Millennials in the New (Bad) Economy

Following up on Craig's post about The Youth Job Market, there are four stories about Millennials in our new (bad) economy that are worth reading today.

First, check out today's New York Times article on the rise in applications at state universities. Parents and students are looking or bargain educations during the economic crunch, even as state universities are facing severe budget shortfalls:

“That’s the conundrum,” said Megan Galbraith, a spokeswoman for SUNY, the nation’s largest public university system under a single governing board, with 438,000 students on 64 campuses statewide. “There’s increased demand for what SUNY has to offer in this economy. But with this budget, there will be challenges meeting that demand. Our campuses are increasing class sizes. Services may be diminished. Even in residence halls, you might see more tripling up. It’s that type of ripple effect in the quality of the student experience.”

MSNBC notes that NY isn't the only state where students are bargain hunting and colleges are trying to negotiate the economic pinch. Community college across the entire country are facing these same decisions as young and old alike try to gain more education and skills training to face a tougher job market:

Almost 1,200 community colleges serve more than 10 million students across the country, according to the American Association of Community Colleges, and they are at the uneasy intersection of two trend lines as the economic recession enters its 15th month.

Tough times are fueling eagerness among workers who have lost their jobs to upgrade their skills and résumés. At the same time, the recession is forcing traditional four-year colleges and universities to cut enrollments and sharply raise tuition, freezing out many would-be students who are themselves feeling the pinch of the recession.

At Left in the West, Matt Singer of Forward Montana looks at a small ray of hope that Obama's budget offers students in the closing of the (more expensive and inefficient) FFEL loan program:

Something funny happened on the way to privatization. Rather than saving taxpayers much money, in a range of programs, we simply wedded the worst of government (unresponsive monopoly) to the worst of the private sector (excessive profit) without getting the best of the private sector (meaningful competition) or of government (meaningful political accountability).

Student loans is one area where that happened. Many loans currently processed are federally guaranteed, but handled through for-profit companies like Sallie Mae. The fact that the loans are backed by the feds means that taxpayers shoulder all the risk, but private companies rake in fees for, well, not much.

The Obama Administration proposed moving the federal student loan system to one entirely handled through direct loans, which cut out the middle-man.

Finally, the LA Times offers a column that will surely try the patience of many of us who work with and for young people - The Millennial Generation Test. The piece quotes reporting from the thoroughly debunked Millennial-hater Jean Twenge, and uses as evidence a single anecdote that is in direct contradiction to recent studies on Millennial attitudes towards major institutions. In the end, the author professes the hope that Millennials will "man up" and thrive in response to the current economic climate, but that's not very comforting after 3-400 words claiming we're all a bunch of narcissistic cry babies . . .