serious question. if the degrees are worthless why are they even offered? just because people are dumb enough to spend their money to obtain one?

6/2/2010 10:13:23 PM

I like how she's using her degree and works for a photographer... Shit, I know plenty of people who went through my photography program, got their Associates in 2 years, which is about $700 a semester, and be making 250-350 a day as an assistant to a photographer. Plenty of others end off going out as their own business and make 50k part time as a photog if they are good at it.

6/2/2010 10:56:27 PM

she definitely could have picked a better major... but as other people have mentioned, having a degree in the first place can open a lot of doors for you. I would not have been considered for my job without a bachelors, but my degree is not related to my field.

If she has the right motivation/initiative/luck/mojo she should be able to find a passable job to help her work on paying off that debt...

or she can always marry rich.

6/2/2010 11:12:30 PM

Quote :

" Shivan Bird Cultural Critic 10807 Posts user info edit post Blame the family? The lenders? The university? Scroll down for the answer. Quote : "Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it. Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she's been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments. This is not a long-term solution, because the interest on the loans continues to pile up. So in an eerie echo of the mortgage crisis, tens of thousands of people like Ms. Munna are facing a reckoning. They and their families made borrowing decisions based more on emotion than reason, much as subprime borrowers assumed the value of their houses would always go up. Meanwhile, universities like N.Y.U. enrolled students without asking many questions about whether they could afford a $50,000 annual tuition bill. Then the colleges introduced the students to lenders who underwrote big loans without any idea of what the students might earn someday — just like the mortgage lenders who didn't ask borrowers to verify their incomes. Ms. Munna does not want to walk away from her loans in the same way many mortgage holders are. It would be difficult in any event because federal bankruptcy law makes it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debts. But unless she manages to improve her income quickly, she doesn't have a lot of good options for digging out. It is utterly depressing that there are so many people like her facing decades of payments, limited capacity to buy a home and a debt burden that can repel potential life partners. For starters, it's a shared failure of parenting and loan underwriting. But perhaps the biggest share lies with colleges and universities because they have the most knowledge of the financial aid process. And I would argue that they had an obligation to counsel students like Ms. Munna, who got in too far over their heads. How many people are like her? According to the College Board's Trends in Student Aid study, 10 percent of people who graduated in 2007-8 with student loans had borrowed $40,000 or more. The median debt for bachelor's degree recipients who borrowed while attending private, nonprofit colleges was $22,380. The Project on Student Debt, a research and advocacy organization in Oakland, Calif., used federal data to estimate that 206,000 people graduated from college (including many from for-profit universities) with more than $40,000 in student loan debt in that same period. That's a ninefold increase over the number of people in 1996, using 2008 dollars. The Family No one forces borrowers to take out these loans, and Ms. Munna and her mother, Cathryn, have spent the years since her graduation trying to understand where they went wrong. Ms. Munna's father died when she was 13, after a series of illnesses. She started college at age 17 and borrowed as much money as she could under the federal loan program. To make up the difference between her grants and work study money and the total cost of attending, her mother co-signed two private loans with Sallie Mae totaling about $20,000. When they applied for a third loan, however, Sallie Mae rejected the application, citing Cathryn's credit history. She had returned to college herself to finish her bachelor's degree and was also borrowing money. N.Y.U. suggested a federal Plus loan for parents, but that would have required immediate payments, something the mother couldn't afford. So before Cortney's junior year, N.Y.U. recommended that she apply for a private student loan on her own with Citibank. Over the course of the next two years, starting when she was still a teenager, she borrowed about $40,000 from Citibank without thinking much about how she would pay it back. How could her mother have let her run up that debt, and why didn't she try to make her daughter transfer to, say, the best school in the much cheaper state university system in New York? "All I could see was college, and a good college and how proud I was of her," Cathryn said. "All we needed to do was get this education and get the good job. This is the thing that eats away at me, the naïveté on my part." But Cortney resists the idea that this is a tale of bad parenting. "To me, it would be an uncharitable reading," she said. "My mother has tried her best, and I don't blame her for anything in this." The Lender Sallie Mae gets a pass here, in my view. A responsible grownup co-signed for its loans to the Munnas, and the company eventually cut them off. But what was Citi thinking, handing over $40,000 to an undergraduate who had already amassed debt well into the five figures? This was, in effect, a "no doc" or at least a "low doc" subprime mortgage loan. A Citi spokesman declined to comment, even though Ms. Munna was willing to sign a waiver giving Citi permission to talk about her loans. Perhaps the bank worried that once it approved one loan, cutting her off would have led her to drop out or transfer and have trouble paying back the loan. Today, someone like Ms. Munna might not qualify for the $40,000 she borrowed. But as the economy rebounds, there is little doubt that plenty of lenders will step forward to roll the dice on desperate students, especially because the students generally can't get rid of the debt in bankruptcy court. The University The financial aid office often has the best picture of what students like Ms. Munna are up abbgainst, because they see their families' financial situation splayed out on the federal financial aid form. So why didn't N.Y.U. tell Ms. Munna that she simply did not belong there once she'd passed, say, $60,000 in total debt? "Had somebody called me and said, 'Do you have a clue where this is all headed?', it would have been a slap in the face, but a slap in the face that I needed," said Cathryn Munna. "When financial aid told her that they could get her $2,000 more in loans, they should have been saying 'You are in deep doo-doo, little girl.' " That's not a role that the university wants to take on, though. "I think that would be completely inappropriate," said Randall Deike, the vice president of enrollment management for N.Y.U., who oversees admissions and financial aid. "Some families will do whatever it takes for their son or daughter to be not just at N.Y.U., but any first-choice college. I'm not sure that's always the best decision, but it's one that they really have to make themselves." The Options Teal, dear. 6/2/2010 9:18:56 AM eyedrb All American 4550 Posts user info edit post Quote : " "It feels wrong to me.""" That is because you are an idiot. 6/2/2010 9:26:09 AM God All American 25151 Posts user info edit post Wrong! Critical Media Literacy and Politics of Gender, biatch! "

NC State message boards often look down on CHASS and Management majors, but not everyone is cut out to be a chemistry, or engineering major. I myself was a History major. Had I passed a test for the DDS then I could probably have a job right nowou get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you will
ve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job.

ve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you will
ve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you willve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you will
ve a 4 year degree was turned away because it requires any 4 year degree to apply for the job. If you get any 4 year degree then you will

6/2/2010 11:21:07 PM

i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in d

oing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hopsier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hop

e it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool?????
i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing a
sier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hop
sier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hop


sier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hopsier for me to just write it like this, and i hope it can be easy for people to read this too. i like writing about stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool????? i am good in english, i try my best in doing what i do what i think is best and that im pretty intelligent when it comes to doing this. to be honest its not that hard but i find it easier for me to just write it like this, and i hop
bout stuff. i like chicken. i like food. i like eating. eating is great. blah blah blah blah blah. i am awesome. i am cool. i believe im awesome and cool. isnt that awesome and cool?????

6/2/2010 11:22:03 PM

Quote :

"I remember this dude who use to work with me while I was interning at a residential group home in Raleigh, he had a Sociology degree from Duke(former football player) and was dumb as shit! He applied for this high profile advertising job with some great firm in NY about 6 years ago, and he ended up getting the job and he graduated from Duke with like a 2.5 gpa! he told me that during the interview that the interviewer told him, "your body of work at Duke dont really qualify for this position, but as an alum-we take of our own".. talk about some god-damn luck.....this guy literally had no clue had to make an attachment to an email...... he had to pay for his first two years at Duke, but obtained a football scholarship his last two years....so im guessing he's one of those rare cases where going after the high profile education paid off.....lucky fuck."

It is all about who you know. My sister's best friend graduated from NCSU with a marketing degree. During college she was hired by her aunt to do an internship. The girl who went to our church applied for the same intership and didn't get it. Then my sister's friend was hired after college by her aunt. Then she wanted to move back to Raleigh and found another job that pays $80,000 a year. I also have a cousin who was hired by my dad's interior trim company over the summer during college. When he graduated with an art degree he had a chance to use his degree, but chose to work for my dad again and eventually was offered some other construction jobs. He has been working in construction ever since. Finding a job in any field is all about who you know and not what you know.

Quote :

"you don't hear engineers and science majors bitching about how they make minimum wage and can't pay off the loans on their worthless degree."

My sister was a Bio Chem major and has hated all 3 jobs she has had in labs. She now wants to get a masters degree in special education and work with elementary school children who have learning disabilities. Science based majors don't make everyone happy.

6/2/2010 11:38:59 PM

oh my fucking words chit chat!


seems like people that much in the hole, bankruptcy would be the best option

i think they have made it harder, but with the right lawyer, it can be done

6/2/2010 11:40:57 PM