At my private high school, the question was not "are you going to college?" but "which college are you going to?" When each graduate's name was called during graduation, the name of the university she would attend was also called, and also her intended major. No community colleges were mentioned. No "undecided" majors were announced either. Nobody was not taking a gap year to earn a college savings, think about their future, or join the peace corp. And if they were it was not mentioned either. Many universities were names such as Brown, Long Island, and Marquette. The one I was going to was not in those prestigious ranks, but was a university nonetheless. Every one of our fine young ladies is college-bound.
My parents terminated their 20-year marriage. My mother married a man 11 years older who worked in finance. Then my dad married a younger woman, a masseuse. I'm 18 years old and leaving for college, so none of it concerned me much.
I'm already hired to work in an on-campus fast food joint a week before classes start. I had some software and office management skills, but my mother advised me to start from the bottom when it came to jobs and to stay near my classes. I made 200 dollars every two weeks. I lived in a pre-paid dorm for the time being.
When my dorm lease was up I moved into the first place I could find and 200 dollars a paycheck didn't cut it. I continued school at a community college after a collision of arguments I was not involved in: Mr. Finance didn't think it was fair of my mother to spend his money (the money in a joint bank account he and my mother shared) on my education. My father didn't want to pay anything if Mom wouldn't pay half. Mrs. Masseuse wanted to send her son to private school. I was 19.
I got a second job and visited the school's financial aid office. I experienced long waits, long lines, countless re-directions to a different bureaucrat, and many, many rejections. I didn't qualify for status as an independent because my parents made a steady income and I had not had a 23rd birthday yet and was single and without children. By the end of that year I experienced eviction and knew how to make cheap foods stretch a couple weeks until my next pay day. Whatever classes I could pay for got put on the back burner while I scrambled for money and a new place to live.
Both of my bosses were getting fed up with my need to juggle time between the two jobs. I quit one job and asked for more hours at the one I kept. They granted me more at first and then gradually reduced them until finally they were 0 hours a week with no explanation and without terminating me either. I was forced to look for work farther away from school and increase my commute time.
Eventually I dropped out of college and worked at jobs that barely or didn't pay bills. There were scarce opportunities for advancement or full-time positions. I earned no commission for sales. I had severe pains in my lower abdomen but no health insurance. I had software skills to get me out of minimum wage jobs, but college graduates were preferred for those positions. My college savings stayed at 0 for months and when they existed were promptly spent on urgencies.
Many young Americans like myself have similar challenges. For those from lower-income families, many are not expected to go to college in the first place, and when they do they are often bogged down with external financial stress and lack of academic preparation. Some middle class baby-boomers see their adult children as slackers and wonder why they don't work hard and put themselves through college (like mom and pop did). There is little consideration for the inflated tuition rates or harsher economic climate of today's youth.
Some middle and upper class families who intend to finance their kids' education lose the ability to do so when circumstances spiral out of control. These circumstances can include loss of job, divorce issues, health problems and relating medical costs, and death of a family member. This in combination with rising tuition inflation continues to contribute to the growing rich-poor divide in America as more and more of the middle class (and even lower-upper class) become absorbed into the bottom section of America's wealth divide.
Meanwhile, other persons my age are graduating from college and joining the work force for the first time. They start a job with eagerness to prove themselves (quickly noted by the employer). They often work full-time and over time, even on-call. They cancel dinner appointments with their dates to meet the boss' deadline. They grow distant from loved ones. They delay commitments like marriage and starting a family. They take few breaks and earn a short vacations. They find a nice place to live alone. When and if they have families, their children have more paid-for sponsorship than actual quality time with parents. Time alone with spouses is limited.
And the graduates that can't find work in their field of study will find the same kind of work I do. On top of regular bills that are nearly impossible to pay, they may also have to pay back student loans. Many companies will not hire them because they are over-qualified.
A friend of mine works at a private hospital that recently had its annual layoffs. He observed that many hard working nurses got laid off, but all the text-a-holic nurses who were young, attractive, and female kept their jobs. A year earlier a doctor was found in a vacant room in an act of sex with a nurse.
So what does it take to do more than just get by in America? To have a fully-funded college education followed by an outstanding corporate salary, and a lifetime void of memorable experiences, love, and social needs? To not be considered overqualified with education, skills, experience, and expertise? To be less qualified so as not to suck money out of an employer that you can legitimately deserve for being a good employee? To be available for sexual favors? And what is the end game of success when you get it? To pay off student loans and a mortgage?
Even when we find employment, it does not cover all of our needs. Major retailers like Walmart push independent businesses aside and pride themselves on employing tens of thousands. But if you ask a Walmart employee what her budget is for food this month, she will tell you it's around fifteen dollars.
Here in America we live to pay bills, and the creditors suck every penny from us with severe consequences for nonpayment irrespective of income and with no sympathy for unfortunate circumstances. I know of very few people who consider this a fulfillment of the American Dream.
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