subject: New Graduates Discovering It Tough To Get By [print this page] As increasing numbers of college students have graduated and entered the workforce, they have found themselves collectively wondering, "Was college really worth it?" One of many factors prompting them to ask this question is the tremendous debt load that they end up with after graduating. Depending on the quality of the college that they attended and the amount of assistance that they received, it's not unusual for just graduated students to owe anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000 or more on their education loans.
Years past this would not have been such a major issue. As an illustration, as recently as a decade ago, if you graduated from a well known renowned college, you would have tens or hundreds of employers lined up waiting to hire you into their programs.
However that was prior to the record volume of layoffs during the last decade. It was likewise before thousands of organizations sending their work offshore to India and the Philippines. And it was before the record influx of foreigners from England, India, and other countries contending for the high paying jobs that were once ours.
Over the last ten years, beginning salaries for most graduates have also decreased. Much of this is caused by the increased competition for a lessening number of obtainable jobs making it basically an employer's market. In addition, careers that had been hot when students first started to get their degree, have cooled off somewhat. For instance, unless you are a much sought after specialist, the demand for high tech talent has dramatically decreased. In fact, unless you are in the health field, it is hard to pick out many industries where there is a real positive outlook for the near to medium future.
So, assuming that you have recently graduated and have to begin to repay your student loans that amount to anywhere from %500 to $900 a month or more - you're going to find yourself facing some tough choices. For a large number of these ex students, this means returning home to live with their parents while they look for a job. In fact, many of those that are lucky enough to get find jobs, choose to live with their parents to make it easier to begin paying off their student loans as well as being able to pay for the new car they just bought to get to and from work.
Everything is more serious for new graduates that have already started their own families and perhaps have one or more children. After paying for rent, utilities, their mortgages, and other basic expenses - many will find themselves just barely scraping by - even on two incomes. Because of this new reality, many are being made to reassess and downgrade the vision of their future that they've held in their mind all through college.
The big unasked question today is whether our jobs scenario is on the upswing or downswing. In the past, this country has seen its share of both bad and the good times. The large difference this time, however, is that jobs have slowly, but inexorably, become globalized commodities. And businesses who once were limited to finding skills that they needed in their own back yards, can now look for that talent pretty much around the globe. So, unfortunately, it's looking increasingly more that if you want a secure job where you won't get laid off, you are going to just have to create your own.
