Are You Ahead?

Flip you, pay 'em, you take the working man’s tax dollars in hope that once you’re done your education/degree that you’ll get a sweet job and everything will be set for you. Nah uh, wake up because you’ve just been bitch slapped!

The tax dollars could’ve been used else where and now you’ve gotten an education, stop bitching, whining that you can’t make it. Pay em!

Quite a trade off to get an education, I’ll say, more like the government has binded the students till their late 30’s, 40’s and 50’s paying off a student loan, wrecking whatever possibility of blooming and put them back into the system in social assistance. I mean the interest rate is just insane! 2.5% plus prime on the thousands of dollars.

No one is an exception. The line of work I’m in currently is really taking a hit home and opening my eyes that a degree won’t be enough when I get out. I wouldn’t wish this kind of debt to anyone. Thats why I urge all the younger generations in North America to not depend on their degree but also have an entrepreneurial spirit which they can fall back on. I don’t care if you’re a girl, can you stitch? make something cute that will sell! Heck even stupid ideas are marketed like making butterfly shapes on pubic hair. To think that idea is making money, jeez. Too many of y’all get an education get knocked up and then its downhill because your knight and shining armour took your financial burden. I’m not saying its everyone, but majority are that way. Guys, instead of being stupid while young, stop playing the tunes to your hormones and get working. Learn from those who have been through it already. I mean you’ve got the degree for a potential 9-5 career, GREAT! Do the 9-5 bit but don’t let that be your only source of income. Make ideas, keep thinking what can I do to create/convert a want into a need for the population, business ideas that can possibly drive your captial into the millions from a bank loan that started in thousands.

Anyone can squat down and produce a degree. And I mean anyone! Its just theoretical mumbo jumbo. This is not to degrade the value of those who have worked all those long hours in class staring at some pompous prof who got his/her PhD. Its not funny when 1/4 of your income is going to the student loan and its not even covering the principal but just the interest! You’re barely paying for everything in the household, nothing is adding up and eventually you have to take the bankruptcy route.

If I were you, I would start taking entrepreneurial risks in school. Do it when you’ve got nothing to lose because when you’re binded with wife and children it becomes 10x harder to take risks which in effect can be a hardship on your personal life. You snooze, you lose!

Life with parents and in dorms is great but when those $9000+ per semester comes back and bites you back in the ass with interest like salt on wounds. Believe you, me, you will be crying!

If I were to change anything about how I took the study route, I would do it through community college. Get an accredited diploma and get hired by a Fortune 500 company or better. Pay it off within the first year while with parents. Get the company to pay for my part time degree and while I’m juggling the job and studies, I’d try a business on the side. Its better that way cuz you don’t have anything to lose when you’re young.

I still have a long way to go with my degree and post grad but now that I’ve seen almost every aspect of it. I’d carefully make this route. Too bad people don’t pass along advice that can save the next generation a hell of a lotta aches and pains.

Be the soaring spirit, be the light bulb, be a step ahead because just like you there will be another thousand kids graduating, how are you different from them?

p.s. Add your own valuable thoughts and mistakes you learnt from.

Too long to read ... just popped in to tell you that you're the least articulate person I know, so you should therefore stick to one line posts (or even better, no line posts ;) )

I believe he said "Add your own valuable thoughts and mistakes you learnt from."

coco thanks for the info ,right now I'll take the advice.Dont have much to share.

I still have a long way to go with my degree and post grad but now that I've seen almost every aspect of it. I'd carefully make this route. Too bad people don't pass along advice that can save the next generation a hell of a lotta aches and pains.<<<<

In a booming economy and sable circumstances a degree is sufficient to land you a job…this is how people have been making a living in the past. Now we have entered a new era ..a period where jobs are hard to find and once you do get one... it doesn’t guarantee that it will cover all your expenses ..not even the basics.
So what do you do? You are on the right track as far as getting your degree is concerned. That’s a no brainer…you should get your degree even if it doesn’t promise anything at the moment. Keep your eyes open for other opportunities on the side. Entrepreneur’s have their own set of challenges..life is not hunky dory there as well. I would suggest you set yourself short term goals and work towards them…postpone your idea of grad school..get as much industry experience as possible …and trust me, you don’t have to land a job in a fortune500 company to figure out what you want to do with your life. Don’t worry about 30s while you are still in 20s…make sure you cover the basics so that you don’t have to revisit these years later in life.

p.s and cut down on sheesha... cancer say mur jaay ga :-p

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*Originally posted by Sadi Sobi: *
so you should therefore stick to one line posts (or even better, no line posts ;) )
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This coming from a brummy who can't even pull up her own knickers out of a twist.

p.s. was that one liner good enough for ya :p

Re: Are You Ahead?

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Originally posted by CocoNut: *
**p.s. Add your own valuable thoughts and mistakes you learnt from.
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*

Very interesting thread, CocoNut.

If i would add my "valuble thoughts and mistakes", it would be the following - mind you it is not as profound as what you wrote, but it is a personal lesson that i wished i had realized prior to graduating from highschool. Every Tom Dick and Harry [or should i say every Abdul Kareem and Mustapha], from strangers off the street to friends i consider/ed close, tried to tell me what i should be studying in uni - and worst part of all, for a while, i listened to certain individuals. i wish now i had not. But it was an invaluable lesson. Additionally, i am going to make it mandatory for my children once they hit uni age - whether or not they want to, i am sending them off with a backpack and lots of cash to travel for a year. (Of course :o i'll go with them!). In the UK, i believe they refer to it as a 'gap year'. By golly my kids will have that opportunity to take full advantage of a gap year, in whatever format they wish (as long as i get to go with them :~P).

Basic line for me, in terms of 'advice' for any young 'un guppies reading this - study what you want to study. It is a lesson i had to learn the hard way.

^ just study what u want to study isnt good enuf, here is what i've seen from ppl around me.. study what u want study and excell in it! whether it be politics or music or whatever. dont just get ur degree n thats it.. try to apply it as well.

crappy advice i guess :-/

CocoNut, all your problems is because of capitalism, credit in the market and over-estimation of name value (of the university).

In capitalism you get too many choices and you are confused. You try to go for the one that's the most known, and because its that well known its prestigious, and because its so prestigious its expensive. But what do you care, you got credit!

You hit the nail right on the head when you mentioned community college. A degree by itself doesn't mean anything, it just certifies you've spent years sitting in classes (even if you haven't learned anything). The only thing it does do though is get you in the first door. After that they just want experience. I don't think my 2 bachelors degrees have been seen by anyone but myself and maybe a photocopy guy or 2. Maybe my children/grandchildren will open it up to see what the hell i was so proud of anyway.

Coming back to those gruesome school years. The learning (napping in class?) opens up your mind to ideas, gives you background on who's made what progress and where they failed (so you don't have to repeat the mistake process) and where to go when you wanna rob someone. So once u get degree-fied you have a running start.

Ofcourse it helps if you work thru school, not just to pay for some of the costs but also to make contacts in the market and be able to put some experience on your resume. It also helps getting over the shyness of meeting strangers and enhance your expressiveness.

My $0.02 worth.

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Originally posted by suroor_ca02: *
**dont just get ur degree n thats it.. try to apply it as well.

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Yes. Absolutely. That goes for any field of study one is entering.