Okay you Boomers, clear out the cobwebs in the basement, Johnny's coming home after college and he ain't got no job! The Link
The other normal is Johnny getting a decent paying job and having Mom/Pop move into his basement/spare bedroom b/c they lost all of their retirement money and their house was foreclosed on when they lost their job and the market tanked.
Young people are getting squeezed harder than ever - no question about it. The job prospects are tough, but I think the biggest problem is tuition and living expense for a student. Case in point - my own dad. He went to college at Cal (Berkeley) in the late '60s. His folks were pretty well off and paid for his first year. However, when he came home for the summer, his dad (a career Naval officer and WWII veteran) caught him with a copy of Chairman Mao's "Little Red Book." That was the end of the financial support. However, my dad got a part-time job scooping ice cream, and his rock band hustled and got gigs most weekends. Combined, he made enough to keep him in a dorm, feed him, pay his tuition, pay for his books, and have his dorm stocked with Lowenbrau (which was very expensive beer back then) most of the time. He graduated with no support in his last three years and no debt. Now that tuition, books, and living expenses can easily reach $20K per year or more (and sometimes dramatically more), a kid could never do what my dad did. Furthermore, most parents can't even afford to make a dent in a tuition bill that high. That leaves kids with no choice but to rack up tens of thousands in student loan debt, so what happens when they get out? The job market stinks, but even if they find a good but entry level job, they're going to struggle. The combination of taxes and the student loan payment are brutal. If you get out of school making $35K per year, you're probably living with mamma or in a very cheap apartment. I know a guy who went to law school at Baylor, and he's got about $100K in debt (counting undergrad and law). He got a decent entry level law job that pays about $90K per year, but after taxes and after paying his student loan bill each month, he doesn't take home very much. He gets by OK, but it feels more like $50K per year did 10 years ago. He rents a modest house with a roommate and drives a four year old Mazda 3. Nothing wrong with that, but 10 years ago, he could have afforded to buy his own house and drive a pretty nice car. Like the health care issue, the medicine to fix the problem is tough. We need to get rid of the federal student loan program. The only reason colleges get away with financially sodomizing its students and their families is that students can get the credit, and the only reason they get the credit is the government artificially enables it. Take the government out of the equation, and the schools will get very reasonable with the tuition very fast. Once that happens, kids will be able to live a respectable life on a professional but entry level job.
gecko jr came home from UT in January and he has a job. He's chillin' here while he builds up some cash. He could move out at any time....but as long as he's banking the $800 he'd be spending on rent he's welcome.
Exactly what I did wewokahorn. Got the basics out of the way and transferred to UT. Lived at home and worked to pay for my time at UT, granted a 12 hour semester was only about $250 when I started at UT in 1983. Helluva lot more now. There's definintely options out there.
you can thanks the state regulations and increased paper pushers for the exponential rising cost of college tuition. going out of state will cost most people 50k a year once expenses are counted.
Tuition has certainly skyrocketed. What it should change is a person's approach to college courses. You are going to take a harder look at the jobs that will be available for your degree before you start. Less will go out of state and more will opt for local colleges where they can live at home. But the point of this thread isn't about that. It is about Johnny coming back to home after college b/c he can't find a job or he can't fine a job that pays a living wage and he is sandbagged with student loan debt that he has literally no choice. This is based on the article which menitoned the % of 18-34 year old that are moving back in with parents. It doesn't say they just graduated from college. In fact many of those are young adults who never went to college or never finished college and just can't find a job that will support themselves right now. So I think we have taken an unnecessary leap and an unnecessary tangent. Also, the unemloyment rate for that age group seems to be slowly going down.
I think actually that is the point of the thread. Yes It is more difficult to get a great paying job right now. However, it starts with earlier decisions. I wanted to play professional baseball. However, I realized at 16 that the oddes were stacked against me. So I started working and saving money. When I was accepted to UT,I was forced to live off campus in a one bedroom apartment with three people. I worked throughout college, never went on Spring Break, worked every summer, took lower level courses at community college, rarely ate out and studied hard late at night and weekends. This minimized the amount I borrowed. When it came time to declare a major, I went to the job boards at the business school. My degree was selected for that reason. I had no intention of staying in that line of work, but knew I could get a job and go from there. There are no rules that say you must live on campus, join a fraternity/sorority, drive a nice car, eat out for dinner, go to Padre for SB, or take it easy in the Summer. Hell, there is no reason that you have to go to the most expensive, well known school you get accepted at. I know many well to do people who attended the smaller state schools on a less expensive track. We get resumes from college graduates all the time with their biggest accomplishment being social officer at delta delta delta and a marketing degree. They are of no value,especially in today's economy. However, kids who have a work history, a degree in engineering, accounting, etc have skills we can use.
Certainly you would like to see colleges have some bit of interest in what kind of debt they are loading on a kid and how they can manage costs. Seems just the opposite. Even if you get a good deal on tuition,they require a lot of texts and with publishing so easy these days, the textbook writers are prone to reprint every year. You could buy last year's book -- but what kid wants to take that risk at the start of the semester.
My BIL went to a good four year school, graduated with no debt, and is now staying with us. He can eventually make a decent living with his degree but he will have to work his way up and that takes time. Another problem is that colleges are graduating more kids with certain degrees than there are jobs available. I have heard lawyers complain about this and it is true in education as well. Lots of people with education degrees (not math or science) that are working for 9/hr right now. I actually had an intern change her major to nursing because she was able to see that getting a teaching job would be much harder - smart girl.
wewok and UT1986, You guys are absolutely right. Going to community college and living with mom and dad while in school is MUCH smarter. I lived with mom and dad the entire time I was in college. I took a couple of summer courses in community college, but the only reason I didn't do all of my basics in community college is because UTD (where I got my undergrad) was cheap when I was in school. If I was student now, I would NEVER spend four years in a university. No chance in hell. Colossal waste of money. Living away on your own in college is also usually a waste. Sometimes it's unavoidable (if your parents don't live near a college), but if you can live at home, you should. Obviously it costs a lot less, but parents keep you in line. So many students nowadays basically major in cheap redneck beer and slutty chicks. That's a lot harder to do with mom and dad in the next room.
I don't know why they always say it's the basement, I only go down to ours when I need a drink. I commute an hour each way so I can stay with my parents, not because I have to, but more because I'm a huge cheap *** and love saving that money. With my income and winnings, figure I'll get my pilot license and enhance my less than impressive resume.
When I transferred to UT in 1979 from West Point, my books cost more than my tuition. Ms. Namewithheld is going to Alabama this fall which is out of state for us (we don't live in Texas). Because of her ACT and academic record Alabama is waiving her tuition which is $21k per year. However with books/fees, room/board, parking and joining a Sorority it is still $14k per year! Of course when you live off of campus your room/board will go down, probably substantially. I truly believe the schools have been given a pass and they were not under any pressure to hold costs down due to "cheap" money through school loans. That is the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
"So many students nowadays basically major in cheap redneck beer and slutty chicks. That's a lot harder to do with mom and dad in the next room." LOL Mr. Deez. I had already sowed most of my wild oats while in high school, so when I did shuffle off to Austin, I was getting down to business and studying the majority of the time. I knew this homey couldn't work with his hands for a living, so I better use my brain wisely and get a degree that I could use. Of course graduating in 1986 with a Geology degree would have gotten you the assistant cook at McDonalds. Luckily, found a gig working offshore and learned the "awl bidness" as they say. Still had time at UT for a few slutty chicks, but not the cheap redneck beer. Oh no, me and my buddies were into import beers. We used to hang at Maggie Mae's when it was a little dive pub, pounding down pints of ales, not the swingin' place it became years later.
The cost of tution is starting to make kids really question if a degree is actually worth it. is it worth it? Fields like medicine, the sciences, engineering do need a lot of advanced learning. My younger brother has been to 4 years undergrad, 4 years medical school, in his second year of residency with, I think, 3 or 4 more to go. It's obvious that a surgon needs a lot of training/schooling. Myself on the other hand, I worked in the financial services industry for 12 years before starting my own company. Had I spent my college years in my current profession, I could have started my own firm before I did. I will say this though, at NO time have I ever wanted to move back home. You can't really "grow up" if you're still living with your parents. Banking the money you'd be spending on an apartment or a shared apartment is great, but what are you really learning?
I didn't have debt when I graduated 22 years ago. Did my dad help me? Yep. With the basics. Did I go on expensive spring break trips? My next will be my first. I went home and worked construction every Xmas break, spring break, summer break. Worked part time in college. Didn't join the expensive greek system (nothing wrong with that, though). My first two years out of college I made $16k per year. I lived in a tiny apartment with a mattress on the floor, a few pillows and a TV. I had VERY little disposable income. So I didn't go out much. So what?k Still met plenty of chicks and enjoyed being single and independent for the first time.
i think we should go the way of other countries, create more trade schools and leave college to the highly academic, highly professional disciplines, engineering, science, math, business, medicine and law. we are creating a generation of 100k debt holders with a degree in womens studies. i dont have anything against womens studies but it seems to me you dont need a degree in it. certainly not a 100k debt that you wont be able to pay back and future obligation the rest of us have to pay when sallie mae eventually goes belly up.
