Quote of article „my generation“ / „If I could go back again, I think I’d try … not going to college“

Since I was a little boy, everybody was telling me that I will need a good education to have a good job which allows me to have an independent life. As this has made some sense, I tried to do my best at school/university. For me, it definitely paid off, as I have a good job and can pay my bills by myself.

Unfortunately, not everybody who went to a college or university can say the same, especially in America. I was shocked when I read that 55.3 percent of people ages 16 to 29 do not have a job. Most of them are highly educated and looking for a possibility to start their career, as they have to pay back their student loan. But without having a regularly income, they are not able to become debt free.

With this background knowledge in mind, I can understand the guy who said: “If I could go back again, I think I’d try … not going to college”. However, I ask myself at the same time, what is going wrong in the American society and economy that this guy is regretting going to college. One cannot blame the recession as the only reason for this problem, as other countries are suffering as well from the recession, but they do not have such big problems with unemployed young people.

One of the problems are the student loans. Young people, who do not have rich parents, need to get a loan from a bank. As a consequence, students are broke when they finally graduate. They do not have time to find the best possible job, they have to accept the first job they get offered in order to earn money to pay back the loan. In Switzerland, the fees for going to universities are very low (approx. 1’000$/year), which means that young people do not have a large sum of debts after graduating. Therefore, Swiss are not in the need of accepting the first job they get offered.

Another problem, maybe even the bigger one, is the American economy itself. Compared to other Western countries, the USA seems to have a lot more trouble during this crisis. If this will not be fixed soon, do not ask me how they can do that, the rate of unemployment of young people will raise even more.