Life After College II: Who Would You Be Without Debt?

The story "Sleep" from the short story collection No-Injury Policy was deeply influenced by college debt. Although the story is meant to be a bit absurd and make as much logically sense as a nightmare, "Sleep" aims to reveal what happens to a world that is burdened by social pressures, one of which being the expectancy to excel after college. 


The thing with college is, most people further their education for a better tomorrow. However, once you've finished bettering yourself, you step back into a world that might have forgotten about you until you've made a huge leap in your life, such as procuring a prestigious career. But how do you keep improving your life when all of your decisions are based on money - that average student debt of $23,000?  WOULD YOUR LIFE BE BETTER WITHOUT THE SHACKLE OF STUDENT LOANS?

According to this Bloomberg Businessweek article, California decided to increase taxes in an effort to make education cheaper. Though neither the only nor the optimal route towards more affordable education, Californians came to the decision that a little bit from everyone's paychecks was better than deterring young adults from college and more promising than sending college graduates into the world with a substantial amount of debt. 


The general idea is that taxes are less threatening to the general population than trying to raise the budget overall, which would be detrimental to many. And, of course, we need to raise our average education rate and skill results to compete with other countries. We used to be the best performing country in the world in terms of education.

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"The average college graduate has $24,000 in education-related debt."

One of the biggest advocates of more affordable education is Blag Flag multimedia artist and mult-social advocate Henry Rollins. He strongly believes college graduates are treated as "leeches" when they have to move back in with Mom and Dad or ask for a slight handout to get going. 


These same students are ridiculed, punished, threatened, stereotyped, belittled, and mocked. If you think those words are redundant in a sentence together, try hearing them every day.

See the things is, college students did what they were told. They were told to go to college. They worked their asses off to go and earn a degree. They graduated. And they paid a lot, monetarily, physically, and psychologically.  

After graduation, no one is as proud. When your broke, people tend to like you a little less. The same individuals who told the students that going to college was the right thing, are the same people telling students to take jobs way below and out of their field of study. 


These students were asked to work and educate themselves for the promise of tomorrow, just to be told to work at a grocery story or a McDonald's at minimum wage for the sake of paying back their debt today. Unless you land a high-paying job or one in your field, the average job will not be enough to pay the debt, and if it is, it will leave you with so very little to build yourself back up.

Let's face it: For some of us, post-graduation makes us feel like we came back to the "real world" with less. As Rollins says, getting a job after college really means getting three shitty jobs, losing ties with friends and family, and crying every night you still can't pay the loans with even three jobs. Check out his thoughts here for yourself. In short, he believes education needs to be free or cheaper. Although I would've loved free education, I think cheaper is the better medium.

I really agree with Rollins, even though he looks like he's about to explode every time he's excited about an idea. Our educated citizens can really make a difference if there's an opportunity. Putting students in severe debt under the false notion of a better tomorrow is really hurting the country. 


These graduates are all specialized in important fields that can, not only benefit the economy, but can also lead towards progress. Making the quick buck by charging high educations rates is a temporary economic fix. Letting the bright minds put their thoughts to work, rather than flipping burgers, could be the best thing for the United States. Or as Rollins implies: Who would screw with the country that outsmarts them every time?


SO THE QUESTION STANDS: WOULD YOUR LIFE BE BETTER WITH LESS STUDENT DEBT? 

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You Might Also Enjoy:

Life After College: Is It Your Fault?
Does College Pay Off?
How to Stop Jobs From Passing You By
No-Injury Policy Excerpt
Peter Thiel Will Pay You to Drop Out of College
Getting Over College
Ever felt like a loser? It's because you're a winner. 
More Blogs on College.
No-Injury Policy

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