OUt of work School Teacher
Jan.27, 2012
Hi,
My name is Ryan. I have been working here and there doing security work, part time teaching, pulling weeds for people off craigslist, moving yards of gravel for old people. Waiting for some miracle job to pop up on my online job boards. I have 42,000 in student loans. Gonna take another 15,000. Why? Why should I? What a waste of my life. I have friends that never went to college and secured themselves in their jobs while I was studying away. Thinking \"one day I will have a bread winning position.\" Thinking one day \"all this school is going to pay off.\" Eight years later (and a masters degree) the economic recession hit me. Like a ton of bricks. I have been tossed to this part of California that part etc. Driving three hours from my brothers house to drop off applications. Making sure I only put in 20 dollars worth of gas afraid to spend more because edd is so unreliable with their deposits! I am fed up!
January 27th, 2012 at 11:13 am
Have you considered enrolling in a vocational training program at a community college? The fee at community college is only $36 per unit and can be waived entirely so that you can have $0 student loans. I have two master degrees so I am in your same boat. But I refuse to take out student loans for living expenses unless they are low interest and at a fixed rate.
I understand where you are coming from, but this economy is completely beyond our control and there are many, many people in our similar situation.
If I were you, I would get government loans to pay for my day-to-day living expenses by returning to school in a different field, and wait this out. I could be wrong, but in my opinion, applying for jobs and doing one-time gigs is not worth your time, dignity, or sanity.
January 27th, 2012 at 11:24 am
Sir,
Thank you very much! I appreciate your input and find it helpful.
Ryan
January 27th, 2012 at 11:36 am
I totally understand where you are coming from, I have worked hard all my life in everything from a waitress to a telephone operator, all the time taking classes to acheive my career goals. I finally was able to land a secure and well paying job only to become laid off in 2009. Since then I have done everything I can to scrape by, took jobs that were low paying and small which ended up lowering my unemployment when I had to reapply when the jobs ended. I am taking babysitting and other cash jobs due to the fact that EDD has not paid me in over a month, and when that runs out (if they ever pay me) I don’t know what I will do. There are no jobs. I feel like a loser every day. I guess we have to realize it’s not us, it is the economy, but some days it is harder to deal with. I hope it all works out for you!:)
January 27th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
i am frustrated on many different levels. the way in which the EDD operates and the unavailability of jobs are only symptoms of a much larger problem in our country.
don’t get me wrong. i would much rather be in america than in many other places in the world. however, i question policies that have harmed ordinary, working americans.
if people are stressed now, but is going to happen when the UI money is gone? i have a feeling that congress will extend UI for the remainder of this year because, and ONLY because, they cannot think of a better alternative.
my worry isn’t that people will get mad and do something; my worry is that the long term unemployed will be marginalized the way many groups have been in this country.
to be honest, i don’t really expect the EDD to change because the EDD does not care about anything but itself. i don’t expect government to do anything except use us as political pawns (democrats) or denounce us (republicans). i especially do not expect corporations sitting on cash to hire and invest in america for americans.
what makes this particularly difficult is that it doesn’t seem as if the cost of living, health care, or food is going down. because the stock market is doing fairly well, there’s an appearance of a recovery and upswing … for the wealthy.
it’s really too bad that people in our situation cannot get together and form co-ops or collectives. i am not talking about cults, but about places where people can feel that they will get enough to eat and have someplace safe to sleep and do something with their lives instead of chasing mythical, non-existent jobs.