My Opinion Piece Was e-Published!

College Bound? (www.smartremarx.com)
Posted 09/25/06
by Gina Anderson
Guest Columnist

Lately, I've been hearing my friends, who are all college graduates with excellent experience, tell that they are searching for a second and third job just to pay the bills. We've all heard about how this new generation of college graduates are in debt up to their eyeballs before they even graduate from college and now they're graduating and having to work doubly as hard only to make as much or less than someone working at a fast food restaurant or janitor (even they have unions!). I have other friends who are doing hiring and they are telling me about how people with master's degrees are applying, in droves, to administrative assistant positions. Isn't there something wrong here when we, college graduates, particularly those of us working in international development and non-profit and trying to give back, must sacrifice our true dreams and goals to "earn a decent living" just to pay half of the rent. How many of us have roommates?I graduated from a respectable institution of learning in the Washington, DC area with a very respectable bachelor's degree. I got a scholarship that paid 80% of my tuition, however, at $30,000 a year, the remaining 20% percent in loans have since added up. That was three years ago. Since then I've lived abroad in Japan for two years where I was paid fairly well (in foreign currency) for a fresh-out-of-college graduate and have been back in the States for a year.

In the past year, I've worked at two different jobs. I've worked since I was 16 and at each job, I never stayed less than two years. Lately, my loyalty to jobs has slowly faltered in the search of jobs that pay me more now so that I can survive living (sometimes below my means) in the DC-metro area. I started out working at an excellent NGO (non-governmental organization) where I thoroughly enjoyed my work and learned so much, but the pay just didn't cut it. I think that I hit rock bottom when I ran out of my savings from my last posh position as an English language teacher in Japan, my laptop (that had served me for three long years) and car broke down within one month. You can only guess what my next move was.Yes, I sacrificed at this NGO for nine long months -- for what felt like true labor pains – on a less than $30,000 salary (equal to one year's tuition, go figure) and prayed that things would get better. Things didn't get better. I tried everything to stay and do what I loved: catering for $13 an hour, selling my writing, more catering, but it just wasn't enough. I finally made the big decision to put myself out there and job search. I got tons of bites from recruiters because of my international experience and oh how the bigger salary offers were so enticing. I bit the bullet and went on interviews. I felt terrible because I was so tied to the mission of my NGO and the people all across the world that, I felt, I was helping and that I was in some way (by sacrificing and accepting poor wages) connected to through the struggle of everyday living (by no means am I saying that my struggles were equal to the women we helped in foreign countries). There I was now searching for another job and I was VERY close to accepting a position with one of the largest defense contracting companies in the world. I didn't accept that position and chose the middle ground – the government and so far I'm happy with my position and making more money, but I constantly look back on whether I "sold out" because of my "college bound" status. I have problem with the way things are going. The promise of a better tomorrow if we go to college is looking more like a "possibility" to a model American lifestyle. I'm thoroughly convinced that it's a disappointing future for many 2008 graduates.
Category: College and Career
Posted 09/25/06 by: Gina Anderson

Your Smart RemarxSteve Lee wrote:
It's sad to see the result of all your hard hard work resulting in your post-college bondage. Many grads are now consolidating their Federal college student loans but it is still a heavy load.
09/25/06 16:11:38