Just a few days ago, this website linked up an NBC news article about how punishing debt is weighing down a generation—the generation of people who cannot find jobs in their majors, cannot keep jobs they have in an uncertain economy, and cannot make enough to pay their debt without defaulting on other loans and lines of credit.
If someone asked me today, “Would you go back to school for a degree in business administration?” I would absolutely say NO!
If I was asked for advice on what a major should be, I’d respond: Languages. And not just Spanish. But any language you can get, including Farsi and Chinese. Mandarin wouldn’t hurt either. No matter what your future skill or job may be, most companies will be global and will need multi-languaged (is that a word?) employees. Not business.. not education.. nothing else.
Oh, and apprenticeship and training programs wouldn’t hurt either. There is no shame in being a plumber or craftsman, a pipefitter or sheet metal worker. Not one bit of shame in being an electrician, a baker, or a cook. Don’t limit your true potential just because the ‘mainstream’ tells you that going to get your college degree is a must.
There is a commercial always on the SPROUT TV network *(my son watches it not me)* of a group of couples sitting around a table as their children play in the background, as they discuss college educations. At the end, the dad jokingly tells his child “because you’re going to college” as the rest of the fake parents chuckle. Well… maybe that child isn’t going to college. And maybe there will be no college.
Think about this: With the amount of people defaulting, there may soon be a limit that for profit colleges and schools meet. If their ratio of dropouts to success stories goes awry, they could even lost funding or ratings.
We are seeing an emerging bubble.
When I graduated with my BS (and it was BS) in 2010, I was proud of my achievement. Graduating with a business degree during the Great Recession. Good choice Coal Speaker. Nonetheless, my graduating class also had a few hundred people completing with a degree in education…. Education that is being cut throughout the nation as cyber schooling and home schooling expand in popularity. There are too many teachers now for not enough teaching positions. My state of Pennsylvania has gone through years of budget cuts throughout all counties, forcing districts to slash teaching staff and janitor positions. Somehow those luxury administrators stay put.
There is something quite wrong with this picture. The people ‘in the field’ know it. There is a foreboding sense that this college bubble not only cannot last forever but is soon ready to burst.
Then what?…that is the scary question.
Then what?
The next bubble is hissing.. when will it burst? For two decades student debt expanded at a rate above 17 percent per year
