Job Discussion Forums

[Madame J]

I thought that under the old system, you could sign on during the holidays? I do think that one of the key issues that needs addressing is the very fact that students are provided with no support during the long summer period. Summer jobs aren't always easy to find when you've got thousands of students all pouring into job agencies every June.

Do today's students really need much more than those of the 90s, though? I know mobile phones are an essential and a computer almost that (I managed to get away with not having one during my first year), but I'm not so sure about fashionable clothes etc. Maybe there are a few students out there intent on emulating the WAG lifestyle, but nobody I knew at university ever bought any designer clothes. Primark is still very much the order of the day!

I suppose most people don't see their student debt as being actual debt, rather just another tax, and that seems the most sensible way of going about it. However, the new fees system is enough to sway even the most stoic individual from that way of thinking. I wonder how many people are now taking degrees in nursing or something else funded by the NHS/business simply in order to avoid the new fees system.

[Mike_2007]

By need I meant "need"...

The kids look at me like I'm some kind of alien when I tell them I used to stay in touch with my girlfriend back home by written letter. Makes me feel like I went to uni in the 19th century rather than the 1990s!

It was hard getting through those years but I prefer it that way as it taught me many valuable lessons about money management. Now it's all too easy for students to get into debt and a habit I imagine few of them get out of until their 40s or 50s (loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc.)

[johnslat]

And that's likely going to be the "next wave" in the financial meltdown - when all those people with big credit card debt who've lost their jobs default of those payments. Does anyone else see some credit card companies filing for bankruptcy? (Hmm - maybe it would be a good time to run up some credit card debt - except, I'm not 100% sure.)
And then there are all those mortgages taken out in 2004/2005 that have five year balloon payments coming up.
Yikes - this tsunami may have a lot more waves to come yet.

[MO39]

Johnslat, Where did you find your inspirational Obama-as-Superman avatar? I love it!

[johnslat]

Dear MO39,

I got it here:

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=jb4heo&s=4&hid=321&tag=Obama

but there are dozens of others to choose from as well.

It also comes as a T-Shirt

http://www.stylinonline.com/political.html?gclid=CND3xZn-7ZcCFQimggodbD3VEA

Regards,
John

[MO39]

Dear John,

Thanks for the links - I'm mighty tempted to order the tee-shirt version of your avatar, depending on how much they charge for shipping and handling to Mexico.

Happy New Year to you!

Cheers,

MO

[jonniboy]

[Teacher in Rome]

I don't remember that we were able to sign on during any holidays - which was why we all got summer jobs. Housing benefit was also removed at some point in the mid-80s, and that was hard, as you had to pay rent on a house you weren't living in, on a low income.

[Madame J]

See that's the thing, I do believe in the olden days payphones were readily available in all halls. I know of very few that have them now, most individual bedrooms have landlines but those cost around 75 quid to connect (or they did during my attempt at uni in 2003!) and then silly money per quarter to run.

As for keeping in touch by letter, wow, that really does sound delightfully quaint. I do know a few people in long distance relationships who practice the art of letter writing, however if this was the primary form of communication I can't see how the relationship wouldn't die a gradual death. Maybe we really have become infinitely more impatient over the course of ten years. I am considering writing to my boyfriend when I'm away TEFLing, but only really to supplement phone calls.

God, this history of student support being gradually stripped away is turning into a catalogue of doom and gloom all right. Whatever happened to good old fashioned lefty rioting, eh?

[Marcoregano]

[Madame J]

20K three years after graduation.

I'm sure that's the kind of rubbish I was fed during my A Levels, but I've found that most graduates I know who left university a similar time period previously are only just escaping the call centre. Then again, most of my graduate friends did some sort of arts related degree...

I suppose your overdraft is likely to have been similar whether you received a grant or not-after all, a loan only becomes a loan once you're earning over the 15K threshold.

[SueH]

Well, I graduated from the same university as TeacherinRome, but way back in 1976 when only about 5% of the population went to uni. (Hope you are feeling younger now marcoregano!). I was never in debt but in those days had a grant (I'd never had money of my own before) and holiday jobs: Christmas post, packing factories, tobacco picking and one Christmas a couple of weeks work as a general labourer on a building site 150 yards from home! Mainly making bacon butties in the site canteen but some general sweeping and stacking bricks: I was even fitter in those days!

I never quite made 30k by the time I left my 'career' in 2000, but that was because I barely rendered unto Caesar that which was Caesar's: I didn't really fit the corporate world even if I was too scared to leave. Ultimately boredom forced me to. Financially not a good move to jump but more fun and interest.

Anyway, back to lesson planning for the kids. Incidentally I have just officially signed for a footie team here: that also keeps me young although I'm old enough to be the granny of some of the youngsters.

[Chirimolla]

[fladude]

I've gotten into a bad situation due to my financial mismanagement which is making me look at working outside the USA. What happened to me was that I was working as a public defender in Florida making about 45k a year. It may sound ok, but consider that I had 90k in student loan debt and that working as a lawyer is expensive. You work very long hours (like 8 AM to 7 or 8 at night and sometimes later) and burn through expensive suits and shoes and are expected to live a certain lifestyle. And there is no public transportation in Florida, so you have to buy a car. All of this makes it virtually impossible to save a dime of income at 45k a year. So I decided I would go to work for a private company. Of course about the time I did that the company fired virtually everyone due to the downturn in the economy. Since I had only been at the company for a month, I didn't even qualify for unemployment. So I ended up unemployed. I started my own law firm but that didn't work out and eventually I defaulted on student loans. Now I basically can't work because the penalties on the debts are just too high. There is no way I can even pay my bills and pay back the huge fine that was imposed on me (about 40k on top of the 90k I already owe). So I'm just going to pack up and go. My decision may sound escapist, but seriously how can I live if they take 15 percent of my income for life (which is what they can seize) ?

[roywebcafe]

I wish this thread hadn't been started in a way. because more people might try tefl as a way out of a crisis and ergo causing the numbers in TEFL to increase making it more difficult to get a tefl job or a good one anyway. I don't like competition.