College grads sobering up to realities of recession

[Bishopknight]

Heres a good quote from one recent college grad

http://www.slate.com/id/2214712/

"If I were a touch more paranoid, I would think there has been a conspiracy to systematically entrap me and my fellow graduates into an endless cycle of debt. Student loans, buying necessities on credit because the student loan payments bludgeoned my bank account, racking up greater credit card debt than student loan debt, credit scores, having children, taking out another round of loans to pay for their education, wondering if retirement is possible when Social Security is a joke."

I think she hit the nail right on the head.

[pagan]

Unfortunately her epiphany may have come a tad late.

[Squirl]

I read the article, I agree that the system is set up to push people into and endless cycle of debt, but many times that is the choice of the individual. 

Instead of going to a good public university, they go to one of the most expensive private ones with a bad grant program, so they end up taking on massive amounts of debt.  They can do this because it is guaranteed by the federal government.  So they can rack up to $120,000 of debt before they even graduate.  Then I see many choose majors that give them little chance of being employed when they graduate.  If they do get a job, the pay will be low.  Almost no college graduate will make more than $45,000 as a starting salary coming out of college.  That person wouldn't even qualify for a $120,000 mortgage.

Then what many Gen Y people see as "necessities" that they throw on their credit card couldn't be further from them.

The problem is choice.

[MountainDon]

While I have some sympathy for this years college graduates it doesn't go too far in many cases. As Aquirl pointed out I believe it is stupid to take on massive school loans in order to go to the more expensive private schools. If the parents have not saved enough for college while the kids were growing up I believe it to be foolish to go into debt to finance the tuition to anything other than a state college or university. A degree can be a good thing to have, but it need not be gold plated.

In our state of NM a high school graduate can get free tuition to any of the state colleges and universities. Sure you might have to work a job for food, books or lodging, but that's easier to handle than $40K a year in loans. Then, of course students who apply themselves in high school may be eligible for scholarships and grants.

Why do so many commit themselves to this ridiculous student loan burden? Because they are the offspring of equally unthinking parents comes to my mind. Why should we expect the kids to act any different from their parents who have the house they can't afford, drive cars they never own themselves, have homes full of stuff they bought on credit.

Blaming someone else 0r the economy for all their problems disturbs me. Of course it's easy for me to be critical. Easy for me, because other than for our first home and our second rental property we never bought things we could not afford to pay for with cash right then.

[glenn kangiser]

The College good ol' boy system will keep non -grads out of many of the high paying parasitic jobs and many other highly paid professional jobs, but it need not mean failure.

Someone who educates themselves in many other necessary skills can still do better than average.

Our post industrial society is becoming short on jobs for the highly educated and niche markets have a higher chance of success in my humble opinion.