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I would trade all the effing iPhones in the world for the proportional college tuition rates my mom paid. She paid about $2500 a year in the early 1970s to go to Notre Dame, about 1/3rd of a year's salary for the average person back then (her dad was an accountant pulling in above 10K a year and could afford it). Today, that is one of the most expensive colleges in the country costing more per year than the average household makes in a year. Legacy admissions did me no good since there was no hope for affording anything close to that.
Not going to college today means you won't get squat for a job. You can become a retail manager, essentially working a crap job your whole life, working every holiday and every weekend for 50 years. No thanks. Most of us under 40 DID work at Petco, Dollar Tree, Safeway, whatever, or we waited tables or tended bar. I worked at Wal-Mart for 4 years and worked at various restaurants for 4 years prior to that, then after college was a temp for 2 years. 10 years of hell. We do not want to do that serf-work where people treat you like crap your entire life. The big million-dollar jobs go to the big contractors. That is not a path paved with gold.
I see the popular internet meme that we need more plumbers or whatever and I call total BS on that. My friend is a contractor and he has to hustle for EVERY job he gets and the competition is cutthroat. If he screws up one job, he's finished, forever. They'll slime him on the internet and he'll never get another job. He's doing okay for himself; gets at least 1 big job annually that pretty much pays his bills for the entire year and then a smattering of small jobs the rest of the time that pay for his hunting trips. But he's also in his upper 30s and lives with a roommate, so life is not perfect.
The local plumbing and electrical businesses are not hiring. Whenever I call them, they are pretty quick to come out to the house so there is not a shortage of them. If they do have a position, it's as a $12 an hour laborer, but you won't move up much. It's going to be the boss's son who gets the journeyman position or son-in-law who takes over the business. NOT YOU. Add to that, if you're in that line of work and your knee or back goes bad, you're screwed.
I have to raise a BS flag on this one. I have great respect for you but there are things that older generation people just don't/can't see. There are TOO many good qualified applicants for those few jobs available. My parents' generation saw economic growth for decades until about late 90's. People could actually afford to live comfortably without college degree. Now you need to work harder, longer hours, for crappy wages. I see this trend at work too. One of my managers graduated from CSU in the 70's and now he's in upper management and lives in Rancho Palos Verdes but he's horrible manager. What sets him apart? Why can't I dedicate 20 yrs of my life and expect the same thing? Difference is that he got there with no competition. Now there are hundredes applicants for 1 or 2 temp work. It's a different ball game now. You can graduate from most prestigious college and still need roommate(s) to survive. Oh by the way, that upper management position is now open only to PhD's which is unneccessary.
Couple of things to point out.
First, not everyone in his generation became a manager. Most people in that generation have also put in 30+ years and never got promoted. That generation did have competition. Sure, the caliber of that competition was different with fewer having a college degree, but the people competing were on the same footing. Some got promoted over the years, but the vast majority did not. Not everyone who began their careers in the 70s or 80s has seen the job growth your manager has.
Second, you are correct that there are too many qualified applicants for good jobs these days. The global economy, manufacturing moving overseas and the outsourcing of jobs have changed the landscape during the last 30+ years. Both younger and older workers have paid the price. Companies are more and more selective and require more education than ever before. But, it's not any better for a 50 something to be looking for a job when companies would rather hire college educated younger workers instead of them. We're all, regardless of age, working longer and harder these days.
today the college degree is our old high school diploma . the same way back in the 1970's and early 80's we had all those with high school diploma's competing for the better jobs because a collge diploma was not always needed today the college diploma replaced the high school diploma .
the competition was even worse . remember baby boomers are the biggest generation .
today the college degree is our old high school diploma . the same way back in the 1970's and early 80's we had all those with high school diploma's competing for the better jobs because a collge diploma was not always needed today the college diploma replaced the high school diploma .
the competition was even worse . remember baby boomers are the biggest generation .
Actually today college degree is worth less than '70s HS diploma
Has nothing to do with having kids we can't afford. We can afford our kids just fine. The question is whether or not they will be able to afford themselves. College expenses in general and rent in the city where we live has skyrocketed. Without living two or three to an apartment, I don't know how our kids are going to make it. Sharing an apartment is fine. Nothing wrong with that at all. But when it continues into the late twenties and thirties, I think that's a problem.
Ok, I still have roommates at 29. When should I expect bad things to happen?
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