Why college grads struggle

Someone said to me, “I think we need to stop pressuring kids to pick a path at 18. Take general courses, then find your passion. I was 40 before I finished my degree and determined what I wanted to do.”

I agree we don’t need to pressure our teens. However, the reality is times are very different than when we went to school.  

A friend of mine has a niece, Jill, who was adamant that she wanted to go to school to be a cosmetologist. Jill wouldn’t entertain the idea of anything else. After graduation from cosmetology school, Jill discovered she hated being a hairstylist and the makeup artist jobs were few and far between. Now Jill THINKS she wants to be a teacher.

Her parents have already paid thousands of dollars for an education Jill wants nothing to do with. How can they be confident that being a teacher is right for Jill?

I hear this same story from other parents. They have kids who started down a path that wasn’t right for them and it ended up causing a financial burden. I was one of those kids who didn’t start on the right path. Fortunately, it didn’t create a significant financial burden for my parents as it was more years ago than I want to admit. That is not the case now, as we have seen an all-time high of student loan debt. 

The other reality is that the job market is very competitive and people in their 20’s are having a harder time launching their careers than in the past.

Research shows that 2/3 of college grads struggle to launch their career.

This means more kids are moving back home after college graduation. A recent study shows that 50% of students move back home after college graduation. Many of these kids plan on living at home for at least two years. You can read more about the study here.

So, while we don’t want to pressure our teens to decide on a career, we have to help them. We can provide them with experiences to help guide them. Kids can only make decisions based on what they see, hear, or do.

Guess what, the college grads that didn’t struggle knew the major they picked was right for them, had at least one internship, and no more than $10,000 in debt.

If you are not helping your teen find their future path in their high school years, you are opening yourself up to costly debt and a child in their 20’s who is living at home and feels lost about their future.

Not sure how to help your teen get on the right path for their future? Start by setting up a profile on www.spikeview.com. Then schedule a complimentary conversation with me by clicking here. We will take a deep dive with your spikeview profile into where you and your teen are, where you want to be, and identify the gaps. This tool will help you organize and visualize their journey and serve as an effective and objective way to guide your conversation.

by Laurie Genevish