A feeling of accomplishment and a diploma aren’t the only thing thousands of college students are leaving with after their commencement ceremonies this year. They’ll also be saddled with the dreary outlook of a weak economy and the challenge of repaying thousands of dollars in student debt.
Debt among college graduates is no secret, but the collegiettes™ that have proudly completed school will now have to face the fact that today’s job market has a nearly 17% unemployment rate for Americans under age 30 according to Our Time, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help recent college graduates find employment.
Our Time lends a hopeful spin and a helping hand to recent college graduates desperate to find work that allows them to use the education they’ve spent so much time and money earning. Boasting 310,000 members to date, the organization hopes to recruit American citizens under 30 for a cause that countless collegiettes™ can relate to.
Not only does Our Time seek to help young people find jobs, it encourages them to become more socially and politically responsible. At only 25 years old, president and co-founder of our time Matthew Segal has been making rounds at various media outlets including The Huffington Post, C-SPAN and Fox News to reach out to the masses still searching for the jobs that they hoped higher education would guarantee them.
Just because the job market is less than desirable, there’s no need for college students to despair once they cross the stage at graduation. The unemployment rate for Americans ages 16 to 24 has dropped since last year according to ABC News, albeit only one percentage point.
With the help of Funny or Die, Our Time created a “Living at Home Sucks” video series that humorously portrays a very real scenario of a young man dealing with the pros and cons of living at home as a ‘grown up’. They also promoted a “Living at Home Sucks” contest for the best living at home-related tweet, with a prize of free rent for a month to the cleverest Twitter user.
Segal mentioned that the average student debt is at $22,900, a record high. Considering that the average price of a year’s tuition at a private university is $26,000, having $22,900 in debt come graduation is intimidating but not uncommon.
The Project on Student Debt, a non-profit organization aimed at helping students and their parents afford college is working to increase loan forgiveness, financial aid and more manageable loan payments. Despite the strides the organization has made, they recently reported that 62% of graduates from public universities and 72% of graduates from private universities had considerable student loan debt.
Organizations such as Our Time and The Project on Student Debt are working to help the recently graduated everywoman navigate the depleted economy and harsh reality of a post-grad world. With American optimism at an all time low as 55% of people in a Gallup poll believe it is unlikely that today’s youth will have a better life than their parents, Our Time’s role is now more important than ever.
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