Some Debt-Laden Graduates Wonder Why They Bothered With College

Alfred said he owes more than $125,000 for his degrees in theater when he's not even working in that field.

Man, I'm glad I found this site....

 

Great article, thanks.

 

Perhaps the problem is not that these guys went to college, but they went to schools that cost $24K a year. Holey Moley!

Community college is your friend. I was fortunate enough to get scholarships and a pell grant for my BA, but had I not, I totally would have gone to the community college first.

-Matt

 

Somewhere in between sophomore year and the junior year don't you kinda stop yourself and ask, "What am I going to do when I graduate?" A Bachelors degree in Theatre? And you're working at a call center? Are you living in NYC? Are you somehow involved in the theatre? Doing something? Anything? Did you think that you were going to be automatically ordained as the new king of the theatre? Going heavily into debt in order to earn a degree that will not provide you with adequate income is just stupid. Don't blame the school. They just offer opportunities. It's a "buyer beware" world.

 

I have a friend I graduated high school with who went to Indiana University of Pennsylvania to pursue a bachelors degree in Music full-time. He didn't know what he wanted to do with it, he just really enjoyed marching band in high school and didn't want to stop that experience. After graduation he ended up getting a job at a bank I believe as a teller; no luck getting a teaching job or in some other music biz function. A few years later he completed a second bachelors in MIS with the University of Pittsburgh and now he works at the same bank in an IT role. I believe he paid for the 2nd bachelors in cash and with some employer assistance, but he took out plenty of loans for that initial degree that he'll probably never use. He has told me that he regrets not choosing an IT degree from the get go, since he has always liked computers almost as much as he liked his trombone.

It was fun to visit him, though; IUP has a fun social scene as I'm sure a lot of colleges do. I really think half the reason most kids go to college full-time is for the good time rather than the academics. The career afterward is something to think about later when they're broke, in debt, and unemployed or underemployed.

 

I can't even read it....this subject makes my heart start pounding and I can't form coherent sentences....lol
I should forward it on to my Culinary Institute of America alumni association the next time they ask me for a donation. My husband and I don't have it as bad as the new chefs who are chucking up $100k to embark on their new minimum wage career.

 

$125,000.00 for a degree, then get a job pays $10.00. Obviously this kid has no idea what he wants to do for living. He earned a degree in Theater Arts, and works at the call center. It sounds like a Medical Doctor works at a retail store.

Maybe he thoughts college is all about partying.....

When I graduated from high school, I thought I was not ready for college. Therefore, I joined the Marine Corps; however, while serving active duty I earned my Bachelor degree from Troy University before my 4-year enlistment ends. I paid only $2,000.00 for textbooks; and claimed for tax returns. Now I look back everyone who went to college after high school graduation have student loans except me. I still have full GI Bill w/ housing allowance for my Doctoral degree.

 

I got out of high school, went to DeVry, then joined the military. I ended up paying cash for all my education or used tuition assistance money and free CLEPs while in the reserves. In the end it has cost me $12,620 out of pocket spanning 11 years. That includes the $3,600 I paid out of pocket to the community college for my MCSE classes (they were a fraction of the cost of one of those boot-camps), the $2,400 I paid for my UF certificate, and $2,200 dissertation fee.

My wife got her AA for free due to a talent grant for theater. I never feel bad for anyone that makes these decisions. They know what the school will cost and should research what the options will be when they get out. Perhaps he should have taken a few economic or finance classes along the way and he would have realized what he did

 

Value of Education

Exactly! Education is an industry; it’s a business whether labeled non-profit or for-profit … a “free” enterprise system. Of course nothing is free and education is /should be much more than academics and universities… Perhaps by now the indebted Theater graduate [has] gained an “education” (?).