In the world of student debt, it is no doubt that Millennials get a bad reputation. To older generations, we are looked at as lazy, spoiled, and entitled. Well, chances are anyone that makes those claims finished their college education before 2000. Hate to break it to you Baby Boomers, but computers weren’t even necessary to graduate before the 2000’s. Along with that, there are numerous additional expenses in which we encounter throughout our college career. So, if you still believe the fault lies in the work ethic of Millennials, these 5 financial factors of today’s college education might compel you to reconsider.
*all statistics are based on public 4-year institutions*
- The Cost of College Itself (that’s a no-brainer)
Or, is it? I mean, have we ever asked ourselves why our parents aren’t in debt? Well, in 1965, college tuition, fees, and room and board costed on average $1,375 a year… Excuse me? Could you say that again, please? I think I misunderstood you. Oh, I didn’t? Okay. That kind of money doesn’t even cover my meal plan for a semester! What about today? Well, not to fuel the fire or anything, but according to the US Department of Education, nowadays it costs a student around $29,670 a year to attend college. Anyone can argue the point of inflation all they want, but personally, that number alone still seems extremely ridiculous.
2. Minimum Wage is Frozen
Since minimum wage jobs are usually only what college kids can acquire without a degree, the actual pay should be sufficient enough for them...or at least one would think. In 1965, the minimum wage came out to a whopping $1.25 an hour. For that time period, that wage seems quite reasonable. Minimum wage, over 50 years, has not increased nearly as much as college tuition. We can now see that across this time frame, average college costs have become around 30 times more expensive. However, the minimum wage has only gone up 6 dollars to $7.25 an hour, and has been the same since 2013. Why is it that price of college can skyrocket each year while the money students can earn at the least can remain the same? It truly does not add up.
3. Summer Jobs Aren’t Helping
Typically in the summer, college students usually get around 14 weeks off of school. Even though it’s a break from rigorous academics, this is your time to rake in the big bucks. In 1965, if we assume you worked full-time in the summer (14 weeks, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day), the money earned could cover around 43% of you college tuition. So, even taking into account taxes taken from paychecks, an individual like yourself in this time period could pay for almost half of their yearly college tuition in 14 weeks. Seems manageable, but still, 43% isn’t a very high percentage at all. Well, if you didn’t guess already, it gets worse. Getting a full-time summer job at this point in time would only account for...wait for it… approximately 13% of a student’s expenses. Yes, any money helps, but at this point, it almost seems worthless to dedicate your whole summer to a job that provides minimal financial support.
4. Obtaining the Remaining Percentage is Impossible
Since the summer job didn’t cover the entirety of college expenses, I guess you’re going to have to work during school. Most people would prefer to only focus on their studies, but if you’re a student against using loans that’s paying for your education individually, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. So, you apply for that minimum wage job we talked about earlier. How many hours a week exactly will this job consume? Looking back at 1965, you would only have to work during the school year for 23 hours a week. This comes out to approximately 3.3 hours a day. Not bad at all. So, as long as you’re living in 1965, you’ll be totally fine! Too bad that’s none of us. With that being said, if you’re looking to cover the cost of your tuition with this job, you’ll need around 108 hours a week. Yes, this means around 15 hours per day each week will get you the money you need. No company is crazy enough to offer you those hours, so you’ll need a couple jobs to get it done. On top of classes, extracurriculars, and sleep, I’m glad we both can agree this is absolutely insane.
5. There’s No Room for Flexibility
Once you decide that 108 hours isn’t your preferred work week, you try to at least get SOME hours in. So, you work around 24 hours a week, which is a little more than half of a full-time job (40 hours a week). In 1965, that would actually leave you with an excess of money at the end of the day. Once again, the statistics for today’s data does not look good. If that amount of time is all you wish to work, you will come out of school with around $72,000 in debt. You’re pretty much being punished for conquering the concept of time management. Unless this number does not intimidate you, you have no say in the plan to pay for your education.
Having said that, I would definitely have to argue that Millennials work at the least TWICE as hard to pay for college. Obviously, something needs to change about the student debt problem in America. But for now, I wouldn’t be so quick to blame Millennials for this one, Baby Boomers.
