Bury Me In A $70,000 Hole
What Was I Thinking?
A 70k Debt Slave
My parents only presented and promoted 1 option for me and my sisters. Go to college. Now me being a 17 year old impressionable and wanting to honor my parents wishes type of kid, I robotically took the only option. I was a bohemian at heart but let's just say I was years off from realizing that I needed to be Earl and not Earl's Parents. You could say I was a baby boho.
Fast forward four years and I was fresh off the boat so to speak. I had no clue in the world what I wanted or needed to be doing. I even turned down a job offer I had once wanted because I no longer wanted to do that. I was lost and furious.
So you tell me our whole lives we are convinced to pay stacks of money to go to school even when we have no clue of what it is we will do once we complete our schooling?
Sounds like a scam to me.
Dude seriously what did I learn at a university that I couldn't learn myself with all this shiny new tech? In hindsight I wouldn't have went to college just to be going. I'm an artist. So If I did go to any type of schooling it would've been in the arts. Either that or I would've did what I felt like was inevitable anyways by starting a business, which I actually did a couple of months after getting out of college.
I know many people can relate to this. According to a recent article there are now roughly 44 million Americans in student loan debt. 44 MILLION!!!! SMDH. That's totaling $1.48 trillion. It will never be paid off. I promise you that. I honestly don't believe education is that expensive and I bought into the hype.
70k sounds like a heck of alot for a fall back plan or any kind of plan for that matter. It's ludicrous. Now I am enslaved to that loan until I either spend an eternity paying it back or settling, which I would rather do. Let's just hope this crypto rocket will take me far enough to pull it off. At this point I've just been deferring because I just can't come to grips with spending 300+ dollars every month for something that I'm not even using. I have intentions on paying everything back but I'm willing to do it on my terms. Or at least that's the plan. I want to hear what yall have to say about student loan debt.
Are you in debt from student loans?
Will the system collapse on itself?
What are some alternatives to going to college?
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When it comes to things like this, it makes me glad that i live in Australia. Though tertiary education is not free, the government puts it on a super low interest/no interest loan that you don't ever have to pay for unless you earn over a certain amount per annum (i think it's 46k).
And same thing in Australia in regards to too much importance put into going to uni but starting at about 2000 the government started realising the bloat occuring in the universities and started getting highschools to concentrate more and more on tradescrafts so it's not as bad as some places.
I have friends who moved to Australia. I am from California. My friend graduated as a Physical Therapist Assistant. I am one too. That is about $30,000 in the hole for the both of us for a 15 months program. His wife from Australia is a Dietitian who did not pay a cent for her education. God bless America indeed...Haha. Well my friend worked his butt off for one year doing home health and paid off his $30K. I get people asking if I want to get my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. You serious? That is 3 more years of education plus more years for the prerequisites. It is about $100,000!!! Some Physical Therapist Assistance make as much as a Doctor of Physical Therapy or more at times! No way Im putting my family and myself in a $100,000 hole.
Fyi: Dave Ramseys got a program to help people snowball their way out of debt. There are couples who have Thousands of dollars of debt and managed to pay it off in a few years. It takes alot of effort and sacrifice. Just a heads up for people who are reading this. There is hope. We are on the program but not as strict. I have 2 kids so it threw a wretch in the works. The Lord will provide. Lol.
yup..from what I've been hearing lately Oz is a wonderful place.
enjoy it.
That's crazy. I didn't know that's how it is in Australia. Trades are good too. The U.S education system is BIG business. I hope for reform but I doubt it due to the billions of dollars being made off of it.
https://steemit.com/esteem/@sunsetover/the-greedy-mouse-426233e5ba88
Sadly, education seems to have become an evil vicious cycle that serves as little more than a way to trap young people for a couple of decades.
The system that now exists is such that you can't even get an interview for something much above a minimum wage grunt job unless you "have a college degree." So we're sold on the idea- much as you were- that we just "have to" if we want any alternative to getting out of the low level grind.
Meanwhile, the cost of a college education has increased by 2.5 times the rate of inflation over the last 30 years. The days where you could realistically "work your way through school" are long gone. Unless you're a trust fund baby or happen to have a "rich uncle" you pretty much HAVE to take out loans. So you're hosed. We have two kids (26 and 29) who are gainfully employed but they are buckling under the weight of their education loans. And that's just messed up!
On top of which, now that everybody has a college degree, it no longer gives you an advantage, so you don't even have any sort of guarantee that you can get a good job! Our oldest is a seasonal parks and rec maintenance worker, for Pete's sake!
And here's where I think it will come back and bite us in the butt: 30 years ago, when you were 26 or 30, you were starting to save to buy a house. Starting to perhaps invest a little, with an eye towards (early?) retirement. Now? Not only will home ownership start dropping (causing a housing glut) but people will be ill prepared to ever retire.
I know it's a popular perspective (especially here on "liberty oriented" Steemit) to condemn the government and insist that the answer to our ills is the capitalist system and private enterprise. I have to wonder, though; whenever certain basic human services (education, health care and prisons come to mind) are allowed to be "for profit" it seems that the users of those systems end up getting the short end of the stick.
Wow you read my mind. Getting a degree is like buying a carton of milk now. Anyone can do it so it makes it less valuable. Then on top of that companies tell you "you have to have experience for this job". How in the world do they expect people fresh out of college to already have experience.
The trend of renting where you live is steadily increasing. I have no intentions of owning a house.
And I agree with your mention on capitalism and private enterprise. I've heard many people argue that capitalism happens to be the most efficient way to get goods to people. Do you agree and if not what do you think is an alternative to it?
One of the cruelest aspect about it is that even though they do next-to-no research to qualify you for a loan, they'll let you borrow tens of thousands of dollars. That's crazy! You can't even get a junker car without having them run a credit check.
The reason they do this is because there's an exception for students loans, bankruptcy doesn't cancel them out! All those other loans can be cancelled out by filing bankruptcy, but the ones given to unqualified, un-vetted young people are the ones that don't get cancelled by it. It's a system that's built to keep people in bondage to that debt. It's wrong.
Broo!! That's crazy! They loan you all that money at the drop of a dime without very little qualifications. This just shows how money hungry this beast is.
Unfortunately, most young folks in America are brainwashed into the "you need to go to college" narrative that is simply burying them in debt, which then creates a whole slew of problems for the next generation moving forward as well as American society in general. True education is never-ending, and most likely in 20 years you will have forgotten most of what you were taught at university, or find that it was totally irrelevant to your current work.
The student debt ticking time bomb will explode as the ROI from that certificate is not currently there for most young people who pursue it! Many degrees are relatively useless as well as most people still have to be trained to do whatever role they are hired to do, depending on the industry. At that moment, if you are in that camp, you will realize that you just wasted 4-5 years of your life, acquired a mountain of debt, for something that you were capable of doing straight out of high school, other than the fact that your employer required you to have a (pricey) degree. In the end, it's just a way to filter people out, and very expensive if you are indoctrinated in the U.S.!
Conclusion: People contemplating college should look at other alternatives before taking on that debt time bomb! There are many out there, and many have already been mention in this comment section.
Bachelors degrees are essentially useless now because anyone can get one. I know the feeling of having wasted my time.
I'm with you all the way.
I should have added this.
I will make a video, or write an article about schooling vs. education and why young people should really consider not burying themselves in debt just because society tells them to college or else they won't have a future. Collectively, society is not that bright when it comes to the financial system because it is not taught in schools (intentionally) and it is costing young folks big time!
This is a great article. I feel everything that you are saying. I have a Masters Degree and to Bachelors and if someone told me getting a $150 Boxing certification would have given me the life that is has there is no way I would have considered college. I currently own two gyms and have about $1,000 invested into my fitness education whereas I'm $65,000 in the hole with my Masters Degree. I should have totally avoided the whole Masters Degree. I haven't used it yet and suspect since I'm self employed I won't. I come to understand that they're other ways to make a great career without going into massive student loan debt. You feel like college has become more of a business this an education system. The cost to get a degree is constantly rising. When will it stop? Again great article.
Good for you brother. Glad to see you made business moves. But like you said that didn't require a 65k Masters. Man as you know college is nothing more than BIG business. Watch the Ivory Tower documentary if you can find it. It basically explains the rising debt and the business of it all.
Thanks bro for stopping by.
Hear this from a boy who dedicated his life to reading and studying , from a guy who took his books really seriously , from a guy who always topped his class and from a guy who graduated with the best cgpa in his department...
school is a scam my brother...
I say this boldly because I really can't figure out what I learnt in school that I wouldn't learn on my own right now. After 5 years in the university as an electrical engineering student, I graduated with the best result but couldn't wire my own house. Basic things I should know in the practical world as an electrical engineer, I had no idea about and I really felt so stupid when I graduated. Had to pay extra fees to learn that from people who had been practicing . Now tell me...was the fees I paid in school a waste and was the time I spent in lecture rooms a waste? Imagine if I had spent 5 years of my life learning a skill or two?
Those who end up inventing things are people who had time to focus on what they have passion for. But school takes that time from us and gives us the illusion if a better life after graduation. Now I have graduated and cant even get a decent job. Still struggling to survive simply because those who get the jobs are people who know people . It's a messed up world and all we can hope is for things to become better with time.
Man thanks for understanding. You always share amazing thoughts. I agree it's a BIG scam. Especially in the U.S. It's nothing more than big business and it's a way for them to profit off of us.
That's why Steemit is so important because not only can you learn so many things but you can also get paid at the same time. It takes hard work for sure but it's an alternative to the current education system.
I hate to hear your struggle. That's why it hurts even more because so many people pour their lives in to education only to get out and can't make a living. It's a shame.
The Student dept crisis is out of control! We essentially convince minors, without much real word experience, to sign their lives away without any second thought. So much of the rhetoric is about how essential a higher education is for future life success. When it's not always necessarily true.
Look at me. I dropped out of college and went on to create the successful Philip DeFranco show, with now over 6 million subscribers on Youtube!
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I didn't realize you were on steemit?! I used to watch your shows all the time - do you upload to dtube?
And your story is more common now than ever. It just shows that things are changing and people are consuming knowledge outside of campuses. Big ups to you!
@humanearl, I Agreed your totally points. Currently higher education is a main point of life success. Parents must do activity to educate their children. Primary education would be important to grow children's brain power. In fact child known what's skills his/her has. It decide future goals. So primary education exactly helpful for higher education. The School of Education prides itself on providing the latest in classroom technology to ensure that children embark on your work experience in schools with the utmost confidence, and to give them a head start in their first teaching post. Testing will likely remain a prominent part of education for the foreseeable future, but there are things you can do to counteract its effects. When choosing a preschool or daycare facility, look for one that offers children a balance of activities not just learning letters and numbers but also painting, performing and pretending. The class should be given plenty of choices about what to do next, rather than have the teacher direct every activity.
But current society going to digital age and students can learn more subject's things without going class or home. But our childhood or student age couldn't access digital IT works. Now child has more brain power more than parents. But parents must known, don't allow any opportunities to go worst way to students. Then after student will be success and will be more important person to the community.
Absolutely greatest discussion topic sharing with mix your experience.
Stay Blessed!
Good ideas. I hope things continue to change for the better.
Well, my opinion is bit different I hope you won't mind.
I agree with your opinion that things have changed and we can earn a lot of money through digital revolution. Only things we need are a gadget or computer and internet connection, a highly trained smart mind.
Gone are the day when it was said that you work hard to get success but now a days its mostly smart work that pays off better than hard work.
But I politely disagree with the investment made on formal education. Formal education is really very necessary. The practical experience we get from our teachers and through interaction with our peers cannot be matched by simply sitting on the screen of computer.
Though student loan is really heartbreaking but thats inevitable when you won't have enough money to support your college studies. But government should consider to relax the terms so that maximum can benefit out of this opportunity.
Thank you for reading my humble opinion and I appreciate your artistic talent that attracts new ways to discuss on those things.
I think formal education depends on what work you do. For example doctors of course need formal education but the truth is that not everyone will be a doctor.
I would say to mix real life interaction and the digital experience. This way we don't neglect face to face connection with others but at the same time we can make a living through non traditional ways.
I enjoyed you opinion. It definitely gives people something to think about.
I appreciate your balanced approach and Thank you for your kind reply.
In the UK, you finish school, then have to 2 more years. Or you did 30 years ago's.. ('A' level)s
I completed one year of 'A''s ,realized going to uni' was of use only in a specialized field, or a corporate world.
I wasn't motivated to be specialized, and I definitely wasn't 'going corporate.'
I quit after the year, got a job...
The best decision I ever made in my life..
That's interesting. Is it also true that in the UK students are encouraged to take a year off before making a decision as to whether not they want to go to university?
I think it is nowadays. I don't live there anymore. (certainly wasn't a 'thing' not back in my time).