Good afternoon. You are being hosed

As if you needed further proof, the following is an example of how the United States government has inflated education costs to create generations of Debt Children.

Harvard graduate and current University of Buffalo professor Michael S. Rozeff cites that his yearly costs for Harvard in 1958 (room and board) were $2020/yr maximum. The median family income was at least $5100/year in 1958 and even higher for those families where the head of household worked full-time throughout the year. Yes, Debt Children - Harvard room and board for a full year was under 40% of the median family income per year.

Compare that with today, where Harvard room and board has breached the $50k/year level, and median income as of 2008 was about $61k. Harvard room and board for a full year is now about 82% of the median family income.

Further, in 1958 about 28% of married couple households had both husband and wife in the paid work force. Less people were working per household.

As of 2008, that figure is 61%. People are working more and getting less for it. And I haven't even figured in the comparative tax burdens for those two periods, which are higher now than they were then (Example: Federal tax burdens have more than doubled since 1965). Americans are being screwed over - plain and simple.

To save enough to pay for a decent part of that Harvard education today would take a long time - much longer than it would have in 1958. But the government offers the student loan quick fix coupled with higher ed propaganda to herd young Americans off to college where they will party for 4-6 years before spending the next 20-30 paying interest to the banks.

Who benefits from this? The Education Industrial Complex, Sallie Mae, the banks and the DC politicians who take credit for "educating" the nation's youth. They don't care how the problem was caused and they will only offer more of the same, despite the consequences.

What caused this problem? The flood of federal student loans has caused this problem. Other government policies that feed the education industry, based on the ridiculous belief that "more degrees = higher income for everyone" have also caused this problem. The Federal Reserve has caused this problem.

Those policies were short-sighted and have plunged post-1970s generations in a seemingly endless cycle of debt. Remember this when Congress talks about higher ed and "lowering costs" of education by increasing funding for student loans. Remember this whenever the Federal Reserve is mentioned. Remember this when you hear the name "Sallie Mae."

Other sources: Table F-7 http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/incfamdet.html

Fellow law school grads will like this one ;) :
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1960/10/6/law-school-tuition-increases-to-1250/

Law School Bubble Deflates Harvard

An anonymous Harvard 3L lets the cat out of the bag. He was sold a bag of wooden nickels for $62,422/year plus interest and opportunity costs. It really is a shame. Having been admitted to Harvard Law, this Debt Child, probably had enough undergraduate credentials to go directly into the work force and make a good living without subjecting himself to a law degree/mortgage payment. Too bad.


"[Our former Dean] told us ... that we had all long since established ourselves as deserving of our reputations and the opportunities they made possible. So we studied, and we subcited, and we networked, and we keycited, and we summer associated. And employers looked at our grades, and our journals, and our work product, and our work ethic, and said, 'We don’t want you.' We came from Harvard, and they were nonetheless unimpressed. Something about us was so unappealing that it outweighed the appeal of having another Harvard graduate at the firm."


It's over, my fellow Debt Children. The law school bubble has burst just like the 1990s tech bubble in stocks and the housing bubble. The value of the degree will continue to plummet, despite the predictable government attempts to find ways to prop up its value.

What will not be forthcoming is an apology from the federal government for blowing up the law school bubble. They'll blame it on private schools, Enron or the tooth fairy before they admit to any wrongdoing. After all, didn't they point out "greed" as the primary reason for the housing bubble, another catastrophe caused by loans that are backed by the Federal Government and other government policies?

If greed causes bubbles, Mr. Congress, why does it wait for artificially low interest rates, easy money for school or other government initiatives before it does its dirty work?

Law School: Just Say "No"

Don't go to law school. It's expensive, it's time consuming and it's a bad investment. I would say the same about other grad schools, but this is the only one I can speak about from first-hand experience. For those of you who want to be a litigator and actually have enough experience in the legal field to know that litigation is what you want to do, you can ignore this. You may want to be an attorney even if it is a bad deal. But if you are thinking about law school and you have no experience working at a firm and/or are not 100% sure you want to practice, take the following advice to the bank:

1.Law School is Expensive: $90,000 or $60,000 of red ink. You choose. Private or public. I chose the latter (thank God), but $60k is no laughing matter. Those of you who already have debt from undergrad may want to consider whether you want to be making the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment for a couple of degrees that won't put a shred of shelter over your head. Oh, if you are thinking about spending more than $90k on law school, you're an idiot. By the way, that debt number I listed does not include interest and opportunity costs (the money that you could have been earning during the time you were in law school). That is one hell of an "investment" and will likely be the largest or second largest financial transaction of your young life, depending on how much dough you flushed for undergrad.

2. It's time consuming. Three full years of your life. Three of your best years - your 20s - spent taking notes, writing briefs and sweating out exams rather than earning money and finding time to enjoy that which you have earned. On top of that, even after you graduate your degree is pretty much worthless for a legal career until you pass you state's bar exam. Add another 2 months or more of earning little to no income while studying for the bar. Then top that off with the rip-off mainstream bar prep courses and the bar application fee. That's another $2-3k minimum that your putting up, plus the all-too forgotten opportunity costs.

3. It's a bad investment. Supply and demand, people. It's all pretty simple. There are too many lawyers out there thanks to Federal Student Loans and the Law School Industrial Complex. As partially noted earlier, The loans throw the market way out of whack by bringing 10s of thousands more people to law school that would not have gone otherwise. There will be over 44,000 law grads thrust into the economy this year. The number of law jobs is shrinking and is destined to shrink for some time. I guess that is why you can go on craisglist and see pathetic listings of lawyers begging for jobs every day.

If you buy into the grad-school = higher income equation, you might want to take a shorter program. Perhaps an MBA would work. It is more versitile, takes less time, and you don't have school (Bar exam) after school.

My suggestion(s): Work. Gain experience even if you're only being paid shit. If your folks have the means to help you out or if you can live at home temporarily, great. Experience will be at a premium given the state of the economy.

Look at it this way: The Higher Education Industry (HEI) will continue to churn out more undergrad and grad degrees thanks to the lack of jobs. Why? Because the Baby Boomer mentality (our parents) tells us to go back to school where you can learn no skills for the bargain price of $50k plus 8% interest. The degree, so goes the story, will make you worth more to employers.

Unfortunately, in 8 years most of these degrees will be almost worthless in comparison to what was spent to earn them. There are already too many out there and the rate at which they are being churned out is only increasing. Hundreds of thousands more will have that premium piece of paper. What will set you apart from the competition will be real-world experience. Get your undergrad degree and work. If you still want to go to law school after that, suit yourself. At least you will have the work experience to buttress the grad degree or to at least use as a fall back.

Face It: College is the new high school

What did you expect? Washington DC politicians wanted everyone to have a college degree. Now everyone has one. It's called education inflation. The more degrees that are out there being used to pump up resumes, the less value they have. More degrees are competing for the same (or shrinking) number of jobs available. That would make grad school the new undergrad, then, right? Not quite, as this is even happening with graduate degrees.

See the job ad below:

[Deleted]
Program Coordinator/Site Director Position

[Deleted] is seeking a full time Program Coordinator/Site Director to manage its after school program at [Deleted]. This program operates daily and uses non traditional sports as a vehicle to enhance academic and leadership skills in youth k-8. The Program Coordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the program including recruitment, training,and on-going support of staff, parents and volunteers; as well as data collection and record keeping of the participants and their activities and maintaining partnerships with community organizations.

Qualifications:
Minimum BS degree in education,sports management,recreation and/or related field - Master's preferred
Minimum of 4 years of experience managing an after school or in school program serving minority youth.
Evidence of sport participation
Excellent writing and oral communication skills

Salary - $30,000- $37,000 depending on qualifications

[Deleted] is an equal opportinity [sic] employer

Would YOU spend tens of thousands of dollars for a master's degree that will earn you $30-37k?