if I hadn't gone to college I would have been $116,000 richer

[kirovman]

\o/

 

[secret friend]

No, that's not what loans are for. They're meant to be a supplement. It's not there to replace working at all, it's there to enable you to do something as you work your ass off to make up the borrowed money. You dug your own whole. Same mindset where somehow people think credit cards are free money.

I would have owed less money by the time I graduated, true, but that's not the point here. The point is that if I had work experience perhaps someone would have offered me a job already.

I don't know where your credit card comparison is coming from. Obviously I have to pay the loans, but my hope was that with a $30-40k/year job I would have been able to pay my debt in less than a year. With a $9/hour job, that's not going to happen.

I highly doubt you took advantage of every grant and scholarship you could have. Your best bet, seeing as you couldn't afford where you did go obviously without it putting you in debt, would've been to go to junior college for your associates and then transfer credits to a university and save ~$10,000 for the exact same degree and knowledge.

do you have a time machine?

 

[lePobz]

I owe about £14,000 ($26,000) in student loans, and all I got was this lousy honors degree.

But on the plus side, I get to wear a funny flat hat.

 

[blahblahblah]

I want blahblahblah to stick around more, not seen him in ages, hope you are well.

Doing rather well. Been rather busy though with a new-ish job. I'm also recovering from a case of World of Warcraft-itis (that lasted 1+ year *cough*).

 

[Yuri]

Doing rather well. Been rather busy though with a new-ish job. I'm also recovering from a case of World of Warcraft-itis (that lasted 1+ year *cough*).

blahblahblah has returned to fill the forums with yayyayyay!

 

[ailevation]

Whenever I'm at work.. I always think up shit like...

"If one day I saved Bill Gates' life, and since he's seriously rich... the least amount would be one billion dollars given to me as a 'thanks'. I would retire at the age of 17 and buy the whole BMW line-up, to start things off."

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

I would have owed less money by the time I graduated, true, but that's not the point here. The point is that if I had work experience perhaps someone would have offered me a job already.

Yes. Still don't understand why you didn't though. All I can say man it sucks that you didn't do any of that.

I don't know where your credit card comparison is coming from. Obviously I have to pay the loans, but my hope was that with a $30-40k/year job I would have been able to pay my debt in less than a year. With a $9/hour job, that's not going to happen.

Credit card comparison came from you saying "Didn't work because I didn't need the money- that's what the loans were for"

And still? LESS than a year? What about cost of living? Car, house/apartment, electric, water, gas, insurance, food etc? I don't see with $20,000 dollars of debt how you would pay it off in a year even with a starting salary like that. And this is without knowing what the interest on your loans are..

do you have a time machine?

No but your thread title/first post is misleading because of that. It's the way you went about things during college with your savings/debt and where you went/what you did while there, not just the fact that you got a degree that put you in the position you're in.

 

[secret friend]

And still? LESS than a year? What about cost of living? Car, house/apartment, electric, water, gas, insurance, food etc? I don't see with $20,000 dollars of debt how you would pay it off in a year even with a starting salary like that. And this is without knowing what the interest on your loans are...

A car is a luxury I cannot afford, and everything else is not something to worry about because I live with my parents. If my parents died, I might as well go along with them.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

A car is a luxury I cannot afford, and everything else is not something to worry about because I live with my parents. If my parents died, I might as well go along with them.

I really don't know what to tell you then. You didn't have your own place halfway through college?

 

[secret friend]

I really don't know what to tell you then. You didn't have your own place halfway through college?

My own place? ha ha ha.

Do I sound like I come from a wealthy family or what?

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

My own place? ha ha ha.

Do I sound like I come from a wealthy family or what?

Dude that doesn't have anything to do with being from a wealthy family. That's your own business to take care of not your family's.

 

[secret friend]

Dude that doesn't have anything to do with being from a wealthy family. That's your own business to take care of not your family's.

I already told you I never worked as an undergraduate, so, without a source of income, how would I have been able to afford my own place?

$9/hour is poverty; there is no way I am moving out of my parents' house any time soon.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

I already told you I never worked as an undergraduate, so, without a source of income, how would I have been able to afford my own place?

$9/hour is poverty; there is no way I am moving out of my parents' house any time soon.

Not with that attitude. What city are you in/near. Post it and someone can probably find you an application for antoher job where you can go in and do an interview.

$9 here like I said is fast food wages. It makes no sense why you're doing that.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Yeah seriously, I freakin' make $9 an hour and I'm still in high school.

You need to find a better paying job. Why won't some office building hire you? What did you major in?

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Secret Friend you're not going anywhere in life because you don't want to help yourself.

 

[B_MAN]

Assume that instead of going to college, I had settled with a construction job, say, making $15/hour (a conservative estimate). Now,
$15/hour x 40 hours/week x 50 weeks/year x 4 years = $120,000

I would have had to pay taxes and what not, say 20% of my salary. That leaves me with a total of $96,000 that I would have made in those 4 years.

Right now I owe $20,000 in student loans. We do the math: $96,000 -
(-$20,000) = $116,000. That means I would have been $116,000 richer by now if I hadn't gone to college.

What did I get out of this "education"? The same I would have gotten out of reading books at the public library and academic articles published on the internet.

But wait a second, since I have a college education, I probably have a very good job right now, right? Nope, I earn $9/hour doing menial office work. After taxes and train tickets, that's an effective $6/hour I put in my pocket.

At the current rate, and assuming that temp assignments will be readily available as soon as the current one ends, it will take me almost 2 years to pay off my debt. Then I will be worth $0 at the tender age of 25.

well at least some of us will benefit from your new-found wisdom
ive been contemplating going back to school recently, but i dont know why and for what..... i have no idea what i wanna do with my life at this point so why waste my time/money on an education that, like you say, can be found at the local library and on the internet

 

[secret friend]

Not with that attitude. What city are you in/near. Post it and someone can probably find you an application for antoher job where you can go in and do an interview. $9 here like I said is fast food wages. It makes no sense why you're doing that.

What attitude? Wouldn't you feel (just a little bit) depressed if you were on my shoes? I actually think I have a great attitude, because not many college graduates are willing to take a $9/hour job that's completely unrelated to their field of study. And yes, it doesn't make sense that I am stuck with that job, but that's my luck.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

What attitude? Wouldn't you feel (just a little bit) depressed if you were on my shoes? I actually think I have a great attitude, because not many college graduates are willing to take a $9/hour job that's completely unrelated to their field of study. And yes, it doesn't make sense that I am stuck with that job, but that's my luck.

I live near Beantown.

First of all I wouldn't have put myself in your situation- that's your doing. It's not something you were just plopped into by misfortune. You squandered tons of opportunity.

That's not your luck, that's what you chose to do.

You have the attitude of "no way out. I can't do this. I give up." etc etc. Not good. You're in the job you're at because you gave up.

 

[secret friend]

Alright Rakurai, first of all, let me thank you for your interest in my situation.

Now let me address what you just said:

First of all I wouldn't have put myself in your situation- that's your doing. It's not something you were just plopped into by misfortune. You squandered tons of opportunity.

That's not your luck, that's what you chose to do.

I made some poor choices as an undergraduate, and as I said before, I never imagined that without work experience I would be unable to find a decent job after graduation. Noone ever told me: "Look, if you don't help organize the next food drive, or if you don't wait tables as an undergraduate, you won't be able to find a decent white-collar job after graduation". I come from a household of uneducated people where they think that good grades in school is all you need to succeed in life. I guess I proved them wrong.

On top of that, I also went through some problems as an undergraduate, related to my personality type, that discouraged me from being involved in extracurricular activities.

You have the attitude of "no way out. I can't do this. I give up." etc etc. Not good. You're in the job you're at because you gave up.

So I never mailed out those 50 custom resumes and cover letters? I never bought a suit and a tie to attend those few interviews I was granted? I spent months searching for a job. When it became obvious that I was in deep shit, I decided to settle for the next best thing, temping at an office.

This wasn't really an idea of my own, this was suggested to me by one of my former school's career advisors, who openly acknowledged that, at this point, temping was my only realistic way out of this quagmire.

The hope is that my next assignment will be a bit "better", and then at some point, some employer will decide to keep me as a permanent employee. If that's not possible, then the next time I mail out another 50 resumes, at least I will have something to list under work experience.

So don't say I gave up. If I had given up I would have stayed at home watching TV and playing video games.

 

[mortiz]

Fact is computing jobs and that sort of middle of the road *office* work is a highly competitive place nowadays; it's where everyone wants to be. The upside (or downside, depending on how you look at it) is that there are thousands of construction jobs going unfulfilled, basically with everyone scrambling to get those few jobs we're running out of people to do the manual labor. Sure, there will always be people who don't or can't work in an office, who'd prefer to be outdoors, but there's just not enough of them. With the way the education system is going, the government (ours) are pushing more and more people into university so they don't have to do those types of jobs.

We're breeding a nation of people who know their way around an office but don't know basic down to earth skills that the nation requires. And when they can't find an office job? They're screwed. I can't really complain much, since I'm one of 'em, but I can see the issue.

I assume it's a similar story in the United States, at least in the more densely populated parts.

 

[secret friend]

well at least some of us will benefit from your new-found wisdom
ive been contemplating going back to school recently, but i dont know why and for what..... i have no idea what i wanna do with my life at this point so why waste my time/money on an education that, like you say, can be found at the local library and on the internet

I am not saying you shouldn't go to college. Definitely go to college, but make sure you also have a job and participate in extracurricular activities as an undergraduate.

 

[Solaris]

Put it in perspective, had you sold you self for sex you would be millions richer.

 

[secret friend]

Put it in perspective, had you sold you self for sex you would be millions richer.

sure, if I was a hot chick

 

[Solaris]

sure, if I was a hot chick

You're a ****ing king.
They'd pay for the novelty.

 

[secret friend]

Alright let's do the math.
Each week I receive a check for $250.

I have to pay $40 a week in train tickets.

That leaves me with $210/week.
That's $840/month.


Now suppose I manage to spend $4/day on meals (I will be on a very strict diet). That's $120/month in food.

That leaves me with $720/month.

Say that I'll need to keep at least $120/month for personal expenses.

That's $600/month.

And you want me to pay a rent and my loans at the same time?

Where the hell am I going to find an apartment for less than $600/month? Do you want me to go live next to the crack house and the whore house?

It's not about being greedy, it's about being able to afford a decent lifestyle.

Oh yeah, and forget marriage and having kids. What the hell am I gonna tell my kids when we go to the mall and they tell me "daddy I need new shoes!"?

Sorry dad is broke? That's not nice.

 

[Cormeh]

So... you want everything for nothing?

Leave school, do a minimal job and whine about moolah?

Pwned.

 

[secret friend]

I didn't drop out of school if that's what you mean. I finished last year.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Don't know what to tell you, don't understand what you're talking about by your personality type preventing you from doing something or whatever but in all honesty it sounds like a scapegoat. You dug your own hole!

However, you revealed you're a temp- this does give you a bit more flexibility and options to move along. Stick with your job and work your ass off to become a permanent member of the company.

If anything try looking into a different field? Sometimes your degree, even if it's not specifically in that area, is enough and they'll give you a shot anyway.

You need to get in touch with a financial advisor to work out what's best to deal with the loans. You're lucky enough right now to live with your parents so rent etc is a non issue.

You put yourself in a situation through poor choices and hopefully you can get your life back on track.

 

[secret friend]

Don't know what to tell you, don't understand what you're talking about by your personality type preventing you from doing something or whatever but in all honesty it sounds like a scapegoat. You dug your own hole!

However, you revealed you're a temp- this does give you a bit more flexibility and options to move along. Stick with your job and work your ass off to become a permanent member of the company.

If anything try looking into a different field? Sometimes your degree, even if it's not specifically in that area, is enough and they'll give you a shot anyway.

You need to get in touch with a financial advisor to work out what's best to deal with the loans. You're lucky enough right now to live with your parents so rent etc is a non issue.

You put yourself in a situation through poor choices and hopefully you can get your life back on track.

What I mean about my personality type is being unable to ace an interview without major effort. It's hard for me to make a good first impression. ie: can I convince them that I am the guy they want to sit with to have lunch for the next 5 years?

I know I dug a very deep hole and then threw myself in, that's evident; I posted this message because I wanted some creative advice for getting out of that hole.

Dreamthrall mentioned something about making $25/hour (or something like that) doing web development. What type of knowledge would I need to know in order to get hired to do web development? I know basic HTML and then understand concepts like asp, php and jsp files. Other than that, I probably still have a lot to learn. Any suggestions as to what I should learn and how I should go about learning it?

 

[Solaris]

What I mean about my personality type is being unable to ace an interview without major effort. Other than that, I have no problem whatsoever.

I know I dug a very deep hole and then threw myself in. That's evident. I posted this message because I wanted some creative advice for getting out of that hole.

Dreamthrall mentioned something about making $25/hour (or something like that) doing web development. What type of knowledge would I need to know in order to get hired to do web development? I know basic HTML and then understand concepts like asp, php and jsp files. Other than that, I probably still have a lot of stuff to learn. Any suggestions as to what I should learn and how I should go about learning it?

Personalitly type? Bullshit. Stop looking for excuses, go out there and use someone elses personality.

 

[secret friend]

Personalitly type? Bullshit. Stop looking for excuses, go out there and use someone elses personality.

It's not an excuse. In addition to looking for a job I'll need to sharpen up my acting skills then. That's fine. I've always said that dishonesty sometimes is necessary to get ahead in life.

The only reason I mention my personality type is because I am trying to rationalize why I have been turned down so many times. Obviously I look good enough on paper for them to give me an interview, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered inviting me to an interview, but then after I meet them in person that's the last time I hear from them. I suppose that I failed to deliver what they were looking for.

 

[Krynn72]

Have you stopped sending out your resumes and cover letters? That would be a very bad idea. Just because you have this job doesnt mean you have to stop looking. Keep your eyes open for anything. Hell you could even go into buisness yourself. Computer science huh? Couldnt you go around fixing people's computers? Perhaps you can get a job being a telephone troubleshooter for some company. They get paid more than 9 bucks. Get a job at a retail store. When I worked at sears I was getting 9.50/hr for being a sales associate in the tools area. You could get a commision job also, if your even halfway decent you would be making more than 12/hr. Many of people who start like this can make it to lead / manager positions which pay well. Go to compusa or some other computer shop and use that computer knowledge as a tech or salesman. They get some decent money also.

Yeah, you missed a lot of opportunities, didnt do things you should have and all that. But you dont sound like you are totally out of it. You got yourself a temp job. Great. Now that your getting some sort of cash flow, get out and find a better job. The harsh reality in this world is that most people think they will be able to land good jobs right out of graduation. The fact of the matter is that you dont. You start out at the bottom rung like everyone else. Maybe even as a unpaid intern. But its that college experience and certification that will allow you to advance beyond what others might normally be able to.

You are thinking way too short term. Yeah, you could have gotten a job at some construction company... but that would be as far as you get your whole life. Dont let this job be the first and last stop of your career. Renew your drive to succede, and keep sending those applications and resumes. Keep contacting companies you want to work for. Just keep it up, and one day someone will bite. Once that happens, as long as you dont screw up royally, everything will just fall into place. You have to get things rolling, and keep them rolling though. Dont just expect your "college grad" status to get you something. Work for it.