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No, I didn't mean to confuse the for-profit schools with a respected school like NYU; my earlier post was a bit rambling, but my general point was mostly that it's not her choice of major that is the problem here. Her debt would be just as -- or actually, far more unrealistic -- if she had a so-called "useful" degree from a bogus school. I suppose some degrees from NYU would lead to a higher salary potential than the route she chose, but I still don't think the major itself is an issue. It is risky to take on such a high debt load for an undergraduate degree in any major.
No, I didn't mean to confuse the for-profit schools with a respected school like NYU; my earlier post was a bit rambling, but my general point was mostly that it's not her choice of major that is the problem here. Her debt would be just as -- or actually, far more unrealistic -- if she had a so-called "useful" degree from a bogus school. I suppose some degrees from NYU would lead to a higher salary potential than the route she chose, but I still don't think the major itself is an issue. It is risky to take on such a high debt load for an undergraduate degree in any major.
1/2 agree and 1/2 disagree.
1) Debt load is a problem, even some *solid* professions go through contractions and dry spells so there I agree.
2) Starting salaries for certain jobs right out of college are notorioulsy higher in some fields. Let me put it this way, if she had her physical therapy degree from a place like NYU or dental hygenist or actuary etc. she sure as heck wouldn't be staring at 40k a year in a high cost of living area.
Here is a salary grid for actuaries...starting pay 50-70k not including signing bonus...and being up around 100k by age 30 is common and this is with a 4-year degree. (Note that we are talking about degrees and job fields that are typically pretty brutal in terms of difficulty and competition.)
Alright, this woman bothers me! I read all the comments first and thought that the focus on her whining was a bit much--until I read the article! We have $40,000 in loans, mostly from my husband, who went to cheap schools for a degree he had to have if he was going to progress in his minimal-paying government job. I say minimal because obviously that is what a majority of Americans think. When did people begin to expect to be paid over $100,000 annually??? We make under $50,000/year and are doing just fine (with two children). No, we can't jet off for vacation at any time, nor do we have a Pottery Barn house. But we did just buy our first house, have a small but growing retirement fund, and are able to make our sons' life pleasant.
Please, she needs to get a life. Or realize that being a grownup does not mean having a life you see on TV.
It reminds me of classmates at my college (a private one at that), who went to an informational meeting from the Forest Service. They were looking to find volunteers for that summer--volunteers that get paid $500/month and have free housing. Almost all the kids said no way because it didn't pay enough! For a natural resource major, it is an easy way in to a competative field.
It also reminds me of my MIL who got nasty when she found out how little we had done on our house (like redo the floors, a new kitchen counter, redo the bathrooms--we have already painted and added new light fixtures to most of the rooms, as well as numerous other small things--we have been here 6 months). I would have loved to have said, "We think it is irresponsible to go $30,000 in CC debt to redo the house," which is what she did.
I don't think there's anything with her degrees by themselves -- plenty of people get degrees like that and go on to successful careers. For many corporate jobs you just need a degree, any degree. Going into that much debt, however, is a totally different problem.
I think some of the focus on her degree choice as "worthless" is really besides the point, as that's not the basic problem here: the real issue is the amount of debt involved. On one of the recent threads on for-profit colleges someone posted a link to the recent Frontline report on for-profit colleges; they (and some other recent articles) noted that the students of those colleges are far more likely to default on their (often extremely high) loans than are the graduates of traditional colleges. Given that most of the for-profit schools are all about focusing on "practical" and job-related degrees, I think it's fair to say that choice of degree is not the underlying problem here. The issue is people taking on more debt than is reasonable, and the system that makes it far too easy for people to do that. If she had the same degree with, say, $20,000 in debt she'd be fine. She obviously made poor decisions (although I don't think the degree itself was a bad choice, and she does have a decent job), but the system itself is flawed.
I'm a fiction and television writing dual major. Many, including myself, would agree that my job prospects aren't as numerous as they would be if I, say, majored in nursing or even education. Major difference between myself and the girl in the article is that I'm not going into massive debts to pursue these dream majors. in the end, I'll have <$25k in debt, maybe less (and this is for a private school to boot). the majority of my tuition is being covered by scholarships and grants and any remaining leftover is covered by either gov't unsubsidized loans or part time on campus work. I don't even need the gov't loans except that I dropped one of my part time jobs to focus on my 2nd major so wanted a bit of extra cash on hand. I wonder, given her debt load, if she had gotten any sort of scholarship/grant help or if she was using private loans to finance a "New York lifestyle". sure NYU is prestigious, but no point in going if you can't obviously afford it w/o going into debt.
nothing wrong w/ choosing a women's studies major or other majors some (esp. people on this forum) may deem "useless", but it makes no sense to go into massive debt to do so or go into the work force blind and not realize that finding a job in your field of study will be harder. it doesn't seem like she gave much thoughts into what to do post-college (she's only taking night classes now for deferment purposes. if I had gotten those degrees, I would have immediately went into grad school and added on to these). a debt load like that for a pre-med or pre-law student wouldn't be surprising, but for someone w/ those majors, it's ridiculously high
it seems like she entered and left college quite clueless. dumb move regardless of your major (and I won't even go into what's the issue now w/ her current salary w/ paying off her loans. as mentioned, she makes enough to do so).
Her story, and that other idiot kid who turned down that $40K/year job are prime examples of entitled Americans who think that just because they have a degree, they should get a high-paying job.
On the bright side, whenever a prospective employer googles these people, they'll see these stories, and won't hire them!
yea, making the government pay for HER bad choices is as bad as the government bailing out AIG for ... uhhhh ... wait ...
oy!
In reality, I wonder what she was thinking she could do with that kind of degree WITHOUT having to go back to graduate school. But my big question is ... how in the heck did she find an apartment in SF for $750 a month????
Nothing wrong with her majors, but what in heaven's name was she thinking??? Those degrees scream graduate school!
She can always join the military in the chaplain's office. Food and housing will be provided, and she can pay her college debts off with her paycheck.
I don't think for a minute she'd do it, though.
Not to be off topic, but there are plenty of women out there, who for one reason or another, are more than willing to pay rent while their 'man' does not. It happens more often than you probably think.
I agree with you, I know a few that is doing this right now and these men are not laid off or anything. They just like laying up on women and these women want a man so bad they don't care.
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