<p>Both my parents were in elementary and junior high school during the Depression, so no stories there. </p>
<p>I do remember the recession in the early 80s. I had a very hard time finding a job, and eventually found one that paid dirt. Most of my college friends had it rough. Interest rates were sky high, which was great if you had savings but rotten if you wanted a mortgage. Among my college friends, the first couple to buy a house got a mortgage with an interest rate over 15%!</p>
<p>My daughter graduates from college in 2011. My fingers are crossed that this recession will be reversing by then, and she’ll be able to find a job. I would hate to hit the job market this year as a new graduate.</p>
<p>IN the 1980s my husband attended law school in a very depressed area, he elected not to stay in when I could not get a job anywhere close to my income in our old town (same major company, but instead of being a location manager, I was paid an entry level salary) and even with two jobs we could not cover living expenses. Student loans were at sky high interest rates, I think 11% or even more, and it just did not seem wise. It still does not seem wise to take 11% student loans, but he has always regretted that choice :(</p>
<p>My mothr was born in 1910. She attended one semester at Hunter College, part of the City University of NY, but had to drop out and get a job. She was always terribly resentful that she didn’t get to go to college.</p>
<p>My father was born in 1909 and worked full-time after HS. But he attended NYU part-time at night. I think he graduated when he was around 25 or so.</p>
<p>Edit: And, they both lived at home until they married. No wild dorm life. I know I sound like an old f*rt, but kids today have it really great, don’t they??</p>
<p>Gosh – 1982? My husband and I bought our first property, a co-op in New York City. The interest rate on our mortgage was 16 1/2%!!! Luckily we were able to refinance a year or so later.</p>
<p>My dad (UC Berkeley '35) told me he doesn’t know who paid his college fees. He was a basketball star and lived in a fraternity. He waited on his brothers and made their beds. He also played jokes on them by putting fresh crabs from the bay under the pillows of some of the more “lazy.” He had the time of his life, had no money, always said to pay off your credit cards every month, pay your bills on time and not to do stocks. Therefore being the child of depression era parents, I never have had debt of any kind, I turn off the lights, save string and feel rather out of sync with the society in which I life. And I don’t care.</p>
<p>My grandfather, son of immigrants, was born in 1899 and had an 8th grade education, he walked to his factory job. My father used to say they were never “on the dole” like some of their relatives. He went to college via the Navy and GI Bill as WW II ended while he was in the service. I was never aware of the 1982 recession- I finished my residency and found a job in private practice, I had been so busy and out of touch with the real world… growing up on the low end of middle class I never had much money until the end of 1982.</p>
<p>My father grew up in western MA, one of the youngest of 8 kids. Even though he qualified to go to MIT, there was no money for it and he had to help the family out (his father turned out to be an alcoholic so his financial support was spotty.) So, even though being underage, he joined the Navy and saw lots of action (he was on land at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.)</p>
<p>Somewhere along the way he self-studied law from two book shelves worth of books. However, while in the Navy, he married and had two children. When he got out of the Navy, he needed a job to support his family and could not take time out for school. Foiled again, but a TRUE family man in every sense of the word. He had huge knowledge from his technical training and often knew more than some electrical engineers and worked as the wire chief at the phone exchange at a large army base.</p>
<p>I was the “after child,” my brother and sister being 13 and 14 when I was born. When I started at community college, my Dad decided to take some classes for fun alongside of me and he GI bill still applied for him. He got his AA in the process but decided not to follow along for the final two years since I was in another city and that would have left my mother behind.</p>
<p>He lived to see me marry my husband, a math professor who got his PhD at MIT. He also got to see the beginnings of a grandson who is talented in the math/science area and may apply to MIT.</p>