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"When I finished school in 2007 — with an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in science journalism — I owed $78,060 in federal loans." According to

"When I finished school in 2007 — with an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in science journalism — I owed $78,060 in federal loans." According to [1] the current avg salary for a journalist is approx. $41K. Assuming some inflation since the author graduated the author accrued 2 to 3 times her expected yearly salary in debt to get her 'dream job'. I think the root of her problem was she had no education in financial literacy, took the terrible advice of 'follow your dream' and now expects those bad choices not to continue to bite her. College is bet and she made a bad one. I don't think this is a good argument for debt relief, but its a great argument for promoting financial literacy and directing young adults to accrue only what debt they can reasonally pay back with their chosen profession. If your dream job pays nothing and is uber expensive to attain then maybe you shouldn't follow that dream or accept you are making a bad financial decision in the first place. 1. https://www.salary.com/research/salary/recruiting/journalist-salary https://www.salary.com/research/salary/recruiting/journalist...

Tarsul 6y ago
Still, the odds of the college bet became way too bad for too many degrees. I mean we are talking about a STEM subject (biology) and a masters in a subject that is directly related to a job (journalism), also with the added benefit of it being science journalism which needs people with her knowledge of sciences (biology). So, yes, it appears that there is a sense of responsibility that she should have (and she has it, she paid of 60k). But the more urgent question is structural: college does not pay off anymore (anecdata about CS etc. notwithstanding) and that has a lot to do with the jobs market but also that college inflation rose a multiple times that of general inflation in the last 30 years. We can blame individuals all we want (and feel good about it from afar) but that doesn't solve the structural problems.
- ipsocannibal 6y ago
  How are structural problems solved other than by the aggregate choices and decisions of individuals? Isn't abstinence from the entire situation a choice? Isn't the decision to pursue this career a choice? Can we not rightly critic those choices to highlight how to recognize and avoid the structural problems to begin with? And might ask how can the author practically solve any of these 'structural' problems? I would argue she wouldn't care, and rightly so, if her debt was discharged which is what bankruptcy reform could do. As for the 60K she paid, the gov. gets their money either way. If you don't pay they will simply garnish your wages, take your tax refunds, and put lien on your property.

Tarsul 6y ago

Still, the odds of the college bet became way too bad for too many degrees. I mean we are talking about a STEM subject (biology) and a masters in a subject that is directly related to a job (journalism), also with the added benefit of it being science journalism which needs people with her knowledge of sciences (biology). So, yes, it appears that there is a sense of responsibility that she should have (and she has it, she paid of 60k). But the more urgent question is structural: college does not pay off anymore (anecdata about CS etc. notwithstanding) and that has a lot to do with the jobs market but also that college inflation rose a multiple times that of general inflation in the last 30 years. We can blame individuals all we want (and feel good about it from afar) but that doesn't solve the structural problems.

ipsocannibal 6y ago
How are structural problems solved other than by the aggregate choices and decisions of individuals? Isn't abstinence from the entire situation a choice? Isn't the decision to pursue this career a choice? Can we not rightly critic those choices to highlight how to recognize and avoid the structural problems to begin with? And might ask how can the author practically solve any of these 'structural' problems? I would argue she wouldn't care, and rightly so, if her debt was discharged which is what bankruptcy reform could do. As for the 60K she paid, the gov. gets their money either way. If you don't pay they will simply garnish your wages, take your tax refunds, and put lien on your property.