Xtranormal Takes the Higher Education Scam Mainstream

Here are several more xtranormal videos. I'd like to see more of these videos follow in the footsteps of the "So You Want to Go to Law School" video that has gone viral and received 660,000 hits in the last week. I'm glad to see unemployed graduates putting some of their free time to good use by creating these creative and humorous videos that will hopefully save someone from a similar fate. Enjoy and pass them along to a real life lemming contemplating law or graduate school. You could save a life.

I'm Poor, You're Poor, Everybody's Poor, Poor!!!!

Yes.  We are gaining in numbers.  Whoops. I guess that doesn't help us.  The Poverty Rate rose to 14.3%, the highest since 1994.  How horrid.  And when I say 'poverty,' I mean pooooooor as dirt;
"For a single adult in 2009, the poverty line was $10,830 in pretax cash income; for a family of four, $22,050."  That is really poor.  I actually don't think I qualify, but we'll see when I do my quarterly taxes at the end of this month. I always seem to think I did better than I actually did.

It seems that this number could have been so much worse.  Thank God for mom and dad:

And the numbers could have climbed higher: One way embattled Americans have gotten by is sharing homes with siblings, parents or even nonrelatives, sometimes resulting in overused couches and frayed nerves but holding down the rise in the national poverty rate, according to the report.

So, what's the REAL poverty rate?  Why do I always have to ask these questions for the retards over at the New York Times. I'd like to see the stats on how many able bodied people are couch surfing and what the real poverty rate is based on that number.  God, must I do everything?  And they make the story even more bland by noting that those poverty stricken by the recession are the usual suspects:

Dr. Smeeding said it seemed almost certain that poverty would further rise this year. He noted that the increase in unemployment and poverty had been concentrated among young adults without college educations and their children, and that these people remained at the end of the line in their search for work.

We're in the front of the line, I suppose.  So, they go into several heart wrenching stories of uneducated folks with babies that are forced to move in with relatives to weather the financial storm.  I would rather read about people like BL1y who no one would have ever thought would be living below the poverty line.  Oh yah, he doesn't count because his parents are working.

But the situation would be more bleak but for unemployment benefits and, at the same time, it's not as bleak as we thought because of certain benefits that come with living in this Great Country of ours:

If food-stamp benefits and low-income tax credits were included as income, close to 8 million of those labeled as poor in the report would instead be just above the poverty line, the Census report estimated. At the same time, a person who starts a job and receives the earned income tax credit could have new work-related expenses like transportation and child care. Unemployment benefits, which are considered cash income and included in the calculations, helped keep 3 million families above the line last year, the report said, with temporary extensions and higher payments helping all the more.

So, once again, a half ass story from an ass clown publication.  Try and publish a real story, New York Times!

Thanks for the tip, BIDER Reader.

The Old and Uneducated Finding More Jobs Than the Young and Educated. What Does It Mean?

Yesterday, Angel laid out the cold hard facts about the depression and the unemployment statistics for young people. In case you missed it, here is the chart again before I present more depressing employment figures.Over 50 percent of youth are unemployed, underemployed, or working part time. That doesn't include some of us over educated people working in full-time jobs that only pay $10 an hour. This is a catastrophe. We are the damned generation: no jobs, no savings, no future, an unprecedented student loan debt crisis, and probably no social security and medicare by the time we reach our parents' age.

I have more bad news that probably won't surprise most BIDER readers but will at least shut up the shills who come here and try to tell us that college educated youth are doing a-okay at only 4 percent unemployment. I came across job data at the Center for Economic and Policy Research that shows African Americans and the college educated hit especially hard by job losses. Again, not surprising but here is the proof (emphasis mine):

African Americans were also hit especially hard. The EPOP for African Americans is back at its low point for the downturn and the EPOP for African American women hit a new low at 54.4 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than the December ratio.

By education level, the less educated appear to be the big gainers, with a 1.8 percentage-point increase in the EPOP for those without a high school degree. Those with some college had a 0.8 percentage-point decline in their EPOP and those with college degrees had a 1.1 percentage-point drop to 72.7 percent, the lowest level of the downturn.

By age group, the big gainers continued to be the over-55 cohort, which added 54,000 jobs in July, bringing the 3-month gain to 182,000. Older women accounted for 167,000 of this rise in employment. By contrast, employment for women between the ages of 35-44 fell by 253,000 (1.8%) and for women between 45-54 by 186,000 (1.2%) since May.
There were substantial declines in all the measures of duration of unemployment. This likely reflects many long-term unemployed dropping out of the workforce after losing benefits. The percent of multiple jobholders dropped by 0.3 percentage points to the lowest on record. This presumably reflects difficulty in getting jobs.

Let me first say it amazes me that Washington does not seem to care enough to make drastic changes to stop the bleeding given that the current administration got into office riding on a huge wave of support from the young and minorities. The 22-year-old who voted in 2008 won't be the same voter in 2012 as a 26-year-old welfare recipient still unemployed four years after graduating from college with $100k loans. We are going to see that affect on the electorate in 2010 and 2012.

This doesn't mean life is good for the old and the uneducated, far from it, but it does point to a lack of real jobs with good wages and benefits being created. What kind of jobs do you think older women and high school drop outs are getting in this economy? Likely retail and restaurant work and a few manufacturing jobs that the majority of our college educated readership are considered overqualified for.

No one other than the political elite and the CEOs are coming out winners in this depression, but at least the uneducated have a better chance at the few service sector and manufacturing jobs. When there are no jobs, you have educated people willing to take practically anything for extra money to stay afloat even if it means driving a taxi or working at the shopping mall or grocery store.

Unfortunately for the damned generation, being educated is a curse because not only do you have student loans, you will be passed over for the less educated candidate for most of the new jobs created. Nearly every job I hear about on the local news is in the manufacturing or service industry. What are the chances that a 20-something female with a college degree and JD such as myself will get one of these $10-20/hour jobs over the recently laid off man with 20 years of experience on the factory line? Slim to none. That means the person with the $15 hourly job is still doing better, however small, than the unemployed JD or PhD making nothing to pay the rent and buy groceries.

In the end it is all about just hustling to survive and the 18 to 29 educated crowd clearly isn't doing well in that area. For example, I am single and have a current net worth of zero while the neighbor who bypassed college to get a masseuse certificate just bought a new house with her husband and has no student debt. Remind me again why I worked my ass off to get into the best schools?

The Corporatization of Higher Education Has Made It Less Valuable to the Millenial Generation

We have received many comments, including a post at Corrente by ChicagoDyke, in response to Angel's post arguing against a college education.

Regular readers know that my opinion differs from Angel. I have stated in the past that I was very fortunate to have received financial aid and scholarships to attend a top ranked college. I enjoyed my experience and I think I am a better person because of it. I only wish the greedy people who run our country and our universities believed that all Americans were entitled to an education without having to go into life destroying debt. This is why I blog about the higher education and tuition scam and its destruction of both the education system and the people who once believed in it only to be left unemployed with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt.

Millions of people my age are rightfully bitter about their return on a $200,000 investment that has destroyed them emotionally and fiscally. I come from a working class family where I was denied a lot of the material objects that the majority of my well-to-do college and law school classmates were fortunate to have growing up. Part of the reason I went to college and later to law school was to not only become more wordly and enlightened but to also improve my life and help my parents and the rest of my family who continue to struggle to this day. I'm sure that most working and middle class students go to college for similar reasons.

So I absolutely hate it when these same well-to-do people, or older people who went to college when it didn't cost $50k a year to attend, tell me that money isn't important compared to intangible things like having an education. Well, you never really had to experience a single day being dirt poor living on food stamps or have Sallie Mae call you everyday demanding their student loan payment, have you? I'm not talking about not being satisfied with just having enough to survive and have a roof over your head and food on the table. I mean bottom of the barrel poor, scared to death that any day now you could be on the street and eating at a homeless shelter. Well, that is the situation millions of Americans are in right now including millions of college educated graduates who thought they did everything right only to have half of their wages garnished to pay for that oh so joyful college experience. And, of course, there is the law school scam that uses fraudulent employment statistics to convince their students that taking out $150k in loans in a field that continues to outsource jobs to India is a good investment.

I do not have rose colored glasses on when I listen to people my age with $200k or $300k in student loans regret never being able to go on a vacation, or treat themselves to a nice outfit, or have children because of this "mistake". When the cost of an education hinders your ability to build a life for yourself: get married, start a family, buy a house, or even qualify for an entry level job - that is when the pro-education crowd must take these complaints against a college education seriously rather than blame the victims for being bitter or resentful. This is not their fault. You wouldn't have people like Angel warning against an education if the expenses weren't so high.

I respect Angel's opinion because her criticisms are valid and many people from the X and the Millenial Generation, which I am a part of, feel the same way because of the corporatization of higher education. Here is part my response to Angel's post earlier this week:

HardKnocks said...
The majority of Americans would be able to go to college IF colleges weren't so damn expensive, and that is largely the fault of greedy tenured professors and money hungry deans. I also believe that college shouldn't be 4,5,6 years. Most students would be able to graduate in 2 to 3 years if it weren't for ridiculous money making requirements set by their college. It's the same money making scheme that forces law students to spend three unnecessary years in law school.

There is no such thing as a "cheap college" if you are looking to go to most of the schools listed in the top tier of USNWR unless you get a ton of scholarships and financial aid. And the goal for most ambitious and academically gifted is still to get into the highest ranked school they can get into.

Most 18 year olds have no concept of savings and debt. They are just brainwashed by parents, teachers, the media, and USNWR to believe that a higher ranked school equals more prestige and better job opportunities to pay off the high tuition.

Anyway, what is the point of getting good grades so you can attend Podunk University with someone who got a 2.0 in high school? The US does not reward good students who aren't rich. Poor and middle class students are punished either with life crushing debt to go to a prestigious school, or they are told that despite all of their hard work they will never reach the coveted top tier school or Harvard because they weren't born into a rich family. That is NOT how the higher education system should work. The Ivy and top public universities should be accessible to anyone with the grades to get in, not just the rich.

This is what I said last month in response to critics of blogs such as BIDER that criticize the current education system:

As a starting point for any new readers joining us, I recommend reading Jobless Juris Doctor’s post about a day in the life of an unemployed graduate working a $10/hour part-time job with loans to pay back. Many of the comments are just a small window into the large numbers of young people who are depressed and on the verge of suicide because of student debt, especially in this new jobless era that could last for decades.

Please also read Cryn at Education Matters and put her under your blogroll even if your blog has nothing to do with education issues. Cryn is one of the few education advocates trying to change the system and fight for student loan victims. She regularly posts absolutely heart wrenching stories of educated American families being destroyed by student debt compounded by unemployment and our country not having a national health care system. Cryn herself attended an Ivy League and is now working in South Korea to pay off her student loan debt. Yes, many of us are being forced to flee the country to find anything resembling a respectable and decent paying job to pay off our student loans.

...We are not against education. We are against a system that devalues the importance of education by turning it into a money making scheme. To swindle millions of dollars from hard-working Americans using fraudulent data and myths in order to convince parents and their children that taking out hundreds of thousands in private loans is worth it to become more self-enlightened is despicable and should be stopped.

Low-income, minority, and single parent (usually women) students bear the brunt of the higher education scam. Too many of them end up in for-profit schools or low ranked, third tier schools that offer a crappy education and few job opportunities at the same tuition rates as the Ivy League. Many must gamble with the possibility of absolute financial ruin for life by taking out huge loans to attend college. So when someone asks whether or not college (or graduate school) is worth it, they are asking a very serious question that no one in higher education is willing to answer directly. Is taking out $50k, $100k, $150k, $200k – even $300k (I know an Ivy League and T14 graduate who owes more than $300k) in loans worth the risk? Is anything that doesn’t offer a money back guarantee or an absolute guarantee of a good paying job worth taking such a huge financial risk?

Anyone who can justify not questioning these exorbitant costs is either rich, clueless, or profits in some way shape or form from the system currently in place.

I have also recently blogged about university presidents who receive money from BP, Goldman Sachs, and Nike. These presidents are paid millions of dollars each year while their students drown in student debt. Why should the "little people" even take universities and the crooks who run them seriously anymore? These crooks obviously do not believe in access to education for all if it means their salaries are cut in half so that colleges can once again become affordable places of learning for the masses.

More of our critics need to open their eyes, stop blaming the indentured educated class of my generation, and start demanding accountability and change from the higher education industrial complex. Until this ends, the education gap between the rich and the poor will only become wider and there will be more critics besides Angel arguing against college and graduate school.

More Tidbits from the book, Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money And Failing Our Kids - And What We Can Do About It

A BIDER reader sent us an interesting statistic posted by author Sheril Kirshenbaum on twitter via the upcoming book "Higher Education?" which will be released tomorrow:

From 2005-07: 101,000 PhDs awarded & only 16,000 professorships created (via book Higher Education?) Recession undoubtedly increased spread 12:48 PM Jul 31st via web

So where are the 85,000 PhDs without an assistant professorship? They are likely writing blogs about their lives on public assistance, working as adjuncts, serving you fries at your local fast food joint, or sending out resumes as overqualified candidates for entry-level positions meant for GED and college graduates. I'm glad that this book seems to at least briefly touch upon the victims of the graduate school scam along with the college tuition scam. Maybe someone will someday write a serious book about the law school scam. I'm not holding my breath.

Several days ago, I briefly mentioned the book Higher Education? in a post about the college scam. With more information being revealed each day, I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on this book. I looked up the statistic and came across an interview with one of the Higher Education? authors, Claudia Dreifus, at More Magazine. This is a fascinating interview worth reading in its entirety, but I couldn't resist pasting some of the highlights below.

Why do you think a Harvard education may not be worth it?
First, it’s overpriced. Harvard has just raised its fee to over $50,000 a year, and that will trigger a cycle of increases throughout the system because Harvard sets the trend. Harvard says it’s raising the number of scholarships, and that’s well and good, but the overall effect of the tuition hikes on the rest of the system is thoroughly immoral—most schools are not nearly as well endowed and can’t award as much financial aid. I believe that the elite universities we call the Golden Dozen—Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Duke, Amherst, Williams—are, for the most part, overpriced prestige items.

But they have great faculty.
Over 70 percent of college teachers—even at top schools like Yale, Harvard and Stanford—are graduate students or adjuncts or gypsy visiting professors. That’s up from 43 percent in 1975. There are 181,000 teaching assistants at work in 280 research universities around the country. And it’s not just the elite colleges. Florida Keys Community College, for instance, has 24 full-time faculty and about 90 adjuncts per term. Using a contingent workforce costs the schools much less money. At Yale, for example, teaching assistants earn roughly $20,000 a year.

So the students are not taught by the stars?
Rarely. And this bothers me, because you’re cheating the young people.

Where are the adjuncts coming from?
Universities are overproducing PhDs way beyond levels anyone can use in this country. From 2005 to 2007, they awarded 101,000 doctoral degrees—but there were only 16,000 new assistant professorships created.

You criticize what you call “vocational training” at many colleges: Resort management. Equine science and management. Apparel and accessories marketing. Why does this bother you? Doesn’t it help kids get jobs?
I think 18-year-olds are too young to know what they’re going to do with their lives. We’re a rich enough society that we can give people four years to find themselves—to expose them for one brief moment to ideas and thinking, to take a hiatus from the world of commerce. We can afford an educated populace.

Even in these tough economic times?
Yes. It’s not a luxury to be educated.

What should colleges be concentrating on?
They should be exposing young people to the great ideas of the past and present, and they should be giving them a chance to stretch their minds. A return to the liberal arts: history, philosophy, English, physics. Science as a whole needs to be valued more on the undergraduate level. Too often science classes are taught by people who speak English too poorly to communicate clearly—all to save money.

What’s the solution?
De-emphasize professors’ need to publish and promote those who are good teachers. Abolish tenure. Pay adjuncts something like parity per course. Force professors, no matter what their ranking, to teach undergrads. Cap presidential salaries. And end sabbaticals: They’re a total waste of money—a raid on parents’ and students’ resources. If a professor wants to advance her career by writing a book, she should do it on her own time.

What can parents do?
The first value should be not starting your youngster off with five-figure debt. Consider alternatives to the most expensive schools. It’s not so important to be able to say, “My child is at Princeton.” What’s more important is to say, “My child has a good future,” which partly means a future without crippling debt.

Can any college deliver “a good future”?
A large number of CEOs of major corporations didn’t come from the Ivies but from second-tier schools. There are good things to be found anywhere; the system is big enough so there is something for anyone. The trick is to find the right match.

Lawyer Asks Why People Are Still Going to Law School

Happy Independence Day! When you're a law graduate like Griffin Hall with over $100k in students loans, the term independence takes on an entirely new meaning. Some of us are still enslaved to the student loan companies and will be even after death.

I came across a blog post by a lawyer asking why people are still willing to take on so much student debt to enter a depressing and shrinking profession such as law.

I'm am a lawyer. For better or worse. I like my job. I'm not so sure I liked the route it took to get here. But I'm a lucky one. There are many entry level jobs in law that pay about $40 grand a year with horrible benefits. These are the jobs that will suck your will to live. Long hours. Living paycheck to paycheck in a studio apartment paying $600 a month on your student loans even after you've deferred as much as you can (if you were on a full payback plan you would be paying more than $1,000 a month on student loans alone). Mind numbingly boring work (reading and responding to discovery is not rewarding work). Crying about how important it is for the government to just forgive a huge chunk of your loans. We have raised a nation of imbeciles.

Does anyone know the value of a dollar any more? Does anyone realize that when you borrow $150 grand for law school you are going to be expected to pay it back?

I ran the numbers for law school and they worked well enough when I went earlier this decade, as long as I went to the state school and lived at home. I used my savings to pay my $12,000 a year tuition (on average) for the three years I was in school. I graduated with no debt. I factored in the fact that the average salary for graduates at my school was around $55,000. The numbers worked close enough. The numbers didn't work by spending much more than what I did.

I was a little shocked at the ease on which my classmates took on new debt. They lived life to its fullest--there was no sacrifice. The time to pay the piper was still years into the future. I know one person who even paid for his wife's engagement ring with his student loans. Simply incredible.

We have raised a nation of imbeciles.

Why is our society so immune to the danger of debt? Why are they unable to calculate a simple cost benefit analysis and apply that to their situation? Is it because our parents have failed us?

This lucky bastard went to law school back in the day when tuition was only $12,000 a year. If you look at some of these same state schools today, tuition costs have tripled or quadrupled. Law school is no longer a safe or good investment for anyone, even the T14 students. Like I've said before, $150k debt is still $150k debt whether you go to Harvard Law or Cooley Law. Either way, if you don't end up in Biglaw and you have that much to pay back, you are basically screwed.

The guy who paid for his wife's engagement ring with his student loans is an idiot, but he should not be used as an example of the typical student loan victim. That's like using a few people who abuse the system to label everyone on welfare and food stamps as "welfare queens". We all know that is not the case, especially in this depression with nearly 20 million people out of work or underemployed. Contrary to what some well-to-do idiots in the beltway believe, these victims are not "spoiled brats' who are unemployed by choice. The same goes for most students who take out loans. They are not blowing their student loans on designer clothes and trips around the world. They are using it towards books and tuition. What kind of nation vilifies young people for getting an education? Maybe they are gullible to believe their school's employment statistics. But I don't believe someone is idiotic to invest in an education if they believe that it will open better opportunities than a high school graduate working at McDonald's.

And in all of this, one thing angers me more than anything: The thought of the government forgiving student loans. Actions have consequences, and the complaints of people with student loans that they deserve special treatment and sympathy because they have student loans strike a nerve. The state's legislature, in all its wisdom, has passed special loan forgiveness measures for people working for the government. Thankfully, in all its wisdom it is broke and has absolutely no funding for it. Another example of governments out of control.

I definitely have some resentment for people with huge student loans because they spend money like it comes easy (even when they're out of school). I sacrificed, I didn't go to ball games, I didn't eat out, I didn't do a lot of things they love to do. And I should be rewarded for that. My bitterness will grow if they were in some way able to weasel out of the responsibility for their spending habits.

Since a college degree is like a high school degree was to our grandparents, it is reasonable to believe that a graduate or professional degree is the ticket to better, well-paid job opportunities. For those of us who don't come from a rich family, we're damned if we don't get a higher education and we're damned if we do get an education using student loans. People need to stop blaming the students and start blaming the ABA for accrediting more law schools and school administrators who decide these outrageous tuition rates to pay their $300k yearly salary while blocking poor and middle class students from receiving an education without taking out six-figure loans. We want the same things this lawyer received less than a decade ago at a fraction of the cost. He got a break. The banks got a break. But our generation and the next generation of young people who only want an education and decent paying job are vilified as irresponsible by those before them who were privileged to receive a low cost education and good paying jobs?

But my ultimate point is this--people deserve to be rewarded for my sacrifices. For saving money, living frugally, for not taking on student loans. And I will be pissed off if the rules change because that makes me (and those like me) the sucker. That means I should have been doing what everyone else is. I should have been living it up on federal loans this whole time and then deferring payments.

I'm not saying I want people with student loans to suffer. I just want them to have to pay back what they've borrowed. And I want the government to stop making stupid loans for education. They are enabling all of these people.

But back on point, I'm not sure why anyone wants to go to law school. Maybe if you have a large scholarship. But at these prices, you have to realize that law schools are selling you a bill of goods. They are ripping you off.

I agree that law school is a huge ripoff and more prospective students should realize this with the proliferation of law scam blogs. I also agree that the government is enabling people because they have deals with their friends at the loan companies and for-profit schools. There are many arrogant 0Ls who believe they will beat the odds. But there are also many more students who blindly went to law school without warning believing that it would lead to a law firm, nonprofit, or government job. Most of the people my age have lived frugally, worked while in school, and received scholarships -- and they would not be in this position if schools were still charging $12k a year instead of $50k a year. Stop blaming the victim and be glad that you got out of school with so little debt. And have a little compassion for those of us who are unlucky to be part of a generation who was conned, fooled, and suckered into spending so much money on an education and graduating in a depression with no jobs.

News We Already Know: College Degrees Fail to Lift Low Income Youth Out of Poverty

You can also add JD, MA, MS, PhD, and LLM along to the long list of degrees that will not lift you out of poverty. So much for the brainwashing from teachers and family my entire life that I could achieve anything with a college education. A study from the Institute of Higher Education Policy shows that an increasing number of low-income youth are pursuing higher education, but remain poor (Hi CLEO Pre-Law Institute for minorities *waves*).

Increasing proportions of low-income young adults are pursuing higher education, but some remain poor even with a postsecondary degree, according to a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

In 2008, among Americans ages 18 to 26 whose total household income was near or below the federal poverty level, 47 percent were or had been enrolled in college, compared with 42 percent in 2000. Eleven percent of them had earned a degree, a proportion roughly equivalent to that eight years ago, according to the report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The institute is a nonprofit group in Washington that conducts public-policy research to encourage access and success in higher education.

In introducing its report, the group called into question President Obama's declaration in his State of the Union address in January that "the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education." Poor students go to college academically unprepared, the report says, and, amid competing family and work obligations, they accumulate debt "that could have been avoided by pursuing a different type of degree or a credential."

None of the 11 percent of low-income graduates should remain in poverty, said Gregory S. Kienzl, director of research and evaluation at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. "If you have a degree, you should no longer be poor," he said.

Across all racial and ethnic groups, greater proportions of low-income young adults were or had been enrolled in college in 2008, compared with 2000. Hispanic students showed the largest percentage-point increase, to 37 percent from 29 percent. Low-income Asian and Pacific Islander and white students enrolled at the highest rates in 2008, 62 percent and 51 percent, respectively; the greatest proportions of low-income degree holders were also from those groups.

The report, "A Portrait of Low-Income Young Adults in Education," is the first in a series financed in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The next report will focus on attendance and enrollment patterns among low-income students, Mr. Kienzl said, including that black and Hispanic women more often attend for-profit institutions than public four-year colleges.

The article also leaves out the little inconvenience of having thousands in student loans to pay back, especially for children from poor and low-income families who have no way of helping them pay off those loans. As someone from a working class neighborhood, I can say from firsthand experience how heartbreaking it is for families who invest the time and money to make sure their children are the first in the family to attend college, only to see their children come home with no job and thousands in debt. The higher education system has become a Ponzi Scheme and the people who are responsible for perpetuating the higher education scam and charging hundreds of thousands for useless degrees should be forced to testify before Congress for their crimes.

College and graduate school have only become more accessible because of worthless for-profit scams and lower tier schools. This is far from the world class education for the poor President Obama talks about in his speeches, and he knows that too. It sure sounds nice to say in theory that the United States gives everyone the opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps with a college education. It kind of takes off any blame on the elites for draining the public coffers of billions and instead places it squarely on us powerless unemployed and underemployed citizens for whining too much about our plight. No one talks about the business of selling worthless degrees and a really poor education system at its core. Our public schools are falling apart and some of the teaching at colleges and graduate schools are really bad because the professors are paid not to teach but to publish academic papers. Not only do you waste money on the worthless degree, but you really don't get a good education either. Has anyone graduated from law school prepared to practice law? There's also that little problem of not having enough jobs being created to put 24 million Americans to work.

We at BIDER and other scam bloggers have said this again and again. College and graduate school have ALWAYS benefited the rich who had the money and connections to get the best private school education and admittance into the Ivy League. If they were dumb rich kids, they still had a job guaranteed with the family business or through a business associate. At every level of education since high school, most of the people I know who turn out to be "successful" or at least employed at a well-paying or prestigious job have done so because of their family wealth and connections. The truth is that the degree alone has never helped the majority of people who didn't graduate from top schools at the top of their class. Even a degree from a high ranked school gets you nowhere without connections, unless you are extremely resourceful and lucky.

Quotes of the Day (Updated)

The generation before me came to the conclusion I was worth the investment. Maybe my generation is a little too selfish.

- Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson who graduated in 1968 with no debt and a 1965 Mustang.

The more urgent question is: What do you tell people who are thinking about going to law school? I don't recommend it to people looking to make a lot of money. ... If you're not interested in helping people in some way or providing service to your clients, it's not for you.

- From the same Star Tribune article, law school shill Niels Schaumann, vice dean for faculty at third tier toilet William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

How about not recommending William Mitchell College of Law to anyone who wants to find a full-time job after spending $52,000 yearly tuition? That way, shills like Schaumann would no longer make an average of $104,832 yearly blaming unemployed graduates for being too greedy.

- HardKnocks from But I Did Everything Right! in response to Niels Schaumman's dishonest and shameful comment in the Star Tribune.


Update, May 30th: A William Mitchell College of Law graduate stopped by with the following comment below. Are you listening Schaumman and WMCL shills? This is one of your many graduates drowning in debt and working for $11 an hour doing temp work. What are you doing about it besides blaming them for being greedy or not hustling enough? How can you sleep at night knowing you make six-figures off the backs of your unemployed graduates and still have the audacity to ask them for contributions?? Thank you to the WMCL grad for stopping by and sharing your tragic story and pointing out that the job shortage is nothing new. It's just that the media is jumping on this story now that the top tier grads are suffering too.

Hope all of our readers are having a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I'm back to helping out with the backyard BBQ.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this article, Hardknocks. I am a WMCL grad - although I have pretty much severed all ties to that place after the Dean sent me a letter begging for MORE money AFTER I had already made a contribution and stated in his letter, "[Insert my name here], would you really be as far as you are today if not for your law degree?" As you can imagine, this irritated me to no end and I decided to never give one cent to that place again.

As for the gentleman featured in the story, I actually know him. Ironically, right after I graduated from WMCL with HONORS, I was working as a TEMP for $11/hour at the same place where he was working for the summer doing some humiliating clerical type of work. This was back in the early 2000's. He was going off to Korea to be with his girlfriend. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because there was a legal job shortage even back then, but nobody believed it. This is NOT new, people, so I don't understand why everybody acts like this all happened it the last 2 years. I have been out of school for almost 7 years, and a majority of my classmates are drowning in debt and working piddle a$$ jobs just to make ends meet and pay their student loans. It annoys me that suddenly now this is "news" - why wasn't it news seven years ago? Maybe some of these people wouldn't be in the shape they are in, if the media had listened or cared back then!

Purdue Graduate Tries to Sell His Diploma on Ebay

Do you feel this way about your degree?

Back in February of this year, a Georgetown Law graduate attempted to sell his JD on Ebay for $59,250 to pay off the remainder of his student loans.

Today, Purdue University graduate Nick Enlow attempted to do the same thing, placing an ad for his 2008 B.A. in psychology for $36,000 to cover his $470 monthly loan bill to Sallie Mae. He also has a degree in philosophy from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Enlow works as a substitute teacher and lives with his fiancé who is working for Teach America. This is what Enlow had to say(emphasis mine):

"Going to college made my life worse," Enlow said Wednesday from near Jacksonville, Fla., where he lives. "That is something that I don't keep to myself. I tell everyone."

His line of thinking isn't the kind that Purdue officials find amusing, nor are they too keen on the auction itself.

But Enlow, 29, said he considers himself stuck in indentured servitude to Sallie Mae, his lender, because he is unable to get a decent-paying job with his current degrees to start paying a $470 monthly student loan bill. In addition to the Purdue diploma, he obtained a philosophy degree from IU through IUPUI. That one is not for sale.

The eBay sale is part stunt and part hopeful act of desperation that an "eccentric millionaire" will pick up the tab. Either way, the Indianapolis native is serious about kick-starting conversations on the worth of a college education and how it can be paid off.

"The universities are handing out too many degrees that have zero real-world application," Enlow said. "It seems to me, almost any major in the humanities or liberal arts will not gain you employment with a bachelor's degree."

Enlow admits to not having a clear post-college career path. During school he fell in love with learning -- reading classics and learning history -- and he assumed that after earning a diploma a job would come easily.

"I think that some of us still believe that when we walk across the stage and get that diploma that we are going to have some type of social status and businesses are going to look at us differently," he said. "But that is not true."

I hope Enlow finds BIDER and the other school scam blogs just so he knows that he is no alone and that he is even better off than most law and graduate school graduates who owe much more than $36,000 in student loans. Several days ago, Angel posted a CNN story about a NYU graduate who owed $275,000 in loans. Of course, Enlow's alma mater is not amused and fired back with a lame response that didn't address the student loan and unemployment crisis facing most graduates today:

"A degree in the liberal arts is not an automatic ticket to a job, but then again, no degree is," said Irwin Weiser, interim dean of Purdue's College of Liberal Arts."However, studying any of the disciplines in the arts, humanities, or social sciences prepares students to be successful because they learn to think creatively, critically and ethically, and to communicate what they think effectively."

"However, studying any of the disciplines in the arts, humanities, or social sciences prepares students to be successful because they learn to think creatively, critically and ethically, and to communicate what they think effectively."

Ebay later took down the sale today which violated its terms of use. Enlow even caught Sallie Mae's attention. The loan company contacted him yesterday to "discuss payment options". Hah. They contacted him to make sure he has enough money for next month's payment. Just another publicity stunt to act like they actually care.

Enlow said he would not contest eBay's decision.

"The dialogue has been started," he said. "What's done is done."

Don't Go to College, Experts Say

This will be the BIDER quote of the day:

"A four-year degree in business – what's that get you?" asked Karl Christopher, a placement counselor at the Columbia Area Career Center vocational program. "A shift supervisor position at a store in the mall."

I know someone with a college degree who now works as a manager at a mall store. She spent years looking for a "respectable" white-collar job, but gave up after a long line of low wage internships that went nowhere and didn't end up in a full-time job offer (sound familiar?). She's actually quite happy at her job which gives her a stable 40 hours each week, benefits, and enough money to support her young daughter. No, being a store manager doesn't sound as fancy as a job working for a non-profit, advertising company, university, shitlaw firm, or newspaper. But being a store manager probably pays as much or even more than these so-called white-collar jobs. At least it beats doc review for the JD crowd, right?

Which is why this young woman's decision to go to welding school over college might be a good idea:

In a town dominated by the University of Missouri's flagship campus and two smaller colleges, higher education is practically a birthright for high school seniors like Kate Hodges.

She has a 3.5 grade-point-average, a college savings account and a family tree teeming with advanced degrees. But in June, Hodges is headed to the Tulsa Welding School in Oklahoma, where she hopes to earn an associate's degree in welding technology in seven months.

"They fought me so hard," she said, referring to disappointed family members. "They still think I'm going to college."

Hodges should send her parents over to BIDER. Many of our readers have expressed the desire to work as welders, plumbers, and electricians. Why? Because it sure as hell beats being unemployed or working in doc review. Attending college and graduate school no longer guarantees anyone a decent paying, 40-hour/week job.

The notion that a four-year degree is essential for real success is being challenged by a growing number of economists, policy analysts and academics. They say more Americans should consider other options such as technical training or two-year schools, which have been embraced in Europe for decades.

...Spending more time in school also means greater overall student debt. The average student debt load in 2008 was $23,200 – a nearly $5,000 increase over five years. Two-thirds of students graduating from four-year schools owe money on student loans.

Angel and I have always said that college is not for everyone. I lean more towards college for good students who can get scholarships and vocational school for the rest who couldn't even get a 3.0 in high school. Really, what is the point of spending money to continue something one doesn't excel in when they can make money doing something else like being a store manager or welder which pays as much as what most college and graduate students end up making these days in an entry level job (if they can find one). Ninety-nine percent of college graduates shouldn't even bother with graduate school unless you get a full scholarship to a top 10 school or your parents are rich enough to support your "funemployment" trip around the world when you graduate. In this new economy, work experience gets you the job before someone with an advanced degree:

"College is what every parent wants for their child," said Martin Scaglione, president and chief operating officer of work force development for ACT, the Iowa-based not-for-profit best known for its college entrance exam. "The reality is, they may not be ready for college."

...Scaglione suggested that nothing short of a new definition for educational success is needed to diminish the public bias toward four-year degrees. He advocates "certification as the new education currency – documentation of skills as opposed to mastering curriculum."

"Our national system is, 'Do you have a degree or not?'" he said. "That doesn't really measure if you have skills."

A Must Read Letter

A BIDER fan sent in a letter that is a must read. If this was made into a youtube video it would likely go viral because this person tells some uncomfortable truths about our education system and the state of the nation. I'm sorry that so many of our readers had a horrible school and job search experience after wasting so much money. Good luck and YES definitely think about leaving the country because you deserve better than living at home unemployed for the next decade. There are volunteering and teaching programs in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe that cover health care, housing, and airfare. Look into it!

Dear Angel, Hardknocks, and BIDER readers,

I did not go to law school. I received my Masters degree last year and have been unable to find a full time job. I live with my parents and work temp jobs when I can find them. I am seriously considering moving to another country as Angel and Hardknocks have suggested. The United States will unlikely recover from years of corporate and political corruption and mismanagement that continues to this day. Your JD or Ph.D will not change the damage that has been done to our country's infrastructure and it will not get you a job. I want to advise any college student reading this to take Angel and Hardknocks seriously when they tell you not to attend law school. Also think twice about getting a graduate degree in most disiplines. Maybe you will be unemployed for a while but it is better to be an unemployed college graduate than an unemployed JD or Ph.D after spending countless years in school with $200000+ in loans to pay back.

I have agreed with Hardknocks that education is important in the development of one's mind and understanding of the world. However, higher education has become a Ponzi scheme. It is no longer about educating students but about stealing as much money the universities can get away with charging to pay for unnecessary renovations and give their employees corporate wages all in the name of profits, fake prestige, and US News & World Report rankings. It is a business as corrupt as Goldman Sachs and the so-called academics who make corporate sized salaries have the same amount of sympathy for their victims as Bernie Madoff. I was astonished at how little the administration at my school cared about the student body. They did not take the job search seriously enough and career services has not extended their hand to help the majority of last year's grads find jobs. This is just my personal experience but after reading the law scam blogs this type of attitude seems to be common with administrators and deans at most graduate schools. The money they make is a crime when they know so many of their students will end up jobless and with crushing debt. How can they live with a clear conscience? It's dispicable.

Everything from campus news to the career fair is a public relations stunt. I heard from other students that the employers at our career fair were there only as a favor to career services. They were not serious about giving anyone a job. Most of my classmates did not find a job through the career fair. We were angered that we had wasted our time and money to buy a new suit and print out a hundred resumes only to hear the same thing over and over again: "We're not hiring." So why are you here? Career services had their cameras ready and bragged in a blog post with photos and video about how so many employers came to the career fair. They forgot to mention that no one ended up with a job offer.

I personally cannot wait for the tuition bubble to burst and some of these schools close down for good. Only then will these deans and adminstrators feel what it is like to be unemployed. Or will they purchase a more powerful marketing team to fool the next generation of students? The education industrial complex and the media have successfully brainwashed middle class parents and students at a young age to be ashamed of occupations that use one's hands or don't require an advanced degree. They push students to go to college and ignore signs that some students would do better off as a plumber or electrician. I would love to have one of those jobs right now.

The law school scam movement is one of the few grassroots movements to take on the education industrial complex. College students should feel lucky to have this resource on the web. Those of us several years older did not get honest advise and now our dreams have been destroyed because we chose to further our education. When I listen to politicians and businessmen giving commencement speeches about the importance of an education and doing good in the world, I only hear lies and hypocrisy. These are the criminals who stole money from taxpayers, caused irreversible environmental and economic disasters, continue to send our young men and women to kill and be killed in foreign lands, and have never helped a poor soul in their life unless it's for a photo op. It's sickening but this too is part of the university's publicity stunt.

Don't make the same mistake we did and don't allow these crooks to take any more of our money. They have destroyed an entire generation. The skeptics and non-believers who criticize the law school scam movement should watch their backs because any one of you can be out of a job tomorrow. There is a thin line between the middle class and poverty for most Americans.

In Solidarity,
A Victim

Tips on Being Overqualified

I just came across Ask a Manager and thought the blog was very helpful in answering some of the questions I had about references, cover letters, thank you letters after an interview, etc. One of her articles on what to do if you're overqualified was posted at USNWR back in 2008 but I think the tips she mentions are useful to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

So your job

is to reassure the hiring manager that none of these things are true, and in order to be convincing, you need to explain why. For instance:

• "At this stage in my career, having a job I enjoy is more important to me than salary. I have no problem with earning less than I have in the past."

• "I want to move into this field, and I know that I need to start at a lower level in order to do that."

• "I'm deliberately looking for something with fewer responsibilities than I've had in the past so that I can spend more time with my family." (Or because you're going to school at night or have simply realized you prefer lower-pressure jobs.)

• "I wouldn't take a job I'm not excited about, and I'm excited about this one because ______."

Ideally, the time to address all of this is in your cover letter. Otherwise, you may never get the chance to say it at all, because the manager may simply assume that you don't understand the nature of the position and screen you from the start. And once you get to the interview stage, be prepared to discuss it again, likely in more detail.

If you can successfully put these doubts to rest, many hiring managers will be thrilled to hire your overqualified self. After all, you're a bargain.

Of course, I'm pretty sure she's not addressing people who are overqualified in terms of having a JD or another graduate degree, but overqualified in that they have actual work experience. Maybe we should send Allison a few law related questions. She might have a few helpful tips for law grads looking for entry level careers in other fields.

On another note, I am visiting my friend who is getting her PhD at a top tier school (and has admitted that she'll probably never find a job). Boy did she have plenty of sad stories to tell me. It amazes me how so many smart people remain clueless when it comes to applying to graduate school, taking on mounds of debt, and not realizing that there aren't any jobs to help them pay back that debt. It just shows you that anyone can be fooled and there will be millions more who will join us in the indentured educated class in the coming years.

One of her friends was laid off because her job is being outsourced. What's even sadder is that the company is now paying her to train people in Southeast Asia who will take over her job in a few months. Anyway, instead of learning her lesson she's planning to take out a huge ass loan to go to a third tier business school. Another story she told me was about a mutual acquaintance from college who is attending a tier 1 law school but can't find a job (not surprising). She goes to interview after interview and all of them tell her that as much as they like her, they aren't hiring many new graduates. My question is why then did they offer her an interview to get her hopes up when they knew that she never had a chance of getting the job? Wtf?

Now THIS is News! Husson University in Maine DROPS Law School Program!

I didn't even understand this article when I first read it.  At first, I thought it was Bangalore, India.  Then I was very confused when the article implied that the ABA didn't accredit a school.  Next, I expected to read about flying pigs in hell having a snow fight with pink elephants.

Apparently, the Supreme Court of Maine is NOT going to allow Husson Law Grads to sit for the bar. Woah, Nelly!  That is news!  I would be interested in reading their decision. I'm wondering if they considered the over population of attorneys in this country.  Anyone have any insight?

Bangor school drops plans to offer law degrees: The decision follows a state supreme court ruling that Husson law graduates couldn't take the bar exam.
By Emma Bouthillette ebouthillette@pressherald.com
News Asssistant


Husson University's trustees announced Monday that they are suspending further efforts to offer law degrees at the university in Bangor.

Their decision followed the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's ruling March 4 that Husson's graduates would not be allowed to take the state's bar exam.

"We are grateful to the Supreme Judicial Court for their careful review of our petition," university President Robert Clark said in a press release Monday.

The school requested the court's assistance in September, asking the court to devise its own review system for evaluating Husson University, as an alternative to the American Bar Association standards.

The court said it was willing to consider an existing alternative review process but could not create one. Without the law school fully operating and a review in progress, the court said it could not allow Husson students to take the bar exam.

The release said the school will continue to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminal justice and undergraduate degrees in paralegal studies through the School of Business.
Planning for the law school began five years ago. It would have been the second law school in the state, after the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. Its main objective would have been providing legal education to people in northern and eastern Maine.

"The need exists to educate lawyers in the underserved areas of Maine," said Peter Murray, founder of Murray Plumb & Murray, in an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram on March 14.

After learning about the suspended efforts Monday, Murray declined to comment on the trustees' decision. "We could have had a great law school there," he said.

Murray, who has served for the past 15 years as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, had intended to teach part time at Husson's law school.