Bachelors
College Loans – The Future of American Education
Nov 21st
I speak from experience. I went to college for Electrical Engineering. It cost, in all, about $120,000. Paying back that amount of money requires a substantial income. The income must cover the bills first. It must cover the car lease, which is $150 per month. The car insurance, which is ~$200 per month. It must cover the health insurance, which is $250 per month. It must cover the cell phone bill, which is $150 per month because I pay for my parents phones that are on my account. It must pay for gas, which is about $100 per month. It must cover food, which can be upwards of $250-300 per month. All in all this translates to $1,125 per month. And this is not including rent, and I’m lucky that I live at home!! Rent, unless you are sharing a room with a roommate, can be hundreds of dollars a month.
Ok, I understand that college loans are the gateway to an education; but what is the ultimate goal of that education? If we lived in a social society; ie… socialism, then the education would be for a job to contribute to society. But no, we live in a capitalistic society, where the whole point of education is for yourself. Capitalism, in its nature is cut throat. Everyone is out for themselves. Therefore the $120,000 loans must be repaid, and from the perspective of the loaners the money must be paid back quick. Therefore would you not think it is in the best interest of the companies, that issue college loans, to get the student a well paid job subsequent to their college experience? No, the loaners do not do anything. They just want to get paid. They do not help, and neither does the college. How can a college ask for such money, and then expect it to be paid by an entry level employee making $25,000 per year. 25k per year is about $1400 a month. If that kids bills are $1,125 just to live at home that kid has $275 per month to pay the loan. This kid will have no savings what so ever until the loan is payed off. Lets say times are tough; for example right now in America as of 11/21/2009. Jobs of a high salary most likely won’t be around for some time. The kid will work the current salary for 5 years. That means in five years the kid will have paid $275 times 60 months. $16,500 will be paid over that five years. The kid will still have over $100,000 to pay off. If the kid never gets a better job then he will be paying his school loan for 36.36 years. YES 36.36 years. Incredible what a college education gets you. Imagine that you went to school, costing $120,000, and it was for an English undergraduate degree. You never pursue a masters or PhD. You never want to become a teach, but you still have the college degree and the debt. You will be working for 36.36 years to pay that debt, and you will never have any savings what so ever toward retirement. You will be over 50 years old with nothing in the bank, and you will still be living at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, $25,000 is a lot of money. Compared to the rest of the Americas 25k is tremendous. In Mexico the minimum wage is about $4.25 per day. Therefore in Mexico the average worker make about $1000 USD per year. This would take 25 years to make. Therefore a worker in the us making 25k a year, makes 25x (times) the salary of an average Mexican worker. Clearly the situation is complex, and fucked up from a variety of aspects. On one hand 25k a year is a mind boggling amount of money, on the other hand, in the US you will be living at home until you are over 50 years old, with no savings, and a useless college education stamped on a $120,000 piece of paper.
Where is everything going? Where is the economy heading? There is a lot of money in this country, but there are many things to consider. One would image that having a college education should dictate a high salary than the average American. It no longer guarantees this. A college education has become the status quo. It has become a high school diploma. You must have one, but it doesn’t really help unless your comparing yourself with someone that does not have one. Years, maybe decades ago $25,000 a year jobs were for lucky high school graduates. Nowadays the high school graduates are shit out of luck (SOL). The jobs are going to student with bachelors degrees that have been out competed with regard to a 50k job.
So how about that college loan? Was it worth it? Will it be worth it? Will you be the lucky one to get a reasonable job to pay off your loan before you turn 50? Will you have savings? Will you be living at home for way too long?
Will companies issue college loans help out the students? Shouldn’t it be an obligation to help the student get a job to pay their loan? How are people paying these huge loans? I consider myself a relatively conservative person, very much unlike most Americans. A typical college graduate wants to spend money, buy things, and have stuff. What do the loan companies do when no money is paid at all? I would imagine this is the case for millions, if not billions of dollars in loans given each year. How are people paying back loans given the lack of jobs?
What will happen? Where is this country heading?
Work Experience – Bachelors Degree – Entry Level
Dec 30th
If you have recently graduated with a Bachelors degree your only hope for employment is an entry level position. Entry level, for most companies, has nothing to do with the primary objective of the company. For instance you many end up in the technology procurement department, purchasing products for the companies manufacturing purposes. Or you may end up doing some rudimentary data entry, or frivolous task such as getting coffee. Does any College provide experience? Should a college provide experience? I spent over $100,000 on college, and they provided zero experience. Obviously technical schools provide real work experience, but the credentials associated with that type of education are not declared a traditional/formal Bachelors. The best use I have for my Bachelors degree is meeting Graduate School requirements. Are we in a saturated market? A market where a recent Bachelors graduate must achieve greater educational credentials to acquire even a moderately respectable job. Entrepreneurs, that will not be happy with an entry level position, must go to Graduate School for a Masters degree in order to achieve anything substantial.
Monster – Useless for Entrepreneurs – Employers Want Drones
Dec 25th
My experience on Monster.com, and other internet based resume systems is that employers are looking for people with no brains. They want people that will do anything, and question nothing. They want drones. They want slaves. For $25,000 a year for an entry level position, getting someone coffee, or doing some rudimentary tasks. Speaking for all Engineering graduates of the past several years, we want to show employers how smart we are. We want to be professionals, and this is the very reason we became engineers. We do not want to be lackys, we want to express our business desires and concepts in an effort to better ourselves and achieve economic profit. Shouldn’t a company want its employees to express their ideas? Having more perspectives should promote better projects, and avoid errors; but when an entry level employee has a professional idea they are shot down being rejected prior or subsequent to the interview process. These are the jobs that are most available to recent Bachelors graduates. We have to submit our resumes via online systems, in such a fashion that they are compared to countless competing applicants. The market is saturated with more and more people and the selection process is becoming increasingly discriminatory. Overall my personal opinion that a Bachelors degree is completely useless if you have any desire to achieve something substantial with your life. You NEED a Masters, and likely a Phd. A BACHELORS IS USELESS and nobody will take you seriously as a professional. Nobody will listen to your ideas. Nobody will give you credit. All you will do, with a Bachelors degree, is SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! In America you have to be privileged to be an Entrepreneur. You have to either have some sort of connection, or substantial financial resources. Otherwise having dreams of businesses, inventions, and services is a pipe dream.
