Sure, we complain about homework and finals and the indignity of waking up for 8 a.m. classes. But the reality of the situation is that we have it pretty good right now (stop rolling your eyes). I know I can’t speak for everyone, but most of us are still being supported by our parents, while the money from our part-time jobs more often goes to the bartender at Greenhouse than to Con-Edison. My worry is that I won’t be able to maintain my pseudo-fabulous lifestyle and financially-unburdened ways after my diploma is handed to me.
The current economic climate, whose weakness is becoming more and more obvious (Vogue has been thinner than ever lately, and not in a good way) is doing little to calm my fears. I’ve already gotten a taste of what it’s like to be “let go” (the workplace equivalent of “It’s not you, it’s me.”) when a paid internship at Barneys ended early due to budget cuts and a corporate internship at Condé Nast ended when the magazine where I interned shut down. I can’t lie: it scared the hell out of me. And if I am scared, with no family to support and no real bills to pay, I can’t imagine the wreck I’ll be as a post-grad professional, when mommy-dearest ceases payment on my studio (and phone, heat, cable, and food).
-- Alexander Channell
Further reading:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/18/economy.college.students/index.html
http://internships.about.com/b/2008/08/24/slow-economy-affecting-college-students.htm
http://www.collegenews.com/index.php?/careers/unemployment_rate_at_five_year_high_240/