<p>’“One in two,” which is fifty percent (50%) or one-half of all new graduates (just in case your mathematics / numerical thinking skills are suffering from being out of college so long) is far too many to blame it on the underemployed/unemployed themselves.’</p>
<p>I 100% agree with this. </p>
<p>There will and has always been students behind the ball but I argue that on average, today’s graduating student has worked a lot harder than most students of the past.</p>
<p>Additionally, there was some study that came out that stated that we will be the 1st generation that is poorer than our parents. Trust me, it’s not for a lack of effort on our part. </p>
<p>I’d rather turn this ridiculous bash the student who can’t find a job thread into a bash the baby boomers thread lol.</p>
<p>One of my friends has a D living in NYC and trying to make it on Broadway (yikes–talk about a low probability situation!). She has 5 part time jobs–2 as a waitress, dog walking, house sitting, and babysitting. So I know that the younger generation knows how to work.</p>
<p>On the other hand, another of my friends has a S who will be looking for a corporate job after graduating next year. His mother suggested Costco (GREAT company), but he nixed it. Everyone has to start at the company by working a year on the floor in a store and he says that “I didn’t go to college for 4 years to work at a Costco store.” Of course maybe by the end of next year, he’ll be clamoring to work there…</p>
<p>The other big elephant in the room that’s only being glance at on occasion is the gigantic average student loan debt which has become a problem within the last decade and can only be compared to the extreme worst loan cases back when I attended college in the '90s. </p>
<p>Student loans were already a serious issue when I was in college…but is nowhere near as bad as what students even from local state/city universities are handling these days. </p>
<p>Students also have a much higher proportion of loans than in my college days because of drastic cuts to Federal/state educational FA funding and increased bureaucratic hurdles to qualify for whatever FA/college scholarship money is left. That and the reduction in state/Federal subsidies for public educational systems meant skyrocketing tuition rate increases with declining levels of academic staff/services/support for students due to budgetary concerns. </p>
<p>This is one big reason why many younger working-class/lower-middle class friends/acquaintances have much greater loan debtloads than most such classmates who were my contemporaries in college. </p>
<p>While I graduated debt-free from undergrad myself, that was because I was lucky to have had a near-full ride scholarship, the technical/academic skillsets to work part-time/summers in relatively high paying gigs, and fortunate to attend college when annual tuitions weren’t $20k+ for state and $50k+ for private schools. </p>
<p>Moreover…sometimes state universities aren’t always a bargain even within the last decade as a mother of a 2007 grad recounted when she said one T-30 offered so much in FA/scholarship money that attending the local state universities would have been far more expensive…especially given their academic quality.</p>
<p>I wonder how the classes of 2009 and 2010 are doing…as hard as the hiring market is now, it was absolutely moribund in those years! At least now the economy is lurking forward, glacially slow perhaps, but moving forward.</p>
<p>Whatdid you- go ahead and bash the boomers. Except that if you really want to find a job, most of us here will have practical advice on doing that.</p>
<p>Fa-la-la- Kudos to you! You have described my son as if you know him. It is heartening to hear that he is not alone, not that it makes it any easier. Hopefully S2 will learn from his mistakes. I wish you the best of luck. You are a very astute young adult.</p>
<p>Emaheevul07–podunk suburb and you can’t find an apartment for under $1000/month. Doesn’t sound very podunk to me. I lived in the middle of no where, in the largest town around of 10,000 people. Starting salaries in that area now are around $35,000 for a “business” type job, about $28,000 for a new teacher. A NICE 2 bedroom apartment runs $450, free parking with a garage but walking distance to pretty much everywhere. Bus service in town picks you up at your front door if you want, 50 cents/ride. Major employer is a multi-billion dollar international company with huge advancement potential and excellent benefits–but it’s not Chicago so I bet you didn’t look there, right? Again, exactly my point. Why are you still living in that expensive area if you can’t afford to live there?</p>
<p>cobrat–average student loan debt is half the average starting salary. When I graduated from college the average student loan debt was about 90% of average starting salary (and 100% of my starting salary). The number is just bigger today, not the percentage. Yes, you hear the horror stories of the Art History majors with with $200,000 in loans but average is $24,000. It’s not the “crisis” everyone is making it out to be. That sum is easily paid off in under 5 years, or less.</p>
<p>My first mortgage was at 12.5% and adjusted UPWARDS after a year. My private tuition loans clocked in at 9%. My bank had a wonderful feature where you could stop paying during a maternity leave- fortunately I read the fine print and saw how quickly the interest on the non-paid portion of the loan would accrue. My maternity leaves averaged 3 weeks for that reason (including 2 C-sections.)</p>
<p>I am not unsympathetic. But seems like there is a nice group of “trying to be helpful” parents here, and not enough, “I’m trying to get a job working for a historical society as an archivist- do any of you have any suggestions” type of kids posting.</p>
<p>My niece has not found a job in her field but she is not willing to look outside her home city. Boyfriend, family are considerations…I think she could find something if she were more flexible.</p>
<p>Blossom–I had forgotten…our first house was purchased in that awful inflationary period as well. We bought a TINY fixer-upper, but it was still better than paying rent. And eventually we refinanced.</p>
<p>blossom–our first house we got lucky and got a mortgage at an unheard of 7%. The scuttlebutt on the news was that they would never see rates that low again. My student loans (GSL loans at the time) from the federal government were at 8%. I remember laughing when I signed them at the 8% because my sister had just bought a house at 16%. I paid for my own schooling, all of it, mostly loans and scholarships and had every dime paid back in under 4 years. I have a hard time feeling sorry for kids today who want it all to start after their parents paid for a good portion of their college to begin with.</p>
<p>I’m currently living in a town of 2500, you can rent a place here for under $300/month. If you don’t mind a trailer…probably $250. Of course, I won’t claim that they’re “nice”.</p>
<p>By the time I moved here, I had a decent income, so I have a 3BR + loft + bonus room with 2 baths, a 2 car attached garage and a sun porch on 1.25 acres of land that I paid just over 100K for, but not everyone would be comfortable standing on their porch listening to the cows on the other side of the highway. (That makes my mortgage < $1000/month)</p>
<p>I’m out my door to my desk in 20 minutes as a contractor to the federal government. There are over 3000 employees here, so there are jobs for those that don’t mind podunk. Of course a lot of those are jobs in STEM fields.</p>
<p>jrcsmom–when I first started looking at apartments we stopped by to visit the parents of a college friend that lived in a town nearby, all 200 people in that town. He showed us a couple apartments there for $75/month, seriously. They were second story apartments over shops in “downtown”. COOL apartments. Then told us about a house he had for sale, cute 1 1/2 story, dormers, etc. for $2500. Yes Two Thousand, Five Hundred. Tempted to buy it but didn’t want the 20 mile commute in the winter. That same house was up for sale not long ago for $10,000.</p>
<p>mommusic- my son is very inflexible as well. For now. I am hoping that as time goes on and he realizes that our area is not a hot-bed of technology with jobs abounding that he will see that he has to look outside the box. His first interview that was posted as the local office of a national corporation turned out to be for an opening out west. Even if he had been offered the job, he would not have ventured so far on his own, at that point in the process. I am hoping that as time goes on he wises up & changes his very limited parameters. I don’t think he is mature enough/confident enough to be able to pick up and go so far right now. Time will tell. I am trying to remain calm and hopeful. Not easy.</p>