Aram Zucker-Scharff

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“The legacy of the Great Recession of 2008 has yet to be fully processed. But one of its most lasting impacts will no doubt stem from the fact that many college students and recent graduates—people who were just starting to build the careers and financial autonomy that would have allowed us “adult” lives—were suddenly faced with an economy in which getting a steady job was unlikely. Even if you were privileged or lucky enough to be able to afford a college education, companies’ increasing reliance on unpaid internships meant that building a career was a matter of being able to work for free after you graduated: Increasingly, only the children of the very wealthy were able to make the choices and secure the entry-level jobs that might lead to “adult” autonomy down the line. As a result, we saved money by living with our parents far longer than previous generations. The financial expense of a wedding—or the responsibility of asking another person to rely on you for the rest of their life—was not something one could reasonably embrace, if one were uncertain about making rent or having a job in six months’ time. Similarly, providing for a child was laughable if you couldn’t even reliably provide for yourself. And buying a house? In today’s market? Forget it.

“My generation didn’t choose childhood. Childhood chose us, or rather, it refused to let us go. We stayed adolescent because post-adolescent responsibilities were never granted to us. We were trapped in Neverland, and sooner or later, we resigned ourselves to just having fun.”

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– Who Killed Adulthood?

John Oliver discusses student debt, which is awful, as well as for-profit colleges, who are awfully good at inflicting debt upon us.

Report: Student Loan Debt Isn’t Just An Issue For Young Americans:

The US Government has discovered a new way to make social security last.

When older Americans were hit by the real estate crisis and driven further into debt, they had to stop paying their student loan debt. Now the Federal government is withholding funds from social security, medicare and *survivor* payouts to these people who THOUGHT they had achieved the American dream, driving retirees in the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS into poverty.

THAT’s the future America has laid out for the rising generation. We, who hold more student debt than combined previous generations, can look to the present to see grandparents held down by endless, lifelong, student debt. Look at them, and think about what the future holds.

“An analysis of data from the Survey of Consumer Finances found that 3% of households – about 706,000 households – headed by those ages 65 years or older carry student loan debt. Although, the student debt level for those 64 years or younger is significantly higher – 22 million households, the issues faced by older American’s who tend to live on fixed incomes can’t be discounted.

The percentage of households headed by those aged 65 to 74 years of age with student debt grew from just 1 percent in 2004 totaling $2.8 billion to about 4 percent, or $18.2 billion in 2013.

The real issue is the number of older Americans who hold defaulted federal student loans – nearly a quarter of older American’s loans are in default – which often leaves the retirees living below the poverty threshold.”

Be f*cking furious.

The Bloody Waters of Higher Ed:

Notes on how a generation’s class- and age-based neglect destroyed the job prospects of rising Millennials: Academia edition.

Or: How the tenure track has eliminated itself.