On Monday I asked a question: If 88% of recent college grads have jobs, why do you think college students and recent graduates are so freaked about finding jobs?
Thanks for your honest and open answers! The most common answer was that people know their first student loan bill is due 6 months after graduation. They feel pressure to find a job so they can pay it.
Here are a couple quotes:
“The thought that I’m about to have to pay a ton of money back for my education makes me terrified into worrying that I won’t have a way to do it.”
“Nothing had me feeling more desperate than a $1,000 per month loan payment that was hanging over my head.”
An additional statistic: 51% report that they are working jobs that don’t require their degree (source below). This number is increasing.
Do you see what’s happening?
Students, after pouring in their blood, sweat, and tears for years to earn that college degree are trading their dreams for a loan payment! If anyone doubts the proverb after hearing this ststistic, they’re just not willing to accept the truth:
“The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is SLAVE to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7
The issue isn’t that there aren’t any jobs available. The national unemployment rate is at about 5%. The same study found that in college graduates over age 25 the unemployment rate is 2.4%. Less than half!
The world actually is your oyster, but not if you let fear and ignorance dictate your life. You’ve got to be willing to play the long game. Take your time! The first thing that happens to us when we get stressed is that we think in all-or-nothing terms. How on earth could you make the best decision with that mindset? This is not the path to prosperity.
Guess What My Minimum Payment Is
If you’re freaked about your job search, maybe my story will help. I graduated with federal and private student loans that added up to $77,000. I’ve been out two years. As you know, we have been attacking these debts with a vengeance and I have them down to about $17,000. Guess what my minimum monthly payment has been, from graduation day all the way to this month, 2 years later:
ZERO!
Disclaimer: check your own facts. Find out what YOU signed when YOU took out student loans. While I can’t speak to every single situation, here’s what I did.
I used the income-based repayment plan and a hardship deferral to keep my monthly minimum payment on both my federal and private student loans at ZERO for the first two years after college. And I make pretty good money.
Sure this comes with a cost.
You pay your loans off over a longer period if you only make the minimum payments. Obviously I didn’t do that. When I did start work, I scratched and clawed and sent every dollar I could to get these loans out of my freaking life!!!!
Also, the interest starts to accrue on subsidized federal loans. This is probably the only time in your life that you actually get something in exchange for that interest payment: you’re buying the patience to find your actual dream job instead of walking away from it over a lame student loan deadline that may or may not actually exist.
If you’d like to move from a mindset of fear to a position of power over your career, you should sign up for my free online class that launches three weeks from today! The first session will be August 23, 2017. We’re going to talk about mastering your time and money, and launching your career. We will cover the details of what I just shared. Don’t be in the 51% who settled. Visit www.tonyferrar.com/question to sign up for free today.
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/16/college-grads-enjoy-the-best-job-market-in-years.html
