Boomerang Kids: An Acceptable Stigma
Imagine working countless hours, and spending countless dollars on achieving a college degree, with expectations of this entailing task paying off in the form of a well-paying job. This is what every college graduate hopes for, but unfortunately this is not always the case. In recent years, the number of “boomerang kids,” or kids who cannot find work after college forcing them to move back home, have been increasing greatly. According to a recent study, approximately 85% of new graduates have moved back in with their parents (Schools.com). With a poor economy creating a tough job market, it does not appear that these numbers are rising anytime soon. Along with this comes a question on whether it is socially
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According to a report from the Pew Research Center, the average college graduate who took out loans to finance school graduates with around 23,000 dollars of debt (schools.com). For a newly graduated adult who cannot find a decent paying job, having to cover rent and the cost for other utilities on top of this massive debt can be near impossible. Because of this, having a cost free alternative for housing might be a simple way to immensely help out graduates. Without having to worry about affording rent, they can focus solely on paying back their student loans. This can be beneficial in the long run also, since these loans will be paid off sooner rather than later, they will not collect as much interest, ultimately making them cheaper. Parents, despite the urge to say no, need to see the upside to allowing their children back in the home. The concern for one’s child’s well-being does not have to end once they graduate college.
Being a college student myself, the thought of becoming a “boomerang kid” is very real. No graduate plans on having to return home. In fact, most would prefer to be living independently by themselves, but in today’s time that’s simply not always the case. For me, the positives would definitely outweigh the negatives. To be able to have a burden taken away from you in order to focus on another one, such as loan debt, is an opportunity that doesn’t appear often.
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Various financial gains can be achieved from the decision to return home after college studies for a relatively short period of time. In the majority of cases parents will be willing to help their child knowing that it will take an unnecessary financial burden off of their child’s shoulders while directly benefitting them and setting them up for the future. If a new graduate is having trouble landing a job that can support them then it is not logical to weigh them down with additional burdens that they cannot handle. Boomerang kids are certainly a misunderstood group, but nonetheless, a group on the right path to
“Michelle earned six small scholarships, two of which are renewable for next year, and took out a federal loan. She also works 16 hours a week in the financial – aid office at the university.” (61). With Wallechinsky providing Michelle and her mother’s story it helps many relate or agree of the high payment for our education. Immigrants come to the U.S hoping for an education and opportunities. To have opportunities, for example jobs, a family, and social mobility an education is needed. Our education is the key to many of our dreams but on the other hand it’s one of the main things holding many back. That doesn’t mean that all people have given up for example Wallechinsky states, “Middle class respondents surveyed say they take responsibility for their own financial destiny and believe that they will succeed or fail based on their own efforts. Still, many are downsizing their dreams” (61). This states that many have positive mindsets that believe that the effort and determination to work is the reason for their financial status. But by them downgrading their dreams it shows how our effort and hard work isn’t going to make wages get higher. However, David Wallechinsky has a point to question the existent of the American Dream as many blame
Life is never easy, no matter how hard we try to short cut and escape the inevitable difficulties. After college is when life sets in, when work becomes a necessity and we all begin to find a place to settle down. People respond differently to different situations. Some of us embrace the freedom and the ability to earn money and spend money indiscriminately. Others crumple under the social pressures placed on us.
In my community, El Sereno, college is viewed as an option as opposed to it being the next step in life. Most people in my area either begin working or start a family after they graduate from high school. Not always by choice, but in some cases by circumstance. Students in my neighborhood either lack the knowledge, financial support, guidance or even legal status that would otherwise drive them to apply or even go to college. About eighty-percent of students graduated from my high school, but only about twenty-percent ended up attending a four-year university (NINCHE). One of the biggest reasons for student’s low college entrance rate has to deal with their family's socioeconomic
Mark Kantrowitz indicates in his article, Why the Student Loan Crisis Is Even Worse Than People Think, that “Student loan debt is increasing because government grants and support for postsecondary education have failed to keep pace with increases in college costs”(Why 1). This means that the government no longer covers for college tuition fees. College graduates are 20% more likely to work at a job that is outside of their major by the debt they are in. Kantrowitz also mentions that “students who borrow to attend college, it appears that more than a quarter (27.2%) of them are graduating with excessive debt” (Why 1). In reality, leads to student saying that the financial cost was worthless, ending up with a job that is especially not what they went to school
One statistic that Owen and Sawhill presented was “Hamilton Project research shows that 23- to 25-year-olds with bachelor’s degrees make $12,000 more than high school graduates but by age 50, the gap has grown to $46,500 (Figure 1). When we look at lifetime earnings—the sum of earnings over a career—the total premium is $570,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $170,000 for an associate’s degree. (Owen, Sawhill pg 641). Owen and Sawhill also mention that “with tuitions rising faster than family incomes, the typical college student is now more dependent than in the past on loans, creating serious risks for the individual student and perhaps for the system as a whole, should widespread defaults occur in the future. Federal student loans now total close to $1 trillion, larger than credit card debt or auto loans and second only to mortgage debt on household balance sheets” (Owen, Sawhill pg 642). Basically, what the authors are saying is college is expensive, but for some career paths, the training and education received in college is necessary to have that job and the benefits outweigh the costs. With a high paying career where a college education is necessary, paying off student loans is no problem. On the other hand, people who go after low paying careers that don’t necessarily need a college degrees,
Once a person graduates from high school they are left with a difficult decision, wither to go to college or not. Some families this is not an option, their kid will go no matter what, but many students do not want to go to school and have so much student debt by the time they finish that they will have to pay off that they decide that college is not worth it. According to Craig Smith in his article in Education Digest he says, “too many families cannot afford to send their children to college so the student is left with making the decision on wither to go to college and collect debt or just skip college altogether” (Smith 42). He has a good point. Too many students feel like they have to pay so much yet they are not really getting much out of it. Smith later on in his article states, “We must stop balancing our state and institutional budgets on the backs of students and families” (Smith 46). School should not be all about money, it should be about helping the students get the education that they need so they can make it out in the big world. If a student is so worried about how they are going to pay their school bill they are not going to be focusing on their class work and it ...
Society instills today's youth with that without a college education they will not be successful. But then again what defines success? Success is a wide-ranging term that has different meanings to different people. Some people believe that making money defines success, while others believe that success is having a loving family. Still, society seems to demonstrate and even promote that success is portrayed by making money. The general public states that in order to be a successful person one must make a heavy salary out of college. The problem with this philosophy is that some people are not meant for college. In Bird's article, she writes that college is not been effective for everyone. Half of all high school graduates attend college and the pattern of dropouts is becoming more and more obvious showing that some students don't fit the mold (305).
Many parents send their child(ren)off to college, thinking that an loan is the only way to
... quickly discovering that maybe college isn’t the way. The American dream isn’t so dreamy. Student loan debts aren’t worth it when they could be better off without a college degree. The loans are destroying Americans hopes and ruining their lives. The government needs to remove it’s self from this and let the banks take over and compete with each other. It’s the only way to lower the tuition and costs of everything. The college degree is even losing its face value and hyperinflation is right around the corner. It’s time to wake up. College could be a good thing. Our government is too greedy to see it the way it needs to be handled an it is high time that anyone seeking a college degree look at College Degrees to determine if it really is worth the time and money and stop being indentured slaves paying on worthless degrees and a lifetime of paying on student loans.
In the article “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” by Marty Nemko, the author argues several different views on why higher education may be very overestimated. For starters, the author shares his opinion more than anything else due to him being a career counselor. The purpose of this essay is to explain to the readers that most people start off with the idea of living the American Dream. Which is practically going to college to have a better life and career. But over the time the idea of working very hard for a Bachelor’s degree has become very dimmed. Furthermore, for some people, when they think of the American Dream they think of hope for bettering themselves and also helping their families. Unlike the author, Nemko feels that even the thought of trying to pursue to get a bachelor’s degree is overrated. The audience of this passage would most likely be teenagers going into college and parents. Nemko states that “Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more
Going to college and furthering someone’s future career is a very important part of life.. Making the choice of going to college or not going to college could affect someone for the rest of their life, If a student decides to go to college after high school they will be in debt for many years after they graduate college. “Over the past decade, tuition and fees have risen much faster than inflation and outpaced the cost of housing and health care” (Blumenstyk). Blumenstyk is showing how outrageous the cost of college tuition has become. Whether it is for a University or a Community college either one. Most people spend their whole lives being in debt just because of buying a house and now they will have the burden of paying off their college tuition as well. They may keep getting a bill in the mail that most of them will hate looking at, and also putting down that much money each month for their payment. While college does create the opportunity of increased pay and better jobs, it should not mean students are required to pay all the money they earn back the college. At that point people may as well not go to a
In David Brook’s essay, “It’s Not About You,” Brooks mentions and describes the challenges college graduates face when looking for a job. He goes on and describes how this generation is different than any other generation. He explains how college graduates don’t go on and get married, buy houses, and have kids like previous generations. He also states how college prepares you with a set of skills that are much different to the ones you encounter when you graduate. Those skills you have to learn on your own.
In Caroline Bird’s “College is A Waste of Time and Money”, it’s argued that there are many college students who would be better off if they were to begin working after high school graduation. Colleges and universities can no longer ensure that one will go on to get a better job, getting paid more than they would have without a higher education. However, high school seniors still stress about where they will be attending college, how they’re going to pay for it and what they’re going to study for the next four years. Bird points out how college has changed over the past few decades and how, in turn, it has set many young adults up for disappointment, if nothing else.
However, dropping out of college is not always negative, in fact, familiar problems can yield positive results. In terms of financial support we know that college costs money, so a lot of students cannot afford it. For example, there are families were the parents are divorced, and one parent has to burden all the family expenses. Often, it happens that one of the parents die, and the children have to grow up with many difficulties.
Individuals in my generation that decide to go away for college may graduate with a degree but they also graduate with debt and have a hard time finding work in their area of study. College graduates are young and many may not have much experience in their field. It is a bittersweet option to go to college and further your education, I am all for it, but I am not for getting yourself in tons of debt, that will cause you to live your whole life paying off student loans and such. Which is one of the reasons why I chose to stay at home and go to community college, I’m saving money while still getting a great education. In earlier generations, people may not have felt that college was important because they needed a job to support themselves and their families. That is understandable because in the early years becoming an adult meant turning of age, 18, getting a job, moving out and starting your own family, but now turning 18 doesn’t mean you automatically are an adult and can move out and start your own life, I have friends that went to college, have a job but still are not able to move out on their own even in their