The average beginning college student: excited to move away from home and gain a little bit of that longed for freedom, nervous to meet the new roommate, all packed up with new dorm accessories, sporting the latest trends yearning to make a great impression. The thing that doesn’t hit us until about mid way through freshman year: “what am I going to do with the rest of my life?”
By spending several thousand dollars a year, and ending up almost a quarter of a million dollars in debt, I will receive a degree in the field of my choice to follow my dreams with. But, what will I be able to do with that degree, will it really make my dreams come true? Will that degree even be able to get me a job? Will it make me the money I need to support myself?
“I have a degree in fashion merchandising” said Lynette Salazar, a forty-five year old waitress. “I always loved clothes and fashion. I loved keeping up with the latest styles and sharing them with the rest of the world” said Salazar. Now waiting tables in her home town at her family’s restaurant, Salazar is a perfect example of what a college degree can do for us: not a whole lot.
“It’s not exactly ideal and it definitely doesn’t bring in the big bucks, but I try to keep my head up and think about the positives, like the fact that I get to spend a lot of time with my kids because of this job” Salazar said.
Today, when deciding what to do when we “grow up” is a little more difficult than it used to be. Acting as a graduating college senior, I researched some job opportunities. Come to find out, staying close to home is hardly an option. About 70 percent of the jobs I found were on the west coast, Calif. specifically. Most of the jobs being offered had lists of criteria a mile long. The $44,000 a year I’m paying to go to school is not paying for me to meet that list of criteria.
That brings me to the questions: Is a bachelor’s degree enough, or do we have to go to graduate school? Is graduate school even sufficient? The status of the job market could determine the way we choose our future career. We could be stuck doing something for the rest of our lives that we absolutely hate. We are forced to make a decision based on offered income, and whether or not we will actually meet the criteria on that mile long list.
Should we possess attitudes such as Salazar’s, or should we focus on bringing home the bacon? Anymore we have to wonder if it is actually is possible to spend time with your family and loved ones, and have a decent job at the same time.
Come to find out, answering the question, “what do you want to do with the rest of your life?” has a lot more to it than simply following your dreams and listening to your heart.
When your child comes to you and says “I want to be a fireman” do you tell the small child that that is probably not a good idea because firemen do not make very much money, and they do not get to see their families very often, or do you bite your tongue and tell them to follow their dreams?
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