generation limbo: 20-somethings today, debt, unemployment, the questionable value of a college education

aw, drew you sound like one of the good ones. my advisor at my program was like that, too, always taking grad students out to dinner and fretting about her role within the system. i think that's the best you can do, really. i'm sure your TAs notice and appreciate it.

lol one time she asked me to look in on her cats for a week while she was out of town and compensated me outrageously well for it

the european system is better for your average student but america has 'the best universities'.

Ha, at this point, I was actually thinking about 'better/fairer' for junior faculty and graduate students.

(Marking parties are the only way to go btw.)

I believe it's very tough to get a position in europe too. I'm basing that mostly off what I know about the french system.

It is.

Oh, I meant it's tough if you're not from there. I don't know what it's like if you're a citizen.

I know people who could get academic work here but not there, if that says anything

(french ppl)

this thread is just bumming me the fuck out rn :/

Yes, I was supposed to do a Ph.D... too bad academia doesn't exist in the US anymore.

― burt_stanton

haha I know someone applying to philosophy phds and law school at the same time now

he says I'm "really a downer"

Close race for worse idea there. At least there is some chance of getting funding for the PhD.

that said, our grad students do get jobs- there are jobs out there- it's just really, really competitive and hard, and likely to stay that way as the adjunctification / "casualization" of the academic labor force continues to widen the gap between the haves and have nots

http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/files/2010/12/tenure_dies.png

That graph is missing some context. Would really like to know how the increasing proportion of part time faculty relates to the increasing student population, what institutions are adding those jobs, etc.

My college (which, ugh, mistake) was something insane like 95% adjunct, which they sold as "nearly all our instructors are working artists, imparting real world knowledge [like how to survive at 38 with no health insurance]"

(95% is an exaggeration, it's more like 75% now that I actually look)

I almost want to try founding a college if I finish my PhD. Academia could use some entrepreneurism, and not the evil kind.

Pipe dreamin'

::6 years later silby, now dreamless and pipeless, takes a lucrative job in consulting, hoping to own a new pair of shoes for the first time in half a decade::

My current shoes are over two years old!

silby, vanderbilt is offering me a half-tuition scholarship + an ipad, can the university of silby match their offer?

We will have a room at the community center and free water fountain water.

…need to get in to a PhD program first…

My college (which, ugh, mistake) was something insane like 95% adjunct, which they sold as "nearly all our instructors are working artists, imparting real world knowledge [like how to survive at 38 with no health insurance]"

― ENERGY FOOD (en i see kay)

ha, i wonder if we share an alma mater or if many art schools operate this way (which wouldn't surprise me).

#2

even most of the course heads in my school were part time

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the european system is better for your average student but america has 'the best universities'.

Ha, at this point, I was actually thinking about 'better/fairer' for junior faculty and graduate students.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, November 15, 2011 4:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

If you're any sort of scientist, PhD funding is relatively easy to get (and not tied to TA-ing) and there are still quite a lot of postdoc positions. However, permanent jobs in my corner of Europe are few to none.

yep

most of the course heads in my school were part time

"Part-time employees" is so gauche. It's high time we started calling them "itinerant scholars".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/brain-drain-college-grads-wall-street_n_1069424.html?page=1

The young man, who requested anonymity in order to speak openly, graduated with more than $100,000 in debt. He has now whittled that amount down to $80,000.

He does not particularly enjoy his job and he's actively searching for other opportunities. He says the management team at his company isn't helping him grow, and many of his daily tasks are "monotonous" and focused on "damage control."

He wants to make sure his next step is the right one before leaving. But part of the reason he's stayed for three years is because the job compensates well. Between his salary and annual bonus, he's making about $85,000 a year.

I so do not buy the "nyc has such a high cost of living" excuse

is that pre or post tax

pre, and taxes are pretty high here, it's true

but seriously anyone w/ that kinda debt and income owes it to himself to pay it down asap

he probably likes 'going out' and 'eating at nice restaurants'

and 'living in a 2000/m studio'

look at it this way; he's putting approx 10% of his post-tax income towards his school loans a year

he could likely pay more but, in general, school loan debt is good to carry if you can reliably make your payments because of the lower interest rate; it makes much more sense for him to be focusing larger chunks of cash on savings/investing strategies and making sure he has a reserve to cover his credit cards

gotta say though, 85K including bonus sounds a little like he got boned (rip 90s)

^^ harvard glasses

lol u mad

u just mad cuz i'm ivy on u

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gWVfSCasDj8/TkAky9cWgkI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/od33Awt1YMA/s220/CCG_Oct%2B2010%2B398.jpg

you are right as long as he's saving money and not living the gud lyfe xp

John Zimmer grew up in Greenwich, Conn., home to many Wall Street titans -- including former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld, who owned a $10.8 million estate there.

Zimmer graduated from Cornell University in 2006 and immediately went into a two-year program in real estate finance at Lehman Brothers in New York City, working on commercial mortgage-backed securities.

this is like the textbook definition of underachiever who gets by on pure privilege alone

xp: he's probably living the okay lyfe, very few ppl who make that kind of money save ALL of it

Dan, at the present moment I doubt there's a decent investing strategy in the world that could give returns comparable to the interest paid on student loans. The "reduce debt" fund at least outperforms "bury it in the backyard" which in turn has outperformed a whole bunch else lately...

Well besides making money with your other money, there's also building up yr credit rating using relatively-easy-to-manage debt, but that usually only matters if you are looking to buy a home or a car. Or a timeshare, lol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/business/economy/as-graduates-move-back-home-economy-feels-the-pain.html

pent-up households

"a handyman to hang a newly framed diploma"..?

a HANDYMAN TO HANG A DIPLOMA? who even thinks like that? even enough to make a not-very-clearly-signposted joke about it?