Post-Grad Living

Economic disaster has quickly swept across the country. In October 2008, millions of Americans watched their financial investments disappear and hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs since. 

To alleviate extreme revenue loss, businesses nationally have laid-off an unprecedented number of employees, and the number of available jobs is steadily dwindling.

This May, thousands will graduate college fully aware of the current state of distress our nation is in, yet completely exposed to the unpleasant realities of a delicate domestic market. Many will change long-held career plans to cater to the changing economic state, as having a college degree has never come with so much uncertainty.

The Economic Crisis in a Nutshell

How did the circumstances for this crisis arise? The process was complicated and has been building for years, culminating in a series of incidents in September 2008 that caused the October market crash. A simplistic explanation can be drawn as follows: Corruption within the capitalist system led several large mortgage and financial companies to make risky decisions, causing those who had invested money (into said companies or corrupt individuals), to lose their initial investment and any assets that might have accumulated prior to the crash. Many of these investors were CEOs of large corporations who had to lay-off mass numbers of workers to compensate for their losses. 

For example, major US financial institution Bear Stearns faces bankruptcy due to poor investment decisions. Clients of the bank lost their money, and their now-unemployed workers have no means to pay off mortgages, loans or credit card debts.  Banks such as Bear Stearns, along with credit card and mortgage companies, then suffer due to lack of repayment and are forced to beg for federal money. The problem is that there is not enough federal money to support all these failing enterprises, and taxes cannot be increased indefinitely.

Senior Concerns

Byard Duncan is one of the thousands of college students across the nation about to enter a broken capitalist system that needs to be repaired or replaced. As the journalism-politics double major sits among the other Saturday morning patrons of Gimme! Coffee in downtown Ithaca, he muses about the current US economic state and says, "as far as our country's overarching ideology and its expectations of the rest of the world, I'm surprised it took this long."

Once he has degree in hand, Duncan intends to take an independent media internship at Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco. Afterward, he hopes to spend a year working in Ithaca, saving money until he heads out to find a job in digital journalism. 

Media conglomerates that own literary publications among their many acquisitions have suffered more than most. The world of journalism has always been competitive, and the rise of free online news sources coupled with the current economic crisis has only increased this pressure on print journalism. 

"I'm not too worried about finding a job because digital journalism is a growing industry," says Duncan. "Being in Ithaca, I feel rather secluded from the crisis...it hasn't really affected my standard of living, yet."

When fellow senior Sarah Kafer, a television-radio major, became aware of the economic situation, she put aside the idea of relocating to NYC or LA to work in the music industry. "It's just too expensive to live in an already expensive city, while trying to find a job in an industry that just isn't hiring," says Kafer. Instead, the New Jersey native plans to live at home for a year to save enough money to travel for several months at a time. "Maybe I'll travel and get offered a job on the way...it's possible. Maybe the economy will get better in the next few years and I'll get an industry job. I doubt it though."

Taking time off before seeking a professional job is one way many students are choosing to address the situation. Money saved by staying at home and working as a waitress or in a temporary job can set up a financial foundation for recent graduates to pursue their career goals at a later time.  With this safety net, graduates are better prepared to look for career-related jobs.

"People are either freaking out and scrambling for jobs, or they don't really know what's going on and aren't doing anything about it because it hasn't touched them yet," says senior Maggie O'Neil, an international business major. In her senior business seminars, O'Neil notices trends in the way her peers are acting toward the crisis. "For many people who weren't sure what they wanted to do anyway, the crash pushed them to pursue further education, stave off loans," O'Neil says. Post-graduate education is becoming a more attractive option as it gives one a competitive edge in the job market as well as serving as an excuse to not immediately enter the "real world."

A Warning, A Lesson           

The US faces an economic recession rivaling the Great Depression in damages. According to the Federal Reserve, the total outstanding credit card debt carried by Americans reached a record $951 billion in 2008. Reports of mass lay-offs, job freezes and company closures do nothing to help the already stressful process of adapting to life after college.

"Aggressive students have always prevailed," says Professor Elia Kacapyr, the chair of the Ithaca College Economics department. "Now, even aggressiveness might not be enough of an advantage." 

Times seem bleak; however, a new dawn is rising. After destruction must come construction and repairs are beginning to be made. Perhaps President Obama's Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be able to end the recession. What is clear though, is that our generation can no longer afford to be cavalier about the future. "Maybe [this experience] will be a positive growing-up thing for our generation," says senior Alexandria Harris, and Integrated Marketing Communications major. "Hopefully, we don't screw ourselves over by repeating the mistakes of our predecessors."