Is the younger generation destined for financial failure?

[MMMonsterBoy]

My point was that a lot of students go to college with grand idea's, get a degree in "Under Water Basket Weaving" or whatever their dream career is without doing the research of comparing the cost of the education to the actual availability of said careers, and what they pay yearly. Most of those types of jobs are one in a million chance of landing the premo position.

The colleges don't tell you that... they just want your money. What you are able to do with the degree after you leave them is your problem.

Where I live, even trade jobs like Hair cutting, or Truck Driving don't pencil out once you get the schooling/degree, buy the equipment, do all the permits, and buy the insurance ... What you get out of it is significantly less than what you put into it.

They give you the false sense of security that once you get a degree, your life is set... but realistically, it's still dog-eat-dog out there, and even with that piece of paper you're more than likely to still end up waiting tables or working in a factory.

Not only do colleges not tell that, but they actually tell you the opposite with fabricated statistics. I'm honestly astonished that the government allows this to happen. But then again, why wouldn't they? They make billions of dollars/year off of these lies.

I graduated with a biomedical sciences degree at a four-year university; lots of chemistry, biology and physics. The internet keeps showing that these jobs are in demand. Everywhere I go, biomedical sciences shows up as a great paying job with high employment. When in reality, looking for a job is almost impossible and not even close to the 40k/year starting that sites seem to suggest.

I agree with these two very much. It is such a scam. I wish I had known more about college before I had signed up. It is designed for the sake successful people to keep gaining success :/

 

[Scealle]

I think it depends on people really. Some people manage to make it some people don't. An uncle in the rink was telling me this the other day when I told him my major is arts. Unlike back in the previous generation where uni graduates are supposedly rare and most likely to land better paid jobs cancer doctors, law grads or any major grads really are everywhere on the streets these days.

 

[JohnnyAnger]

It is a strange set up here in the UK but typically people like me with a decent degree but without decent experience. It is partly my own fault, but I was funded through sixth form and university by the state so I had no direct need to work during it and would rather have focused on my educational front anyway. This has left me now in a position where I cannot get any degree level jobs nor can I get entry level jobs due to the fact I am over qualified. I cannot really do an intern as I don't live in London, nor do I have the financial support to take on one as I cannot live and travel on benefits. Add to this the fact my background is fairly normal, working class leading to my parents not having the contacts to sort me out with work. That part sends me a bit mad, more so when I see friends with worse degrees than me set up in good jobs because their parents have all the contacts. Its a tiring circle, that has just lead me to take on more and more education. Something I enjoy, but it will limit me further in the future if I leave academia.

 

[Callum]

Cancer doctors are on the streets? You're kidding, right? Where do you live? Russia? Anything biomedical is a hot commodity on the Eastern seaboard/Toronto/California/Texas. I could link you hundreds of careers. I'm not even a doctor yet and I already have a dozen references for elite American schools through networking and publication. Really, come on...you get what you put into your education. You are not going to be coddled through post-secondary, and definitely not afterward...why do people feel entitled "to know more about college" after high school? Look into it yourself. Don't blindly apply to a school with an undeclared arts major and rack up six-digit debts just for the sake of "going". That's idiotic, and you deserve the 500$ or more of monthly payments for being a moron.

I'm sorry, but as a student I have zero sympathy for people crying victim, or "I didn't know". Yes, there's a chance you will end up cleaning grease traps in McDonalds with a degree, but if you work your ass off for stellar grades and make contacts in academia, or take professional gap years and intern for corporations...there's a silver lining. I lost tons of friends and have sacrificed a lot by spending 14 hours a day studying and living in libraries/labs, but I've accomplished a shit load at 23. You have to be driven. Again, zero sympathy.

 

[vulgar_newcomer]

I agree with youfiad, my friends and I used to routinely go ride coasters at the big theme parks such as Busch Gardens or Universal here in the southeast USA. Fuck that now that day ticket is $100, plus parking, and food its easy to be frugal and try to enjoy the rides in such a park and spend $400+ for a couple people and no free fucking beer at Busch because some global Netherlands company bought them out.

Some of you old goats most likely walked to school when it was -10 F, 5 miles everyday each way through 2 ft snow drifts, because there was no school bus.
Of course the cost of basics such as utilities, food, rent, credit, all types of insurance, education, transportation are rising very fast while wages across most general sectors are stagnant and or falling with a total reduction in overall benefits. This is the situation in the USA. Permanent employment is replaced by temp workers, contractors, and free lance offering nothing for retirement or security. But wall street and dudes who do nothing but gamble are making out like bandits fuck the worker be they white or blue collar, all are trash.

Keyword: Nepotism , better than networking always has been and fuck working up hard from the bottom, this is the golden goose.


The price of a Samsung might be falling but not the price of auto insurance or petro, and it won't neither will the cost of potable water or sewer. Neither will the price of education.
Cliche the rich get richer and the rest will fall. A result of greed and the unrepresented backlash that technology has brought. It is technology that made the globe even smaller and the rich can exploit that to their benefit. Super tankers bigger than ever before, heavy transport with few parts and larger loads make Saigon next door to Detroit. Broadband and technology are not white or blue collars friend and when combined with deep pockets its a doom. Always unions are blamed but what about the engineers and mid management that suffer as well ?
Not everyone is a Dick Head Cheney and can afford a new heart at the drop of a dime when the old one wears out.

Until Virus or natural disaster of incredible destruction takes down the population and technology a step or to, slowly life will decline except for the well off. Then like after the plague the rich will be looking at each other going "how do you hoe a garden to grow a turnip (as they starve)?"

Education is important but I just paid a small local legit plumber $325.00 for 30 minutes to come and suck out some lime skins that clogged up my sink yet was to far to reach with my simple snake. Easy job and during working hours, on a weekend or after hours that fee would have been a lot more. You brain drains need to put some credence in the crafts and trades where good livings can be made and stop making them out as if only a dope would pursue such a field.

Even so you must keep the faith and realize things will never be as good as they are right now, but damn I am glad I am not 21 in 2013. Wait until the food crisis hits !

 

[blackbeltninja]

Damn son, where the hell were you drinking!

Isn't that normal for central London? That's about what I paid this time last year when I was over there...

-d-

 

[borg69unimatrix]

Maybe that's the foreign visitor price?

 

[youfiad]

I didn't pay that much. I just went to the local store, bought a 4 pack of whatever beer for 4 pounds and went on my marry way . I'm frugal like that.

 

[maxpowr9]

The ultimate irony is that you have a "youngin'" complaining about debt yet traveled to a foreign country. Save the "woe is me" crap.

 

[youfiad]

The ultimate irony is that you have a "youngin'" complaining about debt yet traveled to a foreign country. Save the "woe is me" crap.

Even if I had not traveled abroad and used the money to pay off loans instead, I would still be in quite a bit of debt.... So your comment technically doesn't mean anything. It's not like I came here and spent 5-6 years worth of tuition on traveling. I came here because I have people here who were willing ot let me stay with them, for free. So the only thing I had to pay for was a plane ticket and entertainment.... I think you're ignorantly overestimating how much I am paying for this whole 3 month vacation... I can almost guarantee it is more than your life would cost in 3 months.... No need to get all personal about this.

Just saying?

 

[maxpowr9]

^That's what I do now also. Last time I paid for a hotel was for a wedding I attended. Most of my vacations now are to friends in other states and all I pay is airfare and other "fun" expenses. They pick me up at the airport and I stay at their place for free.

I am not getting personal but my point is, it's hard get sympathy about having debt when you are talking about traveling. That's like someone complaining about how expensive it is to maintain a new Audi.

I've already expressed my disdain in CE&P about this topic because it has been brought up several times over there and fallen on deaf. If you attend a "paper mill" college with no scholastic incentives and a obtain a degree with little "marketability", you only have yourself to blame.

 

[youfiad]

^That's what I do now also. Last time I paid for a hotel was for a wedding I attended. Most of my vacations now are to friends in other states and all I pay is airfare and other "fun" expenses. They pick me up at the airport and I stay at their place for free.

I am not getting personal but my point is, it's hard get sympathy about having debt when you are talking about traveling. That's like someone complaining about how expensive it is to maintain a new Audi.

I've already expressed my disdain in CE&P about this topic because it has been brought up several times over there and fallen on deaf. If you attend a "paper mill" college with no scholastic incentives and a obtain a degree with little "marketability", you only have yourself to blame.

Sure. Although I'm not too completely sold on the comparison, I guess I can kind of see a point. However, traveling is the only thing I ever spend money on really, other than food and things to survive. Traveling is my biggest hobby. If I don't travel, I might as well just stop living. Plus, I don't really even see what that has to do with not being able to get into the job market. If we college students could get jobs that actually paid us, we could pay off our debts no problem.

 

[Devois]

Cancer doctors are on the streets? You're kidding, right? Where do you live? Russia? Anything biomedical is a hot commodity on the Eastern seaboard/Toronto/California/Texas. I could link you hundreds of careers.

Please do. Preferably ones you can do with a bachelor's degree if you live in the UK, but some key words to use to look for job titles would help. Seriously, I feel like my degree is useless and I need to know what I can do with it. Most of it was human molecular therapeutic genetics. People say "pharmaceuticals" but I only see entry level jobs advertised during GSK's graduate recruitment round. Industrial biotech would be nicer but beggars (i.e. graduates without internships) can't be choosers.

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

folk a degree is no gettin it
ans folk no degree is no gettin it
+ blink +

anyway

planet round ans birds go coocoo

thankyou

 

[Callum]

Please do. Preferably ones you can do with a bachelor's degree if you live in the UK, but some key words to use to look for job titles would help. Seriously, I feel like my degree is useless and I need to know what I can do with it. Most of it was human molecular therapeutic genetics. People say "pharmaceuticals" but I only see entry level jobs advertised during GSK's graduate recruitment round. Industrial biotech would be nicer but beggars (i.e. graduates without internships) can't be choosers.

I don't know anything about the UK, sorry. Was your degree specialized? From personal experience a lot of BSc degrees are not specialized enough for lab work (have to be supervised), aside from being a lab rat/test tube kid for $15/hr.

 

[borg69unimatrix]

Please do. Preferably ones you can do with a bachelor's degree if you live in the UK, but some key words to use to look for job titles would help. Seriously, I feel like my degree is useless and I need to know what I can do with it. Most of it was human molecular therapeutic genetics. People say "pharmaceuticals" but I only see entry level jobs advertised during GSK's graduate recruitment round. Industrial biotech would be nicer but beggars (i.e. graduates without internships) can't be choosers.

This sounds like Trek-nobabble. Could you please explain to us Delta-Quadrant Neanderthals in some Genetics for Dummies terms exactly what "human molecular therapeutic genetics" is ??? I'm envisioning DNA Massages.

 

[Callum]

I believe he's referring to genetic counselling. Which is something that requires (at minimum) a MSc. Not a BSc.

 

[blackbeltninja]

I don't know anything about the UK, sorry. Was your degree specialized? From personal experience a lot of BSc degrees are not specialized enough for lab work (have to be supervised), aside from being a lab rat/test tube kid for $15/hr.

Even an Honours (BSc + 4th year of extra study+dissertation here in .za for the Honours) is barely enough to be anything other than a lab tech, it seems. Looks like a Master's is becoming the minimum requirement these days.

-d-

 

[youfiad]

Even an Honours (BSc + 4th year of extra study+dissertation here in .za for the Honours) is barely enough to be anything other than a lab tech, it seems. Looks like a Master's is becoming the minimum requirement these days.

-d-

That's kind of what I'm thinking. Even a masters is becoming outdated.. PhDs are the starting position for anything in research.. I've been accepting it slowly but surely, as I wanted to obtain a higher degree anyways. But I wanted to take a break and work before doing that. Looks like I might have to make a return in the near future.

 

[Just_Believe18]

The only young people who are destined for financial failure are the ones who don't know how to save, budget and plan. I got no loans for my college classes, I applied for free grants and scholarships. You have to think of the big picture.

Good luck paying off that debt, it's cool you got to travel at least.

That's a very narrow-minded view. College debt is a serious problem in this country affecting millions of young adults. It is the next big economic bubble where student loan debt has exceeded $1 trillion. You may have had the benefit of free grants and scholarships, but many students do not, nor do they have the experience or access to such resources. Even students who work full time to pay for their college find it even more difficult when tuition has risen to nearly double the rate it was before the recession.

Our government's failure to invest in higher education is killing the next generation of the middle-class.