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If you apply yourself, and do your due diligence (e.g., see average salaries for fresh college grads at prominent employers for your college major); then yes, y

If you apply yourself, and do your due diligence (e.g., see average salaries for fresh college grads at prominent employers for your college major); then yes, you will command the appropriate market salary. It's not an exact target: industry trends could change, the macroeconomic landscape could change, but overall performing due diligence is 95% of it, since you can't control whether or not the market enters a correction when you graduate. But if you majored in underwater basketweaving and expected to feed yourself, I have little sympathy.

austenallred 9y ago
That's easy to say (and I make plenty, I'm not worried about myself), but I definitely feel bad for the people that never had anyone pull them aside and explain that to them. If you buy the trope of "do what you're passionate about" or "follow your dreams" you can get caught in a hole you can never dig out of by the time you're 20 and before you've ever experienced what the real world is like. That's pretty brutal.
- Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
  I think colleges need to take a responsibility in understanding their pivotal role in creating middle class workers. People aren't going to college to "better themselves", they're going to make sure they can survive today. I do feel bad for those bad people who don't know any better. I was one of those people that nobody ever pulled aside. I grew up in a working class family. Out of college, my annual salary was higher than the value of my childhood home. It's still possible to dig yourself out if you have grit and know what you want for yourself. I don't know what set of life events has to instill that in a person, and I'm not saying because it worked for me, there isn't a problem-- there definitely is.
  - austenallred 9y ago
    I agree, and I actually think incentives should be directly aligned. E.g. the more someone makes the more they pay in tuition. I know that's not an opinion shared by many.

austenallred 9y ago

That's easy to say (and I make plenty, I'm not worried about myself), but I definitely feel bad for the people that never had anyone pull them aside and explain that to them. If you buy the trope of "do what you're passionate about" or "follow your dreams" you can get caught in a hole you can never dig out of by the time you're 20 and before you've ever experienced what the real world is like. That's pretty brutal.

Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
I think colleges need to take a responsibility in understanding their pivotal role in creating middle class workers. People aren't going to college to "better themselves", they're going to make sure they can survive today. I do feel bad for those bad people who don't know any better. I was one of those people that nobody ever pulled aside. I grew up in a working class family. Out of college, my annual salary was higher than the value of my childhood home. It's still possible to dig yourself out if you have grit and know what you want for yourself. I don't know what set of life events has to instill that in a person, and I'm not saying because it worked for me, there isn't a problem-- there definitely is.
- austenallred 9y ago
  I agree, and I actually think incentives should be directly aligned. E.g. the more someone makes the more they pay in tuition. I know that's not an opinion shared by many.