Queercents

Good evening, Queercents readers.

Are you terrified of credit cards? It’s understandable. Millions of Americans are buried in credit card debt. But you’re different, aren’t you? You’ve decided that credit cards aren’t for you. You’re not ever going to bother. That’s safe, isn’t it?

Well, let me tell you something right now: you can have a credit card, use it responsibly, and build good credit. Start out right! And check this new vlog.

I was born in 1978.  Depending on whose research you’re looking at, the only thing that’s consistent about my generation is that its definition is fluid and constantly in flux.  Sometimes I’m Generation X.  Sometimes I’m Generation Y.  I’ve also been told that I’m part of the MTV Generation, Boomerang Generation, a Millennial or First Digitals. This list can go on and on and Wikipedia can provide a quick overview of the what’s what.

The year I graduated from undergrad – which was 2001 – I was asked to participate in a job fair to speak as a communications student with prospective students and their parents about the department and its program.  High school students didn’t really ask me all that much.  Parents, on the other hand, were keen to know what kind of job a communications degree would help their kids land.

I was quickly shepherded out of the spokesperson role when I responded that you don’t send a kid to university to get a job. If you want a job with a better salary right after graduation, go to college.  University will give you a piece of paper that will open doors in a career further down a road.  A university degree is the new entry level requirement, or rather, has the same relevancy that a high school diploma did 20 years ago only with a cost that usually will leave your kid $24,000 in debt.

Universities aren’t in the business of giving practical, hands-on, skills training. At least in the realm of liberal arts.  They’re in the business of thought.  They can help build the critical thinking capacities that are crucial for a knowledge-based economy.  This won’t translate into a notable salary for most kids until many, many, many years post-graduation, if at all.  If your kid chooses the university route, make sure they volunteer and land part-time jobs that will help them acquire the relevant employable skills. Read the rest of this entry »

Good afternoon, Queercents readers.

This is the final installment in a series on student loan debt. Seemingly the most fundamental part of student lending, making payments is actually the most difficult. Not only are there misconceptions, but there are just plain bad practices a lot of people have when paying down their debts. Join me as we explore these together.

Parts one and two are linked for your viewing pleasure, in case you happened to have missed them.

Leave me questions and concerns in the comments below. If there’s a topic on Gen Y finances you’d like me to cover, please let me know!

Good afternoon, Queercents readers.

Part two of my three-part series exploring student loan debt is now available. In this episode, I discuss consolidating federal and private student loans. It’s not quite time to make payments, but it is time to get your loans all in order to start paying them off. Come learn about a very common misconception that can cost you thousands! Of dollars, even!

This second installment actually contains exciting information that will guaranteed not put you to sleep. Also, you may or may not find out what color underwear I’m wearing. Only watching will uncover these secrets.

Part one can be viewed here incase you missed it the first time.

Good morning, Queercents readers.

Do you have student loans that are currently accruing interest? Maybe you’re paying them off instead. Or perhaps you’re a college student in waiting and you’d like to strategize paying off your debts now rather than later. In any case, this three-part vlog series is for you.

This first installment, Student Lending: Part 1 is solely dedicated to discussing terms and terminology so that the rest of the series makes sense. It’s the most boring, but I still make it entertaining. I may or may not have taken my shirt off somewhere in the video, so you’ll have to watch the whole thing to find out!

A week after pulling into town, I had blown through $1500 entirely on credit, trying to recreate the comforts I’d known at home. After a month, it was $2000. Now, nearly a year later, it’s $3600. I’ve tried to justify each purchase to myself: the brand new bike was an investment, the suit was for job interviews, but honestly, I don’t think I could tell you where half that money went.

Credit card debt has been the biggest wakeup call I have gotten since my Existential Crisis. Considering the economy as of late, I’m pretty sure everyone else heard it too. I believe there is a lot of entitlement in American culture and that it is reflected in our use of credit. I believed I deserved a brand new racing bike when I could have gotten a decent used bike for half as much.

I can’t speak to making great strides towards paying off debt. Like I said in my first post, you can’t cut corners in a circular room. However, I can stay afloat. I pay the minimum every month, more if I can afford it, but it doesn’t happen often. Read the rest of this entry »

Dropping out of school has proven to be simultaneously one of the best and worst decisions of my life. It has been my experience that most things have many faces. Even a piece of paper has two sides. Secrecy, too, is not a one-way street. As my private reading list and Ace bandage binding experiments were a mystery to my parents, so their credit card bills and bank statements were to me. I do not blame them for this, and at the time, I didn’t care. I figured other facets of adult life would be discovered the way sex had been, in books or by shakily typing “i like girls” into my search engine at the age of sixteen. Unlike sex, however, financial matters held little interest.

When I packed up my dorm room and headed out on my own, boarding a Greyhound with a duffel bag and too much plastic in my pocket, I was born again. Like a child, I stared out the greasy window at fourteen states and too much farmland, places I’d heard of but had never visited and would likely not see again. I was in awe of the enormity of the world and the task I had undertaken.

Over the past year, I have been incredibly stupid and incredibly lucky. I maxed out my credit card in the first three weeks on my own, increased my credit limit, applied for another card, and promptly maxed both cards out again. I had no sense of a budget or time management. Once, I had to feel up the couch for enough change to make rent. Switched digits in my phone number made over 50 job applications and resumes useless. Read the rest of this entry »

Clint Osterholz is a comedian and young gay urban nomad who has lived in a number of cities in North America. He knows a thing or two from experience about how to move on a budget. We posted Part One and Part Two of this series recently and he’s back to share a few more ideas about making money after making the move to the big city. These are his words…

So! You’ve gotten yourself out of that little one-horse town (but you still remember to call Mom, right?) and you’ve even found yourself some new digs! Now, I’m sure you want to go out and club to your little homo heart’s content, but you do have something really important to take care of–income! You aren’t going to be able to flirt yourself those drinks for too long. Besides, it’s very trendy to be your own sugar daddy/momma these days. Hadn’t you heard?

Again, this is a series for those of us who don’t always have our heads screwed on straight when we move. I’m not assuming that you were able to easily secure a position through your former company in moving, although that’s certainly an option. But you knew to do that already, didn’t you? Surely you didn’t give up a job at The Gap or Starbucks or even Olive Garden without asking for a transfer! Even if you work in retail or food service, you can (and often will get) a transfer to the major city of your choice.

Let’s pretend you hate your half-caf lattes and distressed cotton hoodies and would prefer to leave them behind, however. What are you going to do in the city? Read the rest of this entry »

Faced with drastic budget cuts with more funding cuts on the horizon, Arizona State University president Michael Crow announced Wednesday that it will prepare to close its Polytechnic campus. Entire departments have already been cut in order to save money, but now an additional 2,500 university employees are on the verge of losing their jobs.

The Arizona legislature started its 2009 session last week with a $3 billion budget shortfall. The state’s universities and public schools have already born the brunt of the fiscal crisis. During the Fall semester, public schools in Mesa, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) laid off all of their school librarians. Class sizes have ballooned to upwards of 40 students in many schools. At the university level, all three of the state’s universities are feeling the crunch. The University of Arizona library canceled many of its journal and database subscriptions and put a moratorium on the purchase of new books to deal with a $1 million budget reduction.

Last week the Arizona State legislature announced that another $314 million would be eliminated from the higher education budget. In a letter to ASU faculty and staff, Michael Crow said:

I am deeply concerned for the future of Arizona State University. ASU has taken its share of budget cuts to help the state deal with its revenue shortfall — and we are prepared to do more. But Senate Appropriations Chair Russell Pearce and House Appropriations Chair John Kavanagh, without considering the full array of options, have singled out education for the largest cuts. Their plan would reverse all of the progress ASU has made and set the institution back a decade or more. Read the rest of this entry »

Clint Osterholz is a comedian and young gay urban nomad who has lived in a number of cities in North America. He knows a thing or two from experience about how to move on a budget. We posted Part One of this series last month and he’s back to share a few more ideas. These are his words…

Well, well, well. Look at the hayseed who left behind Podunk for the shimmering lights of the big city! It looks like you followed all my directions so you’re here, you’re happy, you’re healthy, and your wallet is practically bursting at the seams. First of all, ditch the wallet because they’re no longer in vogue here. Second, prepare to part with some of those hard-earned Elks Lodge tips. Third–and this is most important–get ready to break some conventional rules.

This series has assumed that, thus far, you don’t have a career that you mind parting with or that you are much of a planner. It’s a safe assumption. Many twinks and baby dykes strike out on their own to find fortune from smaller areas that aren’t conducive to their desired career arc. It’s not to say that you can’t be an actor in Billings, but you probably have to find some other job to supplement your income. We’re continuing with that theme because, frankly, there’s too much advice out there on how to move when you’re a grown up with a big fat paycheck and a house to move into. Read the rest of this entry »