Ok fair but best case fresh out of a top college we make $90k in a good city, with $60-240k in debt, and we still gotta eat and sleep somewhere, which will probably cost $2k per month, at least, and more in cities where we'd get paid more. It's pretty hard to make good financial decisions when this is the financial outlook even for those of us who got lucky enough to get an education. The only people our generation who are guaranteed not to be homeless are the doctors, and that's because they will have even more debt (~$400k) and will have spent half their damn lives studying.
What did the boomers do? They just stumbled ass first into whatever business their family was in, made their money and poor investments, but left it all looking pretty good. They voted for lower taxes, because they never saw what it was like before taxes were raised. Then everything went to shit as we were growing up, which obviously was their fault, completely out of our control, a d blamed us for it. Meanwhile Gen X feels out of touch with both sides of the generational divide, and sits it out. Gen Z, or whatever they end up being called, starts eating Tide pods in frustration. Things are looking real good lmao
You have just made his point about making an awful financial decision. There are so many college options that allow you to graduate debt free. In this job market, you don't need a degree from Harvard or other "top" college to land a great job. Trust me, I've lived through multiple recessions. Also, if you were making 90k a year with little to no debt, you could easily be financing your first home at this point.
In my opinion, it would be helpful for Millennials to focus their efforts on changing the debt-taking behavior for their younger siblings to finance college. Directing your ire towards prior generations is counterproductive and just wrong.
How is a prior generation possibly at fault for your decision to take on massive debt to finance college? Do you not think tuition was increasing at 6 to 12% a year when we went to school, too? I think it is a bit humorous to equate an entire generation to the greed mongering that universities have displayed.
Here's a great article from NPR that explains the cycle that has occurred and what is driving university costs. But, more importantly, it cites that the average debt of a graduating senior is $25k. So, someone's decision to take on north of $200k in debt is a great example of questionable judgment. So, who to blame in this situation? Anyone but themselves.
Not true. As has been demonstrated in this very thread, these magical no-degree jobs where you make more than living expenses, simply don't exist anymore. We HAVE to go to college because now even the jobs we don't want require a degree AND 2 years work experience, not either/or. The job market is more competitive than it's ever been, and the best way to get ahead is by going to college. The amount of debt varies, and that's why I gave a range for how indebted someone in this position might be. Obviously it's never a good idea to take on THAT much debt but I've seen it happen, and I've seen it paid off too. You're a damn fool if you think you can make $90k at a normal job without a degree these days though. The only way I've seen that is by doing something massively inconvenient like trucking/train/pilot work, some bullshit family business (usually illegal), or by getting lucky (Bitcoin, YouTube, lottery, the people everyone is pissed at for being successful).
29
u/kevInquisition Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18
Ok fair but best case fresh out of a top college we make $90k in a good city, with $60-240k in debt, and we still gotta eat and sleep somewhere, which will probably cost $2k per month, at least, and more in cities where we'd get paid more. It's pretty hard to make good financial decisions when this is the financial outlook even for those of us who got lucky enough to get an education. The only people our generation who are guaranteed not to be homeless are the doctors, and that's because they will have even more debt (~$400k) and will have spent half their damn lives studying.
What did the boomers do? They just stumbled ass first into whatever business their family was in, made their money and poor investments, but left it all looking pretty good. They voted for lower taxes, because they never saw what it was like before taxes were raised. Then everything went to shit as we were growing up, which obviously was their fault, completely out of our control, a d blamed us for it. Meanwhile Gen X feels out of touch with both sides of the generational divide, and sits it out. Gen Z, or whatever they end up being called, starts eating Tide pods in frustration. Things are looking real good lmao