Pamela Yellen over at the Huffington Post gives advice on How to Avoid Graduating College Summa Cum Debt. I’ve read dozens of articles on this topic over the years and none have irked me and impressed me with their proposals and solutions the way Yellen’s article has.

Her main piece of advice is to flat out not head off to college at all “unless or until you can afford it.” Not the standard higher education version of the American Dream. Usually everyone’s telling young adults to do whatever they and their parents can in order to acquire a college diploma, regardless of how many decades beyond graduation both parties will be swimming in debt.

Whether you agree with her or not, it’s interesting stuff to think about:

Four Paths to a Debt-Free College Education
1. Save it first.
2. Postpone it.
3. Do it smarter.
4. Skip it altogether.

Further Reading:

Ways to Kick the Ass of Student Loan Debt
Number-Crunching the Effects of Student Loans
Adventures in Education: Paying for College
The Economy and Higher Education
No One Likes a Recession
Calculating Potential
Investing in Students’ Futures
Extremely Useful Guidance for the Newly Salaried
Fall 2011 Facebook App for Financial Aid
College Grads and Student Loan Debt
Arne Duncan: Direct Student Loans
Increased Tuition Increases Some More

Posted by Alexa Harrington

The unfortunate phenomenon of elementary-aged girls becoming interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) subjects, going off to college intending to major in and then pursue a career in one of those fields, and ultimately veering off somewhat sharply into less science-and-math rich majors and careers is common.

Fortunately, it has not gone unnoticed by the chicks who have gone on to work in their dream STEM fields, and several entities have started working to foster girls’ education and career paths in STEM subjects.

Michelle Obama, not a STEM girl herself (what with being a lawyer and all), is all for supporting girls in math and science and gave a little talk about it recently. My favorite bits from the transcript:

And if we’re going to out-innovate and out-educate the rest of the world, then we have to open doors to everyone. We can’t afford to leave anyone out. We need all hands on deck. And that means clearing hurdles for women and girls as they navigate careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

And it starts with lighting the spark for science and math in elementary school and grade school. We talk about this all the time. I know for me, I’m a lawyer because I was bad at these subjects. (Laughter.) All lawyers in the room, you know it’s true. We can’t add and subtract, so we argue. (Laughter.)

And so encouraging girls early not to lose heart in those fields, and encouraging them through high school is important. But it also means making sure that these young women can keep pursuing their dreams in college and beyond.

Further Reading:

Why So Few Women In Science, Technology, Engineering and Math?
Dual Academic Careers
First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks to the Dept. of Education

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Forbes contributor Robert W. Wood gives advice about which forms of higher education qualify for tax breaks. Wood lists the following articles for even more information on how to get a break from the IRS for funding one’s higher education pursuits:

Ten Rules for Deducting Career Education
Who benefits from student loans and educational tax benefits?
Two Tax Credits for Higher Education
IRS Publication 970: Business Deduction for Work Related Education
IRS Tax Topic 513: Educational Expenses
Deductibility of Work Related Educational Expenses
IRS: Tax Incentives for Higher Education

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image: taxes)

Along the lines of my previous post regarding the much abhorred Epic Fail, Emily Chapman at Hack College wrote a piece advising one to Refuse to Dwell, Move On, Kick Ass. Well put.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(photo: kick-ass)

Who needs more straight-up and simple financial advice than college students? Possibly only the city of Detroit. The always-awesome Ramit Sethi has yet to fix Detroit, but he has you covered.

Ramit’s suggestions for the three most basic, personal banking needs:

The Best Checking Account
The Best Savings Account
The Best Credit Card

Further Reading:

Financial Education
Financial Literacy for Graduates
“Unbundling College: How to Avoid Spending $100,000 (or more) on a Credential You Don’t Really Need”
How to Land a Mentor
Schools of Entrepreneurship

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(photo: credit card wreath)

UC Berkeley has a cool page on their site that allows you to click on any of their given majors and get a write-up of what you can do with said major (i.e., grad school, job). It’s fun to check out everything from underwater basket weaving (poli sci, psych, philosophy, etc.) to bioengineering and see the possible trajectories, especially if your parents are demanding proof that a degree in philosophy will lead to a prosperous future. Good luck with that.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(photo: bioengineering)

Oh, Epic Failure, how I despise you. The more massive you are, the deeper you are burned into my psyche. My head can’t forget no matter how much denial and bloody-kneed begging I shovel over you.

When I bear witness to the fails of others, I am slammed with the adrenaline force of two emotions battling it out in my chest: Empathy for the poor bastard, and blatant, raw relief that it wasn’t me. Seriously, every time I think about the Titanic I thank all that is holy that not only was it not my fault, but that I wasn’t even born yet so my alibi is rock solid and no one can ever pin that shit on me.

So far, I’ve not experienced a personal failure of Titanic proportions (fingers crossed I don’t decide to captain a ship through iceburg-y waters or become an engineer of constructs large enough to hold massive numbers of living things, all of whom would perish horribly should my awesome engineering math suck real bad).

Massive mistakes have been avoided, but plenty of small and medium fails loiter horizons of my past. Stupid rusting hulking things, just sitting there mocking me. God how I hate them.

The best way to smite those bitches down with my almighty fury? Learn all I can from them, then just let them go and move the hell on. Continuing to focus on past founderings keeps them good and shiny in your head and your heart, which allows them full access for continued cutting away at your awesomeness. Do not let those bastards grind you down.

Learn and go, people. Learn and go.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

When you’re a fresh-faced newbie trying to make your way through this harsh and unkind world, it helps to have an older, wiser, more experienced hand to hold onto. Standing on the shoulders of giants makes the machete-hacking stumble through the jungle go a lot more smoothly.

Those giants are called mentors, and every chucklehead youngin’ like yourself wants one. The more awesome a mentor, the more sought out they are. This has the unfortunate effect of making them ignore most of the tweedle-dums who come begging for their priceless advice and knowledge. If you want to be mentored by the best, you’re going to have to be better than all the other chuckleheads at asking. Ramit Sethi has some advice for you.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(standing on the shoulders of giants)

Practical but depressing: An article in SF Gate about five jobs with high salary and minimal education. Not that I want to promote less education, but budget cuts are jacking up tuition beyond all reason. Sometimes you’ve got to do what you can to survive when the people in charge are hosing your future. You can choose fashion designer, car salesman, registered dental hygienist, registered nurse, or certified occupational therapist assistant.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Ever wonder what those professors with their cush teaching posts do with their well-paid time? Educate young minds or lie about, smoking pipes and wearing tweed and discussing any topic in the most pedantic way possible? Perhaps. Or maybe they’re working their asses off trying to keep the jobs they nearly killed themselves to get.

An article about faculty productivity in The Chronicle of Higher Education made Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab want to list her schedule so we could all decide for ourselves whether or not she earns her keep. I read it, and since I can’t see how she has time to wipe her nose let alone have a proper life, I say she’s well worth her paycheck and clearly contributes to her students’ education.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(professor)