Even though it has been nearly four years since the recession, economic recovery is nowhere in sight. Discussions on the economy rarely interest people any more. People now realize that this downturn has been different from the troughs of the regular business cycle, and may just come to define a period of lost opportunities for this generation. The past decade was spent in the shadows of terrorism and pyrrhic victories in far flung lands, but this time the battle seems to be within, and without any end in sight.
Though GDP grew by 2.5 percent this quarter, debt concerns in Europe have not improved moods. Couple this with stubbornly high unemployment, rising budget deficits, rating downgrades and the now viral ‘Occupy’ protests, and a picture of great anguish appears. Yet despite all this, the biggest reason to worry for the American citizens could well lie elsewhere.
Student debt, which recently crossed the $ 1 trillion mark, roughly 7 percent of the GDP, is a very serious concern facing a lot of students at N.C . State as well.
Recently one of my classmates said that he was seriously considering living out of his car next semester. He said he would sleep in the library, take showers at the gym and keep all his belongings in his car. On Fridays and Saturdays when D.H . Hill closes for the night, he said he would simply go home every weekend. At first, I thought he was just fooling around and laughed it off. But a few days later he again raised the topic, saying this would help him save around $5,000 on his student loan, and give him something to brag about to his kids. While I seriously hope he reconsiders this arrangement, I could not help but think how serious this problem is.
Given the severity of the problem, I think the only solution to this is simply to study harder and make yourself more employable. Now, good grades have always been fairly important, but now they are critical to your future. This is not to say that employers tolerated mediocrity in the good old days, but when you are looking to hire just 3 people instead of 12, it is natural for you to become more selective and set higher standards for acceptance.
Right now the biggest help you could do yourself would be to push yourself harder. Push yourself to meet higher expectations, not only because it’s smart, but because that is now a requirement.
The recession has hit the country hard, and we simply can not wish it away—or we would have done that long ago.
Coming back to my friend, I do not advocate taking such an extreme action, but the fact is that we do need to reexamine our lifestyle and realistically adjust to the current situation. Hard times call for cutbacks in luxuries and expenditure, and crying foul over the matter will not help.
My friend currently lives on campus, which as we all know is more expensive compared to an off-campus apartment. For saving money, you could simply shift to an apartment at any of the close off-campus locations like Avent Ferry or Gorman.
I read an interesting survey on the British magazine The Economist’s website a few days back, in which Americans were polled on what they spend their income on. The survey showed a steep decline, close to 40 percent, compared to 2010 values, in the amount of money people now spend on alcohol and beverages.
This shows that people are really sobering up, or at least that it was always possible, but there was no incentive for it.
The survey also showed a rise of nearly 15 percent in the amount of money people spent on reusable goods and repair services. These facts bare the truth that cutting wasteful expenditure is a need of the times, not just for students, but for people in general. For students it holds greater importance simply because they will be starting their careers with higher debt in highly uncertain times.
Everyone is concerned about the budget deficit, and politicians are busy searching austerity measures for the country. It is high time we did the same for ourselves.
