Grads on the prowl

Grads are on the prowl

By: BEN BLANKENSHIP

 

It’s no secret that the job situation remains tight. New graduates face a prolonged rough spell. Things aren’t getting better, and won’t until our national fiscal crisis wanes. The government’s debt now equals gross domestic product — for the first time since WWII.

We are fortunate that Stafford County is in such good shape on the jobs front. Our unemployment is well below average.

Even so, a college education no longer guarantees a job anywhere. Instead, it too often produces a grad’s huge debt burden. Worse, nearly a fourth of former grads’ student loans are now in default, as today’s huge tuition burdens keep rising.

Not without comment. Listen to Mark Cuban, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks…“… New high end, unaccredited schools are popping up that will offer better educations for far, far less and create better job opportunities…particularly in the tech world, with online and physical classrooms. They respond to needs in the market…assuring those who excel that they will get a job. All for far less money than traditional schools... It’s far too easy to borrow money for college…[yielding] more outstanding debt now for student loans than there is for auto loans or credit card loans.”

But not to worry? According to a recent blog post, a new law permits graduates to pay no more than 10 percent of their income toward federal student loans at a given time, regardless of how much they owe. And if they haven’t paid back the full amount after 20 years of working, the remainder is forgiven…by us taxpayers. Oh swell.

Meanwhile, for new high school grads, here are some handy reminders (from a speech by Microsoft’s Bill Gates):

“Life is not fair…The world won’t care about your self-esteem. It will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself…If you think your teacher was tough, wait ‘til you get a boss…if you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes…Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not…Life isn’t divided into semesters; you don’t get summers off and few employers are interested in helping you find yourself; do it on your own time… Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.”

College bound? Brace yourself: “…[M]any students enter university lacking the basic skills and knowledge to succeed in their courses… they often arrive essentially unteachable, lacking the personal qualities necessary to respond to criticism.” — Janice Fiamengo,UniversityofOttawa English professor.

But so what? The degrees come easier today. It’s claimed that college students get more As than any other grade although they spend less time studying.

Finally, a friendly neighborhood reminder: A good community college is now nearby — Germanna Community College’s Stafford Center in Aquia Park, just south of State Route 610 at U.S. 1.

Also,Stafford’s political leaders are working to create a tech research park that will serve as an incubator where entrepreneurs could work with researchers to build new technologies and companies.

Great, but not on my dime, please.

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