Can't Find A Job? Maybe You Should Sue Your College
Posted: Monday, August 03, 2009
by Stephany Springer
As more and more Americans get desperate for work, should suing colleges be an option for not being able to find work. One woman believes it is an option.
The BBC is reporting that Trina Thompson, 27, filed a lawsuit against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. She is hoping to recover the $70,000 she spent on tuition fees.
Thompson claims that the college did not help her find leads or a job like they said they would do.
This is an interesting concept to me. On one hand, can colleges really be accountable to find jobs for each and every student especially in this economic climate?
On the other hand, she has a very marketable degree seeing how it is in Informational Technology. Also, the school, as shown above, does offer career placement.
I am curious to see what type of precedent this sets. Just look at my family for instance, I have a degree attatched to an endless amount of student loan debt.
My degree happens to be in a field that traditionally does not pay much. I wish every day I would have been denied for those student loans or that someone would have explained the debt to income ratio I was going to graduate with.
My brother could sue based on his inability to get in to a medical school. He graduated from one of the most expensive and top undergraduate schools in the state, but found it impossible to get into the medical school in the state.
He, of course, has no issues. He makes a good living as a project manager, but never really uses his degree in biology.
Are these situations our fault or the college's fault? Here is the deal. I think approving Thompson's complaint would be a mistake and bigger headache for America.
College is a risk. It isn't a guarantee at a great life. In fact, I know several people who are a lot better off then my husband and I and they never ever went to college.
While we were in college trying to get a degree, they were working getting experience. That being said, if my husband had finished his degree, some believe he would already have a job by now.
It all comes down to the recruiters and who you know when it comes to securing a job. College or no college is not what is going to get you a job. What you can offer and who you know will land you that job.
I feel bad for Thompson because she is faced with something we all face. At least I have for the last ten years. However, the judge of this court should throw this case out. It will be detrimental to America and the college system.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Stephany, in our suit-obsessed society, I can't say I'm surprised. These days if people don't get what they think they should, they call a lawyer. It's sad. I don't remember my college guaranteeing me a job upon graduation.
I spent an entire life in technology and IT and I can assure you Americans for the most part and no longer get the plum jobs. The majority goes to green card, consulting, or foreign help, period. Yes, walk in my shoes and you can see. In fact it is happening in the teaching field right now. Foreign teachers being hired over Americans, fact, with the caveat Americans don't have the "qualifications." I say to all my teacher friends, [I used to sub] beware, you just may be next. They used to think me the fool, that is until this year and wow what a change in that opinion. Best wishes.
Great article. Well done.Please people stop suing everyone.Anyway, why do people go to collage to get? Qualifications of course! What did they give her?Exactly.
Well, well, well. Yes indeedie. Here it is expressed in the day of light, a little known fact about college. Students are often ill-prepared. Within 5 to 10 years, 70% will no longer be working in their chose field. Some, as you know, never get there. They are of the missing 30%.Why?Because students are missing 90% of what they need to know, not only to be successful in chosing the right discipline (some may need to skip school all together--often over rated, especially in today's hyper, global economy), but in other critical areas of life.Students often waste 5 to 15 years floating, hoping it will work out. They are missing key knowledge, skills, and attitudes that college just never addresses. Colleges and universities just accept students into programs rarely helping them to see if it's right for them or the challenges they face in getting into a particular career. It is really quite messed up.Because of these problems, as I said above, most grads waste 5 to 15 years and leave 100s of thousands of dollars on the table. Something's got to be done, so that's why I started Inner Projection. There is hope for those who've lost their way even before they got started.
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