With over 40% of student loan debt attributed to graduate school debt, despite enrolling only 15% of borrowers, which PhD was going to do the math and declare this as the scheme it was.
They have made billions and our friends are saddled with debt before their 'real' life can even begin. And now with Health Care running $700-1000/monthly - how are today's generation going to be able to buy cars, secure mortgages, have families, spend money at your businesses...or even survive without losing hope?
⏳It's time to reset the table.
Any degree a learning institution chooses to sell, excuse me, 'offer', should come with full transparency.
A warranty along with
Projected realistic incomes
Market Demand
Future Market Projections
Value of the Degree Based on Typical Pay Scales and...
A Guarantee of Ongoing Professional Career Services.
Either that or stop 'selling' and guilting people into your education programs.
In 2009 as the Recession was exercising its blows, I had this conversation with a colleague. I wish I had shared my thoughts publicly then. People were leveraging their homes and retirements to fund a no interest guaranteed return on their investment. Our country had become emotionally carried away with a mélange of unearned pride, unwanted shame and more as they crippled their own futures for the all-too-often and grossly overpriced pipe dream.
Parents, hopefully many of you are now realizing the fallacies of the myth that your kids, or even you were told. Let's normalize real conversations, real math and a full scope of respectable careers-far beyond the reaches of these beautiful buildings and their carelessness.
Perhaps the rest of us need to re-think the questions we robotically ask students. Rather than, "What University do you plan to attend?", try replacing it with "What careers are you considering?" and "What types of opportunities would you like to pursue."
We have put our nation's young people into a pressure cooker with our questions and unrealistic expectations- $25/hour jobs requiring $150k worth of schooling costs. If and when it doesn't make sense, we need to change our perspective and our guidance.
These people, our kids, deserve our best solutions and options.
