I have read a lot of research done on student loans (UK and US) and it really depends on:
What kind of loans they took out
What program they are in for paying them back
What degree they did*
*Mostly related to median salaries 5 years post-graduation as that can allow students to pay back their loans while still being able to make some life choices.
But agree that Canada has a better system. UK and US tertiary education has turned quite predatory with poor quality degrees and exploding student debt (that is effectively Govt guaranteed), which is now acting as an economic anchor for younger people.
I know - this really bothers me too. They do it all the time as if stocks are a team and constantly increasing is good as opposed to just getting you to a higher price.
I dated a girl a few year out of college (circa 2007) that had double majored in interior design and some other kind of design. She left college with 80k in debt, didn’t have a job for a while and then got a job making 32k. Her debt quickly ballooned to over 150k with no real hope of paying it off. There wasn’t as much (any?) awareness back then that some degrees just aren’t worth it.
Our company has an assistance program to help pay off student loans but I believe it’s only $100/month.
One of my best friends has student loans from going to pharmacy school. I don’t recall the exact nature of the loans, but the last time we talked he said the balance was 270K and his only hope was to (1) die and have the balance written off that way, or (2) hit the lottery.
I know people who are in at least that bad a position or worse, with lower-paying jobs.
Back when I was living in Oz, my housemate had a friend who was U.S. student doing a semester abroad and was working on her degree in fine arts. She had around $100k in student loan debt.
My guess is that very few graduates would make a living in fine arts. When I was doing a degree in music composition one of the teachers there said that in his time only 4 out of the 100 or so students that had passed through in his time were making a living (primarily as teachers) in music. Not great odds.
Of course, one could start taking Actuarial exams after graduating.
I’m not sure. I agree it would be tough. On the other hand, I see a lot of people who are selling fine arts products at various craft markets, etc. year after year, so they’re definitely making some money at it. I’m also in a photography club and there are definitely a surprising number of people working as photographers and making decent money at it. Its definitely a different life style, but perhaps one that is doable in the bifurcated economy where many people can afford custom art for their homes.
On the other hand, I think it is shear madness to go over $100k into debt for a fine arts degree.
I would imagine most of those people did not do a fine arts degree as generally the stuff you find at markets is kitsch, derivative or naive art. There is a place for such art but you don’t need a degree for that.
There is more of a demand for modern art in corporate settings so there will be some doing quite well. The same isn’t true for modern classical music. In corporate settings they’ll generally be performing music that’s at least 100 years old or jazz/pop music.
Two data points.
I’ve a friend who has a degree in fine arts(Drama). A year out of that gate and she now also has I believe an undergrad and masters in CS. She’s quite clear that the CS pays the bills, and drama is a hobby. She does a LOT of drama type stuff (she’s a regular in the local arts theater, been in indie movies, etc), but it’s all hobby stuff.
Used to have a marketing person here who had a degree in fine arts, with a business minor. They were excellent because they actually understood the business implications and requirements, and could implement that stuff using their fine arts knowledge. Stuff like colour palettes and stuff. But they certainly weren’t doing ‘art’.
Oh, third data point. My son’s old gf has an arts degree followed by a teaching degree. She’s been out of school for years and still working stop-gap teaching positions. Can’t even get a FT teaching job with those credentials. If she had a math degree and wanted to work as a teacher OTOH, she’d be long employed.
We don’t have to hate on the credentials to realize that they’re not employable.
(actually, curiously BMAth degrees are likely close. A BMAth degree around here seems to get you a job working in marketing at a life insurance company or similiar. I guess it’s employable, just not in anything math related).
My uncle’s design company specializes in museums and custom displays in corporate lobbies. They have a bunch of graphic designers and some of the more experienced ones make really decent money.
Shelves will be bare in a couple weeks, eggs are $8 a dozen (unless you’ve got the eggs that are down 93%, which would make them like 42 cents a dozen), tariffs are on or off - or both, no one’s really sure - government services are getting shut down as we speak, companies are pulling guidance citing uncertainty, and CEOs are in dismay about all the damage done in just 100 days.
But somehow +177k jobs added that will presumably pay people money so they can’t get anything they need, and China is talking to us again even though China says they’re not and we keep insulting them, so … buy stocks, everyone.
China didn’t say anything it hasn’t said before, but for some reason the repetition of a prior statement is reason for unbridled optimism. It still requires Trump to make the first move, and he’s not going to because he needs to look like the alpha male’s alpha male’s alpha male’s alpha male.