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I was looking at Facebook and saw the profile of a guy I grew up with. He was always into theater, so he went to a local private school that cost around $30k annually just in tuition at the time. Five years post graduation, the guy's Facebook shows him as employed at Dunkin' Donuts and he has a picture of himself in his work uniform.
Do you know many people that have made such a grave professional and financial error?
I was looking at Facebook and saw the profile of a guy I grew up with. He was always into theater, so he went to a local private school that cost around $30k annually just in tuition at the time. Five years post graduation, the guy's Facebook shows him as employed at Dunkin' Donuts and he has a picture of himself in his work uniform.
Do you know many people that have made such a grave professional and financial error?
Did you ever stop to think he may be the franchisee of the store?
Story time: A friend of mine went to school with me, we got the same degree, and he landed the absolute dream job.
The problem: "dream job" drained him emotionally and mentally. He hated it.
He shifted gears and went in sales. He is now doing EXTREMELY well for himself, in a position that he didn't even need a college degree to land in the first place.
Do you know many people that have made such a grave professional and financial error?
And to answer your question: You hear these sob stories all the time when discussing student loan debt about someone who puts themselves 100-200k in the hole over student loans, and end up with a BFA or something. Or even worse, no degree at all.
Bottom line: Unless you are going into a career where you can make incredibly good money within 5-10 years (say a doctor or something), you shouldn't go NEAR student loans.
The solution is easy: Go to community college for a year or two. So much incredibly cheaper than a four year school and as long as you're taking basic classes like Algebra 102 or English 103, they transfer.
And to answer your question: You hear these sob stories all the time when discussing student loan debt about someone who puts themselves 100-200k in the hole over student loans, and end up with a BFA or something. Or even worse, no degree at all.
Bottom line: Unless you are going into a career where you can make incredibly good money within 5-10 years (say a doctor or something), you shouldn't go NEAR student loans.
The solution is easy: Go to community college for a year or two. So much incredibly cheaper than a four year school and as long as you're taking basic classes like Algebra 102 or English 103, they transfer.
But nobody wants to hear that.
Nice try. Student loans are the ONLY way a lot of people can go to school and in my case there really weren't ant community colleges close by.. That being said, I don't feel sorry for people going into massive debt for worthless degrees.
I am a big fan of community colleges as the place to start. All four of mine went to community college and lived at home their first year (two their second year), then transfered to the school of their choice without a problem. I have two engineers (one an ME with a Master's, the other a BME working on an MBA, both employed in fortune 500 companies), a Korean linguist for the military, and one with a history degree who has opted to be a stay at home mom.
Only one has student loans above $5,000, and he kept it under $10,000. I paid for the community college degrees, and the first semester of school at the school of their choice. Gave them each a laptop computer, and $1,000 to start them off at their upper division school. The rest was on them, and they are all rightfully proud of what THEY accomplished, not what dad paid for!
I put myself through school as a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy for people who opt to go to a small, uber expensive, boutique private college and major in a discipline that has no direct applicability to any type of skill or knowledge that an employer will pay for/hire/employ, while running up student loan balances that represent 5-10 years of fulltime employment earnings potential.
He could have saved $50k by going to the local CC, then transferring to the private school. I have no idea how much debt, if any, he has, but it's certainly a teachable moment.
I am a big fan of community colleges as the place to start. All four of mine went to community college and lived at home their first year (two their second year), then transfered to the school of their choice without a problem. I have two engineers (one an ME with a Master's, the other a BME working on an MBA, both employed in fortune 500 companies), a Korean linguist for the military, and one with a history degree who has opted to be a stay at home mom.
Only one has student loans above $5,000, and he kept it under $10,000. I paid for the community college degrees, and the first semester of school at the school of their choice. Gave them each a laptop computer, and $1,000 to start them off at their upper division school. The rest was on them, and they are all rightfully proud of what THEY accomplished, not what dad paid for!
I put myself through school as a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy for people who opt to go to a small, uber expensive, boutique private college and major in a discipline that has no direct applicability to any type of skill or knowledge that an employer will pay for/hire/employ, while running up student loan balances that represent 5-10 years of fulltime employment earnings potential.
Interesting.
So although you were able to afford to put 4 kids through 2 years of college entirely, you have no sympathy for those who don't have parents who are well off enough to pay for their children's education.
Going to school for something does not mean you're necessarily good at that thing. If he's working at Dunkin Donuts and he does not want to work at Dunkin Donuts, then he needs to do something to change that. OTOH, maybe he likes working at Dunkin Donuts. Some people go through college under the impression that it's something they must do (societal pressures), and come to realize that they don't want to put in the extra effort to move beyond a certain point because they're content where they are.
Bottom line: I would not make any assumptions about this friend of yours who you've seen pictures of on FB. Who knows what's really going on there.
I put myself through school as a kid (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!), so I am not sure I have a lot of sympathy for people who opt to go to a small, uber expensive, boutique private college and major in a discipline that has no direct applicability to any type of skill or knowledge that an employer will pay for/hire/employ, while running up student loan balances that represent 5-10 years of fulltime employment earnings potential.
How much did college cost when you put yourself through it? A couple hundred dollars a semester?
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