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I have an unexpected day off from work today because of snow. I might as well write.

Recently, a Facebook friend who is a senior in high school asked me about college. He is one of those smart foreign kids that is really good at math. He has his heart set on engineering. I didn't know what to tell him. I told him to become a doctor and take pharmacy for his undergrad instead of pre-med. Otherwise, college is a shitty deal these days. Outside of healthcare, I can't name a slam dunk major. Even if you can get a job as an accountant or manager somewhere, your salary will not justify the student loan debt you incurred.

I hate having to tell a bright student those cold hard facts. This is the reality of the higher education bubble. We have undergrads who can't find jobs and are saddled with debt that will take decades to pay off. We have grad students with even bigger debts hoping to score academic jobs that just aren't there. We have law school grads with $250K in debt who can't find jobs and have collection agents hounding the shit out of them. It is one fucked up mess.

Healthcare majors are the only ones who seem able to win out because the demand for their services is growing very fast as baby boomers get old and sick. Even then, a large chunk of their future salaries will go to relieving their debts.

If you can go to college without incurring debt, it isn't so bad. Veterans with their GI Bill money have it made. They can graduate with no debt, and a job with a starting salary of $35K is pretty sweet. It is really sweet if you can land those $60K jobs. But if you toss in $700-1000 a month in debt payments, it sucks. For the $35K person, it is like working to live on a waiter's wages. For the $60K person, it means bringing home what an electrician makes--an apprenticed unlicensed electrician.

I don't feel so bad for the average kids who were considering college but opted to learn a trade instead. They are gloating now as many of them go on to make good money and enjoy a decent but not spectacular life as they watch their peers go to college only to end up serving coffee at Starbucks. I do feel for the smart kids who enter a kind of indentured servitude. It shouldn't be like this, but it is.

I'm not an egalitarian, so I don't have a problem with unequal incomes. If some really smart guy goes on to make $700K as a neurosurgeon, I am happy for him. This seems like a fair wage to make for someone who has sacrificed so much and lived in poverty for so long to get to where he is. I don't have a problem with some movie star getting millions for one motion picture. She could have easily ended up waiting tables or doing porn. If you take the risks, you deserve the rewards.

I do have a problem when some high IQ person ends up impoverished because government fucknuts decided to make everything equal in their egalitarian tomfuckery. This is why we have this student loan mess. This is why college grads are seeing their opportunities vanishing and their pay decreasing. It makes me sick.

I shouldn't have to tell a bright kid he would be better off becoming a plumber or an electrician. But in this topsy turvy world Uncle Sam has made, this is the best advice. Or I tell them to join the military and hope they don't die overseas.

I don't know when things will get back on track with this economy or the bubble in higher ed. Maybe we will have a boom, and these folks will find great high paying jobs that will allow them to eliminate their debts. But I don't see this happening. I see more misery. This is truly a lost generation.

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