Irrational Financial Immolation
I’d like to promote the term ‘IFI’ on CC, as in:
Starry-eyed Poster 1:
Reality-bites Poster 2:
“I singled out “creative writing”, not to bash the value of creative writing, but to highlight the potential to pay back the 6-figure loan w the expected starting salary for that major.”
Why do you believe that someone majoring in creative writing (or any other liberal arts major) expects to get a job in that field at all?
There was a thread awhile back where a bunch of people knew kids or had a kid who got a job at Google right out of college who majored in Art History.
My kid majored in Politics and minored in history with no intention of going into either field. He was accepted into one of the few remaining exec corporate training programs in the country with not a single business course taken (the college didn’t even offer any.)
Imo, the limiting majors are those which are job specific.
“Not unless you want to commit an IFI”
Wouldn’t a simple “No” be more direct and more easily understood by a kid asking the question on CC?
By the way, not that I’m necessarily advocating it, but one way to make the cost of college borrowing more affordable is to take out a HELOC, assuming you have sufficient equity in your house. The interest rate is lower because it’s a secured loan (the equivalent of a second mortgage), and in most cases the interest is tax-deductible (subject to certain limits; talk to your tax adviser). I’m sure many people are gun-shy about this after the recent crash in the housing market, and it’s likely a lot of people who used HELOCs to finance their kids’ college educations got burned pretty badly.But in the right circumstances, including an appreciating housing market and a clear plan to pay off the loan relatively quickly, it could be a sensible strategy to spread the cost of a college education over, say, 6 or 7 years of the parents’ earnings instead of 4.
Hey can I change the major to Near Eastern Art and Archeology?
This thread reminded me that a neighbor around the corner has a neighbor and son who graduated with a degree in near Eastern Art and Archeology from Berkeley. Yep he’s still riding the couch trying to find a job.
The most prestigious college for creative writing ( although Stanford is up there) is wait for it - the University of Iowa- so I would pocket my pennies and go there but truthfully you could also just move to Brooklyn and get a job as a barrista and you would have an equally strong peer group of writers to join your workshop. Brooklyn is like the salmon run to publishing and teaching jobs (except with rising real estate costs, soon all the writers will be moving to Queens.)
If a kid has whatever it takes to get accepted to Elite colleges, in most cases, this student is up for a long road of college + Grad. School. Keeping this in prospective, I do not see any reason whatsoever to spend $$ for college education as this type of very high caliber student can definitely obtain acceptance to many places that will offer full tuition / free ride Merit scholarships. Why to chase all these expensive (for you!) schools? If the goal is a Grad. school (and in most cases of such high caliber student, it is a goal), just attend any college that seems to fit you for free or close. Do not underestimate the fact, that the hard work there is cut out for you, no slacking. It does not matter that you graduated #1 from one of the best HSs in your state and decided to attend at your in-state public. You still will need to adjust your academic efforts upwards at college considerably to accomplish your goals, or you will be derailed like many others who did not realize it on day 1 of their first college semester. Work hard at ANY place and do whatever else is required to achieve your ultimate goal and you will be fine graduating from any UG, the lowest of the lowest ranked unknown college. It is up to you and not the place to achieve your goal. Not many high schoolers realize that, better yet for those who do. More Merit scholarships are available for them, they rip great benefits of not having student loans after graduating from Med. Schools, Law Schools, other Grad. schools of their choice.
Looks like CC people didn’t want a humorous thread. Oh well, you tried.
BUMP for this year’s crop of students who are contemplating mega student debt hara kiri