An exciting time in many young adults lives is when they graduate high school and can begin to prepare for their journey through college. However, just over the past few years, college students have had to realize the harsh reality of the tough economy that surrounds them.
The price to go to college has skyrocketed in the last several decades. More and more students are pouring into colleges each year, and there really is not enough room on campus for all the students. So while the college will accept the student and the student's tuition, the student may not be able to find the classes he needs, find a room on campus (that is affordable), or even find a parking spot. A perfect example would be an ordinance in Cobb County that may force five roomates to move out of a home that they rent near Kennesaw State University. The five females decided to rent the house because there weren't any rooms available at KSU, the off- campus apartments are riduculously priced at $500-$600 per month per renter, so splitting the rent of a small home would be the most affordable option. However, an ordinace in the county forbids more than two unrelated people living in the same house. They county is going to be forcing these college students to pay way more each month than they can afford.
The good news is, when you cannot afford to pay for college out of pocket, the government will pay for you through financial aid. Wrong. Financial aid is still debt. It still has to be paid back. Approximately two-thirds of college students graduate with student loans.This is fine, as long as you are prepared to pay them back after college. The only problem is, graduates aren't getting jobs so they can't pay back their students loans.
Students are told that the only way to be successful in life is to go to college and get a degree. But what happens when tuition is just too expensive and when students do graduate, there are no jobs. The unemployment rate for adults under the age of 25 is 9%. Students who are in college or right out of college cannot get jobs because they have no experience. They can't get experience unless someone gives them a job! This leads some students to believe that there are better alternatives to the typical 4 year college degree and they begin seeking these opportunites.
This is also the same reason why businesses like Enstitute were created. The founders of Enstitute (Shaila Ittycheria and Kane Sarhan) base their start up company on the principle "learn by doing". They were both working in other companys before Enstitute was started. In these companies they found that newly graduated students who were taught so well in the classroom, really had no experience and therefore could not function in a work setting. So, they started their company, Enstitute, and when they put out the ad for help wanted over 500 applications were recieved from people who were not enjoying college and did not think college was a good fit for them. This start up company, like many others, pairs with other major companies, so interns are usually offered full time or part time work as a result of interning with the start up companies; no college degree necessary.
http://enstituteu.com/about-us/
http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-student-loan-debt-2010-12?op=1
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/23594077/ordinance-may-force-ksu-students-out-ofhome
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365093612/
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