Why did you ever convince me that you were the right choice for a better life? Why do you have so many of your recruiters out there influencing people like me when they are young and easy to persuade. Why do you convince bright high school students that the only option for a prosperous future is to enter into financial death just to find out three quarters of the way through that you’re a waste of money. Why did you fool me into thinking that armed with your degree in bullshit that “one university, one world, mine” is such a great place. I can’t even afford to goto a movie now beaucse of you, I can’t afford to put a drop of gas in my car, I can’t afford to buy proper clothes for the job you afforded me, I can’t afford to move to another city where my degree might possibly pay another 2 dollars more an hour because you have made me so poor beyond belief. My friends who went to college, trade school or just started working when they finished high school now have houses, fancy cars and trips down south… I have five roomates and shop at the dollar store for groceries… because you tricked me. I hate you university. Go to hell.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2008.
I understand your pain. It’s insane the situation that we end up in because we have useless degrees. I realize that we have a choice as to which degree we complete but things keep changing and it’s impossible to keep up on what the ‘hot’ jobs are. I felt the same way that you did until I just had to let it go or die from stressing out about it. Instead I moved to the Arctic where I found a high paying government job so that I can pay off my student loans. It’s sad that a university education doesn’t set us up for at least semi-comfortable life. Maybe try to get the government to sponser you to go to community college and get a trade?Good luck! : )
This is a really terrible truth. I had the delusion that I was getting away from my humble country beginnings t make it rich after getting a degree.Three degrees later I finally managed to get a good job, but was saddled with so much debt it has taken forever to start to catch up with the supposedly dumber good ole boys I left behind.Argh!I finally make significantly better money than they do, I think, but I’m so far behind in starting a life that I don’t feel it will ever be worth it. On the other hand, i could have stayed home and spent my days in a fish plant…So I have that to be thankful for (I think.)It’s really is a Crime that University’s Not Terribly worthwhile.
I definitely know from when this comes. I got my degree back when my career was pretty hot stuff, and it took me a long time to get employed.It seems like the degree might get you in the door for an interview, but even then, work experience and life skills seem more valuable. Still, there are careers out there if you can figure out where to look. Best of luck.
Well, you can all have a laugh at my expense- I got a student loan to go to ART SCHOOL!!! (No, not NSCAD, thank gawd) Plus, I dropped out.On the upside, I can say that I’m ‘self-employed’ instead of ‘sandwich artist’. yuk yuk.
I’ve been hearing this for twenty years, it’s sad, and I can relate to the burden of debt, but I took a trade because I didn’t want to end up deeper in than I am already, and not end up with a job that doesn’t pay me enough to start whacking it back. I still think university is a good idea if your parents can afford it. This time gives you great strength, grasshopper. You’ll get through it, bitch now, but later, you will only regret it for as long as you pay back the loans. And ramen can be pretty versatile, don’t be afraid to experiment.
I am a fan of university for the self exploration time too, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that you can gain that kind of insight from other, and much cheaper, pursuits.
I think university still definatly has merits, but it’s just gotten so freakishly expensive that it’s become impractical. THAT should change, and hopefully before all the bright, non-rich kids depart for other instituations or career paths, leaving higher education filled with nothing but overpriveleged snots who go to Europe over the summer to ‘find themselves’ and use their degree in contemporary studies to get a job at daddies company…or you know, marry rich. whatever.
Tsk tsk Hedgy….you know, you sound a little bitter (little bitter…that’s half a pint, right?) ; )Miles, yeah, better insights may have been achieved through other experiences…..backpacking across Europe, co-partnering in a strip club, buying a homeless person….but I sincerely feel that spending $192 on a textbook (that I looked at 3 times and isn’t re-sellable to next term’s student because they changed one phrase on page 782) was a future well spent. Truthfully, I never thought about “hot jobs”, or I’d be one of many unemployed IT workers. I just did what I damn well wanted. And now: I PAY. dunh dunh duhhhhhh.
yeah, sarcasm doesn’t come across the interweb very well..unless you resort to inane emoticons…
Student Loans fucked my life up!
Though I’m doing OK now, looking back I should have went to trade school (1 year in school, 5 for apprenticeship (getting money), then possibly open your business). By the time you figure out what you like in university (usually 2nd or 3rd year), only then can you look into careers and find out what the going salary is going to be. You can research salaries and try to get your degree in that field but it may not work (either you don’t get it or you don’t like it). When you’re in high school, you don’t know what you want to do let alone what the salaries are of all options. It seems that the recruiters take advantage of this, telling you that university life is great, the degree guarantees you a job, blah blah blah… The university experience is great, but the end result (degree) is crappy nowadays. There are far too many degree handed out and not enough jobs, hence why it is tough to get a job in your field. Over top this, with so many people trying to get the job, the employer can get away with offering a lower salary because really, whoever is offered the position would be stupid to not take it due to the competition; kinda where I fell
Tasha, that was exactly my point too. Go to University because it is what you WANT to do. Not because you feel you have to to get a good job. A “good job” should be something you WANT to go to everyday anyway, and if you think that might be a trade or a store clerk at Wal-Mart or a physics professor, it doesn’t matter. No sense in burying yourself in debt if you are not going to end up doing something you enjoy everyday. University is not for everyone but it is sold to high school students as the only option (especially if you have good grades). We need smart carpenters and plumbers and massage therapists as much as we need smart doctors and lawyers and engineers.
Yup, I was pretty much forced to go to Uni. So I went for eight years and never earned a degree. Mwaaahaahaaa..that’ll teach ’em !!
I agree that the end result for a lot of people in Uni sucks. For this reason, I have decided to work myself to death in an attempt to end up on top. Teaching assistantships, research assistantships..advanced classes ect..You really have to think beyond the the classes and marks, because there are another 200 people just like you, and you have to stand out. I have learned that if you have less than an A- average, and aren’t doing anything else at the university besides your degree, then you are basically screwed for future prospects. I’m (hopefully) headed to grad school, and I am certainly a minority in that I actaully have a shot, because no one fucking tells you what to do! It takes preperation basically from your first semester. People have to figure it out for themselves. That is a fundamental flaw. We need more turthfullness in guidance in the university system.
Hey op, what program did you take and what did you major in? It seem that many Bachelor of Arts students are the ones with no decent jobs in the end.
I paid off my student loan before turning 40!!!! Yay!Of course, my first year tuition back then was about 1600-1800 bucks I think.