind and want to resolve a debt by January 31, 2018. Last year I worked as a live-in caregiver for a family friend on a “promise to pay” situation as the individual was awaiting a settlenlment. I worked for this person about four months, no pay- not even gas money as I ran various personal errands for the individuaI. Towards the end of my employment, as I was awaiting compensation for my diligence, time and effort, my car was repossessed. Once my employer was notified (due to the fact I couldn’t complete a task for her), rather than paying me for all the work I did, this person loaned me the money to get my car back. Up until that moment I had recently only received $700 for roughly 4 months of work. And the individual was able to loan me this money because they had received their expected settlement but still didnt pay me for all the work I did or indicate if they intended to pay me beyond the $700 I had received. I’m aware of how crazy this situation is and I’ve even been advised not to repay the person as they technically owe me. However I gave my word to repay them and had the intention doing so and never speaking to or seeing them again and count it as a loss and learning experience. I don’t want to sue, I don’t want to withhold my repayment- I just want it to be over. Unlike this individual, I am not irrational, nor unreasonable and value my word. I did have every intention to repay the money but as luck would have it, I lost out on another income stream which prevented me from repaying this personal loan. Please, if you can even just give $1 it will help. I’m single, educated, no kids, no financial support from anyone at all, not even my family. I currently work 2 part-time jobs that equate to less than 2 weeks of work per month and I’m still looking. I believed that working for that family friend was going to be the financial breakthrough to help improve the trajectory of my finances but it’s proven to be a detriment and burden. Thank you to all that have donated, thank you to all that empathize, and thank you to all that share. God Bless and I pray it is returned to you tenfold. Amen.
Her? Not so much.
She’s in the right state, but apparently not talented enough to work as an actress until her restaurant career takes off.
they’re ...
Most Community Colleges have 2 year degrees in the Culinary Arts for way less than that.
And they are great places to go for a good deal on a fine meal.
Near the end of each semester they have a few weeks where the students are graded on the meals they prepare. Limited seating, reservations required.
Sooooo.... why aren’t these graduates suing the hell out of the universities like graduates of Trump U? ;)
He was just giving a very practical option, which you chose to take offense with.
Holidays off? Holidays are when people are MOST likely to want to eat out. Expect to put in overtime on holidays.
The same type of mentality who would pay $100k to go to a house painting school.
I know
“Dumb guys who think culinary school is about reading cookbooks.. I guess most of you guys got your knowledge from watching Audrey Hepburn in ‘Sabrina.’”
Why not? I learned everything I know about photography from Julia Ormond. ;-)
Mothers’ Day 1991, still the longest shift I pulled in my life, 16.8 hours.
A few months later, I went back to school.
Hi Judy, it is pretty AMAZING that people are this stupid, 100,000 for culinary school ASTOUNDINGLY STUPID!!! I have been in the food industry my entire life AND chefs just dont make the kind of money worth a 100,000 debt!!! VERY FEW chefs make it big like Emeril Lagasse or Wolf Gang Puck!!! Most chefs work their entire lives dreaming of having their own restaurants AND even then the margins in the food industry are VERY SMALL you dont get rich owning a restaurant!!! The hours you work are NEVER ENDING and your passion for food must run really deep because the rewards are EXTREMELY SMALL!!! This young lady obviously did NOT investigate how long it takes to get to the upper echelon of running a kitchen in hotels or fine dining restaurants!!! If she was smart (which she is NOT) she would take whatever baking skills she received at Johnson and Wales and open a wedding cake business!!! Wedding cakes are enormously expensive and you can make them for practically nothing!!! A wedding cake today can run from $600.00 - a few thousand dollars!!! This young lady didnt NEED a college degree for this type of work, she just needed to start working in the field and LEARN on the job which having the experience is ALWAYS better than that stupid piece of paper from classroom training!!!
You turn every thread you’re on into some stupid attack on women. Seriously, what’s your problem?
One big thing Trump could do:
1) Require each school to provide the Dept of Education with a list of each graduate, their major, total student loan debt, and SS#
2) Have the IRS cross-match with gross income a year later, and produce a summary table.
3) Publish statistics for each school, showing median graduate loan debt, and income one year and five years after graduation, broken down by major.
Parents can then take a look at the statistics, and tell their kids how crazy they are to even think of X studies major.
“She HAS a job as a chef, and calls herself one.”
So she got a degree in Culinary Nutrition and can’t find a full time job?
Especially when the average salary of a culinary chef is around $33k a year.
If you want to make a career of cooking, that is fine. But your best path is to start working for a restaurant, any restaurant (they are always hiring), and learn EVERY JOB in the place first.
Then focus on cooking, seeking out more prestigious restaurants as your skill set develops. (This might mean working at Applebees or Red Lobster for a few years.)
Another person working off that student loan debt.
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