College Graduates Struggle To Repay Loans

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Samantha Green graduated from Indiana University in May with a $50,000 debt, a degree in journalism and a burning desire to start her career in Chicago.

So far, the only job offers she has gotten are temporary or minimum-wage sales jobs.

"It's just not something that's a good fit for me," says Green, who is doing odd jobs to earn some money.

Her job prospects are so poor that her parents have been helping pay her rent, electric bills and groceries. Now they're covering her $300 monthly student loan payments, too.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

5 Comments
Posted November 24, 2009 at 12:00 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. azusa wrote:

$50,000 debt after getting a degree in journalism? I will search my heart for compassion.

November 24, 1:28 am | [comment link]
2. Paul PA wrote:

What’s the statement “It’s just not something that’s a good fit for me,” mean? I’m not sure how to reconcile that with her parents picking up the tab

November 24, 6:17 am | [comment link]
3. Andrew717 wrote:

I know a girl who graduated with an MA in non-fiction writing (intended for magazines and the like) in 2008, and has never yet in her life had a full time job.  Print media is dying, but the schools are still cranking out hordes of kids with worthless degrees.  No one in her program has a job in a related field (a few have jobs in retail and the like, and are thankful) and only one from her undegrad J-school program.

November 24, 8:44 am | [comment link]
4. m+ wrote:

are colleges now fancy vocational schools that are meant to mainly get qualified to earn lots o’ money?  Or are they centers of education that teach you how to think and give you the foundational resources necessary for continuing your own intellectual development?
Colleges should be a little of both of these- but the article suggests the former approach- a degree guarantees a job, which it does not and should not do.  It’s the student’s responsibility to make sure they can handle the debt and to find a job post-college.  Those early post college years are always hard.  A fancy degree from an expensive college does not guarantee you an easy life…

November 24, 10:02 am | [comment link]
5. Sick & Tired of Nuance wrote:

There are plenty of ways of continuing your own intellectual development without college and plenty of people that follow that path.  The hubris and snobbery of academia is unbecoming.  I believe that it is far better to invest your time and money in a trade school and then to pursue your intellectual development on your own, than it is to suffer the liberal programming and PC brainwashing of what passes for a college education these days.

November 24, 1:01 pm | [comment link]
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