It’s the moment every college student dreams about: walking across that stage to receive the diploma that took years of blood, sweat, and tears to attain.
College graduation signals a significant change in a young adult’s life. They must finally put their childish ways behind them to become men and women. Sleeping in until noon and eating ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner get traded in for six o’clock commutes downtown and coffee for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yet sometimes the stress and emotional strain that come with final exams, goodbyes to friends, and the beginning of a new life as a young professional becomes complicated, especially when you’ve yet to figure out the young professional part.
Soon-to-be college graduates are currently facing a brutal job market where their entry-level skills are often overlooked in favor of someone with more experience who is desperate enough to take the same meager pay. For those who studied in non-technical fields, the outlook is grim. Nearly 10% of all recent liberal arts graduates are unemployed. No job means no money. No money means no place to stay. No place to stay means moving back in with mom and dad.
These college graduates, referred to as boomerang kids for obvious reasons, are flocking to their parents’ empty nests. In fact, studies have shown that almost 85% of recent grads live with their families once again after college. Think mom and dad are thrilled to see them? Think again. Having your grown child back home means not only another mouth to feed, but also another bill for student loans, not to mention their potential credit card debt and other expenses.
If they can’t pay them, who else will? You will.
But for all the aspiring Kerouacs and Wildes, seekers of an English major or liberal arts degree, hope is not yet lost. Online courses in humanities and liberal arts can save students a considerable amount of money, which will prevent the onslaught of crushing student loans after they finish school. Also, the economical value of online classes gives young adults the opportunity to put the funds that would have been spent on college into savings so that they can move out of the house after graduation.
True, enrolling in online english courses from home isn’t quite as chic as moving to the big city, spending a year living in the dorms and hating the food, but moving home after graduation isn’t exactly ideal either.
Parents want the best for their children, but after raising them for eighteen years, more than a few want their lives back. Though they’re sure to be proud of their college graduate, they would inevitably be even happier if their child could support themselves and not drain them of that retirement fund or savings set aside for a European vacation. However, students needn’t feel pressured to study a particular field merely because it might better guarantee a job out of college. Nothing in life is certain, so you might as well do what makes you happy. Just be smart about it. If you want to be the next Hemingway, Salinger, or even the dude that Robin Williams portrayed in Dead Poets Society, consider online English courses. Not only will you be fulfilling your career dreams, but also you will avoid your parents’ nightmare of supporting their child into senility.
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