This week I was perusing USA Today (trying to find the crossword puzzle) and stumbled upon an article that struck me as, frankly, a bit terrifying. The article screamed HUGE DEBT, NO SAVINGS in my face, warning all of us in “Gen-Y” (that group of seventeen – twenty-somethings) that we’re the only generation unlikely to out-succeed our parents financially. Harrowing stuff, especially since we seem to be in a generation of “buy now, pay later.” And when we do buy,  we want the newest and shiniest and don’t settle for less than designer brands…. Not exactly recession-friendly behavior.

The article had me thinking about my own spending habits and the habits of my peers. I certainly have gotten my act together over the past year but still struggle with the little things. I write checks and forget about them until they hit my account. I have days where I spend ten dollars on Starbucks. And then other days when I spend $20. I went through a period where I didn’t pay off my credit card balance every month (never. again.). We all struggle with the economy and our own personal finances. Here are the top 10 ways to be a savvy spender and super recessionista. Read More »

College is expensive. Really, really expensive. Even with scholarships and financial aid, most of us are left wondering how we are going to pull this off.

Of course, there are several ways to approach the issue:

1. We could go to Mom and Dad (assuming they could help in the first place, or that you want them to – this is a slippery slope to giving them more influence over our futures than some of us our comfortable with)

2. We could take out a loan (but that means lots of scary paper work, co-signers, and debt)

3. We could sell our virginity

3. We try out the newest trend: human capital contracts.

In my opinion the name sounds a lot scarier than it really is. It might just be me, but the words “human” and “contract” ooze creepiness and give me visions of living as a sex slave for the rest of my life. Fortunately for me, thats not the case here. Read More »

You hear the same marketing crap all the time: you’re in college to better your future.

Of course, having a Bachelors doesn’t really do anything anymore. I’ve heard about a ton about people who have their Bachelors and are working at a Domino’s or something. Getting a Masters seems like the next logical step, for students and apparently their parents. So is it such a bad thing that I really don’t want to go?

Being around a ton of people who are all talking about getting recommendations and narrowing down their grad school list makes me realize more and more that grad school really isn’t for me. My mom’s look of horror when I told her this one day this summer is the only thing I see when I talk about wanting to go into vet tech after I get out of school. Issue is, as an English major, I’m mildly suffering with what-do-I-do- with-this-diploma? syndrome. Publishing and editing are options, sure, but I don’t want to deal with that crap. It seems that some people assume that because a field has something to do with your major, you will inevitably want to be a part of that field.

And of course, there’s that inevitable money issue breathing down the necks of graduates. Do you stay in school for another two years so you don’t have to pay off loans just yet? Everyone seems to sort of just assume that jobs are lining up to grab college grads, but with the economy the way it is, I’m thinking that this is somehow far from the case. More and more of my senior class seems to be regretting their major because there’s nothing they can do with it to get money. What ever happened to going to college to just learn? Read More »

Remember when we were in high school and our teachers and parents told us that we’d better get ready for the ‘real world’? Maybe you didn’t hear these words of advice (which always seemed more like a threat) as much as I did, but I know I wasn’t the only one out there being warned of how hard my twenties would be. Across the board, particularly from older friends, I kept hearing horror story after horror story about the ‘terrible 20′s’.

But you know what?  I disagree with those stories.

I think life is what you make it. I think that if you want to be happy, you will find a way to be happy. I think that if you’re meant to be in college, you will study hard and learn and enjoy it along the way.

I’m 24 and my twenties have been my favorite part of my life so far. Granted, I’m constantly trying to have the best time of my life, so I’ll probably be bouncing off the same sentiments when I’m 40, too…but what’s wrong with that? Read More »

The country is getting ready for a terrible recession. Banks are folding and getting bailed out by loans from the FED (which has federal in the name but is private). Scientists are trying to rip open space and time using the Large Hadron Collider. Someone like Sarah Palin is officially close to being involved in a presidency.

The signs are there: the world is going to end. And while I’m sure no one can get a godd*mn job right now (lord knows I can’t), we can at least look forward to the post apocalyptic job market that’ll present itself once the gaping maw of darkness spreads wide, and evil once again walks our planet.

Here are some jobs you may want to start building a resume for. Read More »

Our economy is crumbling, and things just got worse for Bachelors degree-hopefuls, especially those in Massachusetts. Last year, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority secured over $500 million in educational loans. This year, they’ve announced that they will not be offering loans for the upcoming academic year.

None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They didn’t cut their $500 million budget to, say, $250 million. They exed the loans altogether.

MEFA secures loans for 40,000 students who live in Massachusetts, or who attend school there. Unfortunately, this year, the financing authority could not secure the money. Executive director Tom Graff blames “disruptions in capital markets.” So, just like that, 40,000 students are sh*t out of luck.

MEFA is the first to make headlines, but any financing authority could also be treading on thin ice. Which means that students across the country could be forced to drop out of college, or sell their souls to finance a degree that can cost upwards of FORTY GRAND per year at top-notch schools like Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, NYU, and Notre Dame.

When I was in college, I played my cards right, and managed to get through my degree with almost no debt, and decided to pursue a Master’s, rather than join the work force right away. With our declining economy, I am currently paying dearly for that decision. Read More »

Because no one in the CC office wants to believe that Christian Bale is the type of guy who would flip out at his sister and mother randomly, we’ve been following this story every step of the way (I mean, it’s a matter of possibly kicking him out of our fantasises forever…it’s important). Here’s what we’ve learned this morning:

1) His mother used to be a clown. Legitimately.

2) He may or may not have a short temper (which may be due to the fact that he plays tortured dudes all the time)

3) His sis allegedly asked him for a loan of 100,000 pounds (roughly $200,200), and he said no

4) His mom allegedly insulted his wife, and Bale went all “Oh no you DIDN’T!” on her ass

5) Bale’s family “never wanted to ruin his night” but felt they needed to “teach him a lesson”

Aside from saying what he had for breakfast the day of the blow up, reporters are doing their best to dig through Bale’s past and find some deep, dark poison in his soul or something. Our hypothesis? The guy has a bad temper, has been stressed out for a while, had a giant fight with the fam, and because he’s a celebrity that “row” turned into some kind of Battlestar Galactica implosion in the media.

So yeah, Beautiful Bale isn’t out of our fantasies yet…we just may reconsider challenging him to a rousing game of Battleship…because that sh*t gets heated.

Standford University announced that it will be joining schools such as Harvard and Yale in the effort to reduce the tuition burden for middle class families by giving full financial aid to anyone whose family earns less than $100,000 a year.

The rising cost of tuition at private universities (frequently over $30,000 a year, not including room and board) often hits middle class families harder than most people realize. Families making a middle or upper middle-class income are usually ineligible for federal aid or tuition assistance from their school. According to the Project on Student Debt, students who take out loans during college have an average of $22,000 in debt upon graduating from a private university.

Experts say that this is part of major shift in what colleges consider to be the “needs” of middle class students. Unfortunately these generous admissions packages are only available for students attending schools with massive endowments, like the ivies and other long-standing institutions with generous alumni.

Hopefully, as endowments increase across the board, some of that wealth will trickle down to the people who need it most: students!

I know I’m worth it, but is my degree? College is numbingly expensive — I’m not even a senior and I’m already 50k in the hole. All this just so I can (probably) land a meager entry – level job when I graduate with my liberal arts degree. Yeah, you need to give a little to get a little, but I’ve lost count over how many times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, worrying about my loans.

Well, good news! Apparently, the value of a liberal arts degree is up. The average grad’s salary rounds to about $33,000 a year. That’s almost enough to live in New York City…

The situation is better for those with more mechanical minds (and degrees). Chemical engineering majors earn about $60,000 out of school, and computer science majors aren’t far behind.

And, of course, there’s my brother the petroleum engineer who, at 23, is earning more in a year than I will probably earn in my life. There may be blood in oil, but there is also money. Lots of money.

I rue the day I end up living in his basement. Read More »