Parents cant retire, after kid gets a 190K Media studies degree they cosigned.

[BurnItDwn]

It seems like the penalty for being stupid is too severe IMO. Why do we reward some stupid people with billions, and yet some stupid are more or less broke/poor their whole life?

 

[Zaap]

It seems like the penalty for being stupid is too severe IMO. Why do we reward some stupid people with billions, and yet some stupid are more or less broke/poor their whole life?

Who exactly is stupid rewarded with billions?

 

[Exterous]

Shit... I wanted to be a fucking architect. Couldn't afford five years of school so I ended up working as a professional sales engineer making really good money.

You lucked out - for something like the last 9 out of 10 years its been the degree with the highest unemployment (Georgetown does a study on this every year). Higher than even the much maligned drama, arts and underwater basket weaving degrees. Not to mention the shitty wages. ~$45k starting for someone with a bachelors, masters, 2-4 years experience and has passed their licensing exam. And we can't forget about the liability, work hours and short average employment time issues

 

[SirStev0]

The real problem is that for the last 30, we, as a society, have shoveled the "You Have to Go to College" mentality at every point.
Parents are still doing it. I hear coworkers talk about their HS age kids and how they are prepping for college..

But what are you going to tell them? Used to be people only went to college for education or to train for a career... Now it has become an necessity that "everyone" goes to college.

We made a market (the university/college system) with a huge demand (every kid in 'mercia) and but only a limited amount of viable outcomes.

It is our society that caused this problem. And when are we supposed to tell these kids they have no future?

How are going to tell 14 year olds they don't have any chance to have a real career?
That they shouldn't waste their time on a bs degree, if they aren't smart enough for a degree that pays, they should just skip it and start working at McD's .. because that is the eventual final outcome.

That type of thinking breeds indifference..
Hell, I think the reason we see middle schooler's popping pills is that kids have become smart enough to see how bullshit the system is and are becoming cynical younger and younger.. All this before they develop the rationality to not turn to drugs and wasting their life.

We got to the point as a society that we have too many people and not enough American Dreams Jobs.
And we are still shoveling the College leads to the American dream Bullshit lie.

So what choice do we have?

Do we doom an entire generation? We don't need 100,000 new lawyers and business men and liberal arts majors. And those 100,000 kids aren't smart enough to do science or engineering or medicine.
So we have 100,000 kids who's only employment opportunity is Walmart or McD's.

And people wonder why they start snorting oxycodone they stole from their parents.
I live in Appalachia.. We've been watching this for 3-4 generations now.

Here they don't waste money on college degrees, they wast it on 4 kids before they are 21. And everyone here was on pills.. now they are on heroin.

We don't have a great pyramid to build.. or a Colosseum .. a job for the disposable masses.. We have waterdowned art to the point that it is basically meaningless..
so we don't need artists or painters or sculpters. The lawyers and politicians have sued their way into keeping their jobs necessary, but now we have an excess of lawyers working at Applebee's. And the masses (at least partially due to their communities and parents ignorance) aren't smart enough to be a person of science or medicine.

Rome is falling.. Is burning really the only possibility?

 

[Hugo Drax]

The problem is In America a college degree has become the equivalent of a HS Degree. If Degree inflation continues at this rate, even Fastfood restaurants will start asking for a Degree.

Look at how many people working Minimum wage jobs hold a degree. Soon they will expect it.

 

[unokitty]

The problem is In America a college degree has become the equivalent of a HS Degree. If Degree inflation continues at this rate, even Fastfood restaurants will start asking for a Degree.

Look at how many people working Minimum wage jobs hold a degree. Soon they will expect it.

5000 Janitors with PhDs.

There are 18,000 parking lot attendants in the U.S. with college degrees. There are 5,000 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs. In all, some 17 million college-educated Americans have jobs that don't require their level of education.

Not wishing to overtly offend anyone.

But I've noticed that there is a difference between a well educated person and an intelligent person.

Uno

 

[OverVolt]

The middle class needs a literal slap in the face.

Both the parents that want their kids to go to college at any cost for any degree as well as the students who aren't thinking and just go along through the motions.

Nobody gets a good life without struggling. Auto workers in the 70's had to unionize. Factory workers in the 50's and 60's had returned from WWII. People who went to college in the 70's had to deal with the potential to be drafted.

Its naive and dumb to think that all you need is the degree.

The middle class is making incredibly dumb decisions, my parents included. I've kinda stopped caring and just look out for numero uno. If they haven't learned by that age how life works they never will.

 

[Hugo Drax]

5000 Janitors with PhDs.


Not wishing to overtly offend anyone.

But I've noticed that there is a difference between a well educated person and an intelligent person.

Uno

intelligent people do not need a college degree to make it in the world. They might attend college but it is not a requirement.

 

[Mai72]

In regard to financial success you do not need a college degree. In fact, I would argue that college holds many people back, because they end up playing it too safe in life.

I say this because I know plenty of people who are well off financially without even attending college. I have a friend whose a multimillionaire and he isn't even 40. He never attended college.

Now, learning is important. We should all continue to learn for life. But, this is much different than attending college. For example, say you want to open a small business. What would be better? 1) Go to college, incure $40k in student loan debt while leaning theory that you'll never use in real life? 2) Or, you could take free business classes from sites like Coursera, learn from a mentor, and actually read books on building a successful business. Option #2 is a better option for most people.

Finally, people state that you need to go to college to be successful. But, take away the top earning fields such as Engineering, Doctor, Computer Science and Lawyer. You will see that earning a college degree and being financial successful don't go hand in hand. Are you going to earn a lot of money in education? Social work? Communications?

 

[Mai72]

The real problem is that for the last 30, we, as a society, have shoveled the "You Have to Go to College" mentality at every point.
Parents are still doing it. I hear coworkers talk about their HS age kids and how they are prepping for college..

But what are you going to tell them? Used to be people only went to college for education or to train for a career... Now it has become an necessity that "everyone" goes to college.

We made a market (the university/college system) with a huge demand (every kid in 'mercia) and but only a limited amount of viable outcomes.

It is our society that caused this problem. And when are we supposed to tell these kids they have no future?

How are going to tell 14 year olds they don't have any chance to have a real career?
That they shouldn't waste their time on a bs degree, if they aren't smart enough for a degree that pays, they should just skip it and start working at McD's .. because that is the eventual final outcome.

That type of thinking breeds indifference..
Hell, I think the reason we see middle schooler's popping pills is that kids have become smart enough to see how bullshit the system is and are becoming cynical younger and younger.. All this before they develop the rationality to not turn to drugs and wasting their life.

We got to the point as a society that we have too many people and not enough American Dreams Jobs.
And we are still shoveling the College leads to the American dream Bullshit lie.

So what choice do we have?

Do we doom an entire generation? We don't need 100,000 new lawyers and business men and liberal arts majors. And those 100,000 kids aren't smart enough to do science or engineering or medicine.
So we have 100,000 kids who's only employment opportunity is Walmart or McD's.

And people wonder why they start snorting oxycodone they stole from their parents.
I live in Appalachia.. We've been watching this for 3-4 generations now.

Here they don't waste money on college degrees, they wast it on 4 kids before they are 21. And everyone here was on pills.. now they are on heroin.

We don't have a great pyramid to build.. or a Colosseum .. a job for the disposable masses.. We have waterdowned art to the point that it is basically meaningless..
so we don't need artists or painters or sculpters. The lawyers and politicians have sued their way into keeping their jobs necessary, but now we have an excess of lawyers working at Applebee's. And the masses (at least partially due to their communities and parents ignorance) aren't smart enough to be a person of science or medicine.

Rome is falling.. Is burning really the only possibility?

Sadly, we need people to die. I'm serious about this. There are too many people vying for too little jobs. Look at WW2. Over 405,000 young men died overseas. That means that those people need to be replaced.

Maybe it's one of the reasons America excelled immediately after WW2? Unemployment was probably non-existent during this time.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Sadly, we need people to die. I'm serious about this. There are too many people vying for too little jobs. Look at WW2. Over 405,000 young men died overseas. That means that those people need to be replaced.

Maybe it's one of the reasons America excelled immediately after WW2? Unemployment was probably non-existent during this time.

Except we need MORE people to pay tax. It's conflicting because we desperately need more money for the Social Security pyramid scheme, as well as keeping up with our budget. Yet most of 'merica is a part of the official takers club and not the giving side. So more kids might just mean more problems with more takers.

I'm not sure which would be more ideal at this point....

 

[Ackmed]

Except we need MORE people to pay tax. It's conflicting because we desperately need more money for the Social Security pyramid scheme, as well as keeping up with our budget. Yet most of 'merica is a part of the official takers club and not the giving side. So more kids might just mean more problems with more takers.

I'm not sure which would be more ideal at this point....

Too bad there are too many people on welfare that don't deserve/need it. Not paying taxes all year, then getting 7k back for taxes? Great idea!

 

[Fingolfin269]

The thing that frustrates me most about these stories are that educated parents are allowing this to happen with their own children. Maybe the kid is a rebel and just wanted to do his own thing but as a parent there is no way I would cosign on a 'dream'. You cosign on reality. What are the current degrees with the best chance of success? Is your choice one of those degrees? No? Then enjoy your time there but I'm not gambling $200k with you on a dream.

It's one thing for people like me, who had no guidance going into college, making poor degree path choices early on. But for educated parents who should be smart enough to help their children make wise choices it just does not make any sense to me.

 

[unokitty]

...
It's one thing for people like me, who had no guidance going into college, making poor degree path choices early on. But for educated parents who should be smart enough to help their children make wise choices it just does not make any sense to me.

Along with the not making sense theme...

Did anyone else notice that neither parent in the original article is of retirement age?

One is eight years away. The other is 6 years away. And yet their expectation was that they would be retired by now and 'seeing the world.'

It seems that not only do they not want to be responsible for the educational loans that they co-signed. But they don't want to be responsible for planning their early retirement either...

Is that where US society is now?

Someone else needs to pay for my children's college education.

And that someone else also needs to pay for my early retirement...

Uno

 

[JEDIYoda]

EPIC FAIL.

Parents decided to Co-sign Juniors l33t 4 year degree in Media studies. Junior cannot get employed with worthless degree, now he lives at home and works part time on occasion as a bartender or waiter.

Parents now cannot stop working.

TIP! Never co-sign any college loans, ESPECIALLY if it is a bullshit degree.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/30/reti...&iid=obnetwork

Parents bad!!! What on earth were they thinking??

 

[Mai72]

Except we need MORE people to pay tax. It's conflicting because we desperately need more money for the Social Security pyramid scheme, as well as keeping up with our budget. Yet most of 'merica is a part of the official takers club and not the giving side. So more kids might just mean more problems with more takers.

I'm not sure which would be more ideal at this point....

Good point. We've created generations of people who are solely dependent on the US government. We've created takers. What are they contributing to our great society?

 

[SP33Demon]

The real problem is that for the last 30, we, as a society, have shoveled the "You Have to Go to College" mentality at every point.
Parents are still doing it. I hear coworkers talk about their HS age kids and how they are prepping for college..

But what are you going to tell them? Used to be people only went to college for education or to train for a career... Now it has become an necessity that "everyone" goes to college.

We made a market (the university/college system) with a huge demand (every kid in 'mercia) and but only a limited amount of viable outcomes.

It is our society that caused this problem. And when are we supposed to tell these kids they have no future?

How are going to tell 14 year olds they don't have any chance to have a real career?
That they shouldn't waste their time on a bs degree, if they aren't smart enough for a degree that pays, they should just skip it and start working at McD's .. because that is the eventual final outcome.

That type of thinking breeds indifference..
Hell, I think the reason we see middle schooler's popping pills is that kids have become smart enough to see how bullshit the system is and are becoming cynical younger and younger.. All this before they develop the rationality to not turn to drugs and wasting their life.

We got to the point as a society that we have too many people and not enough American Dreams Jobs.
And we are still shoveling the College leads to the American dream Bullshit lie.

So what choice do we have?

Do we doom an entire generation? We don't need 100,000 new lawyers and business men and liberal arts majors. And those 100,000 kids aren't smart enough to do science or engineering or medicine.
So we have 100,000 kids who's only employment opportunity is Walmart or McD's.

And people wonder why they start snorting oxycodone they stole from their parents.
I live in Appalachia.. We've been watching this for 3-4 generations now.

Here they don't waste money on college degrees, they wast it on 4 kids before they are 21. And everyone here was on pills.. now they are on heroin.

We don't have a great pyramid to build.. or a Colosseum .. a job for the disposable masses.. We have waterdowned art to the point that it is basically meaningless..
so we don't need artists or painters or sculpters. The lawyers and politicians have sued their way into keeping their jobs necessary, but now we have an excess of lawyers working at Applebee's. And the masses (at least partially due to their communities and parents ignorance) aren't smart enough to be a person of science or medicine.

Rome is falling.. Is burning really the only possibility?

Come on brah, Rome isn't burning or falling for those with a brain.
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-jobs-for-people-who-dont-have-a-college-degree-in-2016-2015-12
I'd also like to add to that list - business analyst (friend just got one without a bachelor's and only IT customer service xp), plumber, welder.

 

[OverVolt]

The real problem is that for the last 30, we, as a society, have shoveled the "You Have to Go to College" mentality at every point.
Parents are still doing it. I hear coworkers talk about their HS age kids and how they are prepping for college..

But what are you going to tell them? Used to be people only went to college for education or to train for a career... Now it has become an necessity that "everyone" goes to college.

We made a market (the university/college system) with a huge demand (every kid in 'mercia) and but only a limited amount of viable outcomes.

It is our society that caused this problem. And when are we supposed to tell these kids they have no future?

How are going to tell 14 year olds they don't have any chance to have a real career?
That they shouldn't waste their time on a bs degree, if they aren't smart enough for a degree that pays, they should just skip it and start working at McD's .. because that is the eventual final outcome.

That type of thinking breeds indifference..
Hell, I think the reason we see middle schooler's popping pills is that kids have become smart enough to see how bullshit the system is and are becoming cynical younger and younger.. All this before they develop the rationality to not turn to drugs and wasting their life.

We got to the point as a society that we have too many people and not enough American Dreams Jobs.
And we are still shoveling the College leads to the American dream Bullshit lie.

So what choice do we have?

Do we doom an entire generation? We don't need 100,000 new lawyers and business men and liberal arts majors. And those 100,000 kids aren't smart enough to do science or engineering or medicine.
So we have 100,000 kids who's only employment opportunity is Walmart or McD's.

And people wonder why they start snorting oxycodone they stole from their parents.
I live in Appalachia.. We've been watching this for 3-4 generations now.

Here they don't waste money on college degrees, they wast it on 4 kids before they are 21. And everyone here was on pills.. now they are on heroin.

We don't have a great pyramid to build.. or a Colosseum .. a job for the disposable masses.. We have waterdowned art to the point that it is basically meaningless..
so we don't need artists or painters or sculpters. The lawyers and politicians have sued their way into keeping their jobs necessary, but now we have an excess of lawyers working at Applebee's. And the masses (at least partially due to their communities and parents ignorance) aren't smart enough to be a person of science or medicine.

Rome is falling.. Is burning really the only possibility?

They aren't doomed. Big changes are coming. Thats whats happening. Sure, go work at McDonalds and build up some other job skills. Thats fine. Get a career that does not require academia credentials. This will blow over in a decade. Whatever you do, don't get into huge amounts of non-dischargeable debt.

Young people have had to delay their lives because of stuffy boomers who can't retire. Guess which group wins the waiting game?

The thing is, its derailing young people's lives too. Kids late, house late, car late, savings late.

Thats why I think "$%^& it start working ASAP and saving" is the most important thing to do right now. It'll work out in ~10 years for young people.

The boomers, they have been in control of their own destiny for awhile now. Either you already secured your retirement or its too late and too $%^&in bad that you didn't save enough, or trusted the wrong people with your nest egg, or whatever. Any mistakes they made are their own. Time to own up to where they got themselves in life and stop trying to cling on to a time that is probably 15 years bygone.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

You cant declare bankrupcy like trump does with his gambles.

College debt is forever. and with compounding and penalties they will probably end up owing 400K.

They are morons in co-signing a loan to the dilettante junior so he can do his "Media Studies" degree.

Are they morons, or did they believe the common misconception that every kid needs to go to college? Maybe their kid was so dumb, that's the only degree he could realistically get?