As I routinely plugged my headphones to my computer, I heard on my local FM what sounded like a version of what Baby one more time by Britney Spears would sound like if my English teacher was singing it in Spanish. Although, in Spanish I could follow along, in Mandarin not-so-much. I sat there puzzled, as the sound of the Chinese pop-singer vocalist whispered into my earlobe. 

As the Chinese economy claims the  #1 spot as world economy, I immediately had a flashback to when I naively skipped Calculus III in college because, eh what the hell, I could get a job with a major in IR right?

Perhaps the fact that Ralph Lauren outsourced the 2012 Olympic Team uniform to a manufacturer in China for the 2012 London Olympics, along with the USA AA credit rating- can be perceived as a sign of the USA crumbling status as a world economic power.

If that’s not a enough, closer to home a posting for an unpaid internship on my employers website received close to 200 submissions. Talented, young, students looking for work at the expense of mom and dad retirement fund.

As I scroll through all the blabber that is Facebook.com- I can’t help but to think how exciting it was when no one was interested in what you were feeling but instead,  what you were thinking. My generation, the twenty somethings, are far too distracted with emotions or “likes and follows” on a web page. Maybe, the Chinese government blocking what Kim Kardashian has to say to all her 14 million followers over what she was feeling today, is perhaps the biggest development in Chinese society.

We are the generation of gadgets, $400.000 dollars education and of-FUN. Yes, fun. My friend company now houses an informal “keg Friday”, to simulate the good ‘ol days of college- three years ago.

Anyways, as I scroll through the InQuisitr headline “ Russell Brand unfollows Katy Perry on twitter” and eat at a food truck parked outside my office- third world anyone? I can’t help but to think how we will- solve the issue of high unemployment, how we will develop a strategy to pay for our parents social security and our own, and how we will be in our late thirties and have to explain to our kids why we are in college debt and can’t pay for their college education.

I wonder if there is an app for that?

Until then, I will enjoy the popular Chinese Band Gou Mei Mei- Bu Pa Bu Pa

nǐ hǎo, 

Jorge-luis Rodriguez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da9_GAdz_Zk

I am what you would call a “sophomore-ish.” I’m 23 years old and have been attending John Tyler Community College since I was 19. I am one of six children, and the first to even try to go to college. My parents are divorced and my father is vaguely in my life. On paper, my mother seems to do well. However, her filing bankruptcy twice, and chapter 7 once, seems to be irrelevant. Or the fact that she has five other children she needs to assist to.

I’ve been on my own since I was 18 years old, and by saying I’m on my own I don’t mean what most 18 year old girls mean. I’ve never worked less than 40 hours a week. I’ve never had the luxury of having my parents help me with food, a vehicle, or clothing; tuition and other educational fees wasn’t even an option. With this being said, somehow my parents’ income was still required in my FAFSA application. Again, on paper, my mother seems to do well for herself, so I was denied any financial aid at all. I was awarded nothing but loans that I would have to pay back and because I was “just at” Community College, loans for the cost of living weren’t even an option forcing me to make school a second priority  next to surviving. Because of this, a “normal” full time load was out of the question for me. Two or three classes a semester was all I could handle.

My Father became extremely ill and had to have open heart surgery, I removed myself from an extremely abusive relationship, and I lost my job at the Hospital for taking too much time off to deal with so many things coming at me at one time. My focus on school, because of finances, became more and more unclear. Because of my grades dwindling, I wasn’t granted any financial aid my previous semester. I tried to save to pay for the semester out of pocket, but was forced to take a semester off. After taking two more classes, and getting a high enough GPA, my financial aid was rewarded back to me…. Two days before the deadline for classes started. All the classes I had left to take, were already full.

I’m 23 years old and already $25,000 in credit card debt. When I say credit card debt, it isn’t from clothes, shoes, or much needed vacations (the normal problems of a 20-something). It’s from times my car broke down and I had no option, or the times I couldn’t pay my rent, or had enough money to eat. When I wasn’t awarded enough financial aid, I turned to credit card companies. I am now in the process of filing for bankruptcy because I have no other option. I don’t make enough money to pay off what I owe, but in order for me to continue with my education, I need to do something to take some pressure off of my shoulders and turn my focus solely on school. Luckily, I’m almost 24 and my parents’ income will stop being accounted for so hopefully, that means I’ll finally get enough financial aid to finish school and for the first time in my life, make school for first priority.

http://whatsyourstudentbdebt.tumblr.com/post/19405566725/taras-student-debt-story