"Ramen, not cavier"

[lissa_dora]

The newspaper I read on lunch has an articlet (mini-article) labelled "young sdults face reality with ramen, not caviar" noting that "half of all colleg students graduate with debt averaging $12000" and "about half of college graduates move back home after graduattion..." and some other depressiong thing suggesting that the current 20somethings are

Comments

[netbard]

Well.

To be honest, anything that gives more press to this issue is, in my opinion, a good thing. It seems more than slightly bad that getting a college degree (at this point required for a great many paths of success) requires that you mortgage your future to such a degree. Especially given that education is one of the primary factors right now leading towards a division in American society (I'm not talking political. I'm talking social-economic. There seems to be less social mobility nowadays, and a lot of people are worried that its going to get worse before it gets better unless something is done.).

That said, I don't know who the newspaper wanted to target the article to. In truth, I think newspapers are in a terrible position. They can't afford to admit that young people aren't reading their paper - if they do, then they have to admit they have no fragging clue how to stay alive once all their current readers are dead. The newspaper is definitely an endangered species.

[sad1225]

Actually, newspapers know what they have to do -- go on the net. Some have. Both the OC register and the LA times are on the web (subscription optional -- probably their primary revinue is advertising).

The problem is this:
Most people don't go to college to improve their economic potential. Junior/Senior year of high school, this just isn't what you're thinking about. Any easy way to check this is to see the number of degrees with the suffix "of arts".

During HS you knew that these degrees didn't pay (if you thought about it). The questions are "what do I like?" and "what am I good at?" and "how cool is the school I can get into?" and "how often will I get laid in college?".

That being said, lots of people with "of science" degrees often move back home right after college for a month or six while trying to find a job in their field.

[netbard]

A lot of newspapers are on the web - NYT, Washington Post, Economist. One problem, though, is not a lot of them are making any actual money on the web. And, certainly, I can't begin to imagine how the Democrat & Chronicle is possibly ever going to make money on the web. Is there that large an audience for local news (I'm pretty sure the vast majority, if not all, of the D&C's national and foreign coverage is wire-driven, or comes from Gannet) that this is cost-effective?

As for the problem.. Its even harder than 'how do we finance college education'. Now we're into: 'how do we finance the arts?' Even more very, very hard questions.

[sad1225]

There is always a small market for local news, and it doesn't cost that much to cover it.

You just got to CNN or Reuters or The BBC for national/international news. Local newspapers are a niche market, say that costs $.95 / mon for all subscribers.

--

Notice I said "of Arts" not "of Fine Arts". Pretty much all of the real arts end with "of Fine Arts". The way you afford college is you go to state school unless you're top tier or going for some sort of "of science" degree. Fine Arts gets paid for by surplusses generated by the "of Science" programs.

[lissa_dora]

*cough* my current goal is to be out of debt by age 30... then again, 30's a lot closer for me than it is for you.

And.. *small snarl* I hardly sat on my ass through my twenties.

[lissa_dora]

It was a very small snarl, dear. This month sucks for me with a capital s... I'm a little twitchy.

I dont' know how you coudl sit on your ass for two years; you don't have an ass... nothing but bone.

[gypsychilde]

I wonder if the target audience for that article is the parents of said college students/soon-to-be grads

[netbard]

I was thinking of a reply to this post, something along the lines of student loans needing to be viewed as an investment. Then I realized something:

There are so many hard questions involved in this issue, it makes my head hurt just thinking of the hard questions.

I mean, seriously. We can start right out with are student loans an effective means for preparing 20-somethings for college? Are colleges an effective means for preparing 20-somethings for their career? Should colleges be an effective means for preparing 20-somethings for their career? What should the goal of college be? How much say should student loan lenders have in a student's academic career and thus, their future career? What should the goals of society be in training 20-somethings? What should the goals of 20-somethings be?

I mean, wow. I'm just completely unqualified to answer the vast majority of these questions. I'm not sure I'm qualified to even think about them.

[gypsychilde]

Ow.
Brain go hurty. ;__;

[sad1225]

Well it's for the people that are vaguely interested in economics and social trends.

Infact it's real news.

It's definately targeted at 20 somethings. The ones who are living with their parents and are bored enough to read a paper. They won't feel as bad because they aren't alone. So they'll want to read the article for that validation.

[btoblake]

A very funny book I once read pointed out that what people want to read is not new-s but old-s, and I often find that to be true. It's easier to expand and confirm our understanding of the reality we already have