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I live in Boston, in a student neighborhood. It's my distinct impression that the education bubble is - finally - beginning to burst.

When I first moved to the student neighborhood in which I now reside, a few years ago, this place sounded like a farm. Lately, though, it's been almost eerily quiet. The management recently sent around emails:



In non-doublespeak, that means they can't move the apartments, so they are desperate to push them to residents' FnF. There are also indicators in the local markets; a local hardware store is buying less stock, and local used furniture stores are cutting prices and still not seeing used furniture move. Meanwhile, I have received a deluge of emails from institutions I expressed interest in (or not) years ago. And I've read articles in the local papers to that effect as well - Boston is starting to see the bubble burst.

UCinn is $13k/semester for tuition only. A MSA, for a non-accounting major, would take about 2-3 years to finish, so the total bill would be about $85k. From what I read, it's extremely hard to get a job as an accountant - so going the MSA route would basically require military service to pay it off. Not that I'm opposed; I like a sure thing. I'm just not sure how sure that is or whether it would be worth the time.

The problem is, I don't really have any other ideas. I would like to begin making payments on a short-sold house - at $1100/mo, I could out-and-out own the house for the cost of about 3-4 years' rent, then hostel and sublet, but my parents prefer to not invest and instead string me along day-to-day. After all, their goal is mainly to keep me out of the way and make sure I fail at life.

Another option I am considering is bullying and extorting UCinn into forgiving the debt after the MSA is done, by making baseless accusations and threatening the personal reputation of one of the administrators, so much so her peers turn on her and they forgive me the debt to avoid a more costly scandal. In my mind, these people are scum, they've never respected me or anyone else, they make their living knowingly lying and taking advantage, and so I don't see running over them as unethical. The question is to what extent doing so would be practical. As I see it, doing so would be at best an incidental strategy, not to be counted on, but nice if it works.

With no other options, it appears I will wander along the UCinn route...but I'm feeling increasingly apprehensive.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Minor quibble.....people refer to it as "UC" or "Cincinnati" - never heard it called UCinn (a la UConn). If you're going to be a Bearcat you should know that!

Anyway, do what you want -- I think if you get decent grades and apply yourself, you should be able to get an Accounting job upon graduation, or sometime shortly after.

Personally, though, I think you're going about it all wrong. You should get into freelance writing or editing, and you can do it without a degree. Your strength is very clearly English. You could set up your own web site and do writing for people...some of it might suck and be technical writing, but some might be genuinely interesting.




Really man?

1) I don't think this would work
2) I took loans out to pay for school, and knew that I had to do everything in my power to get a job and pay them back (which I'm doing now). We just have such a different mentality when it comes to these things...it's alarming.

I just don't see you being successful with that kind of attitude. Yes, your parents are trying to cock block you...but having this attitude of "I'll take on all this debt, then try to weasel my way out of it" is not the rhetoric of success. If you commit to something, commit to it. Go all out. Tell yourself "okay, I'm going to kick ass in the classroom, and then I'm not stopping until someone hires me"

Pride in alma mater has no place in my value system. I call it UCinn because that is shorter than Cincinnati (and I can't spell the word without spellcheck anyway) and to differentiate it from the better-known (and more prestigious) University of California. Besides, I am a CA native...



I saw some stuff on CL. There's enough suckers in the sellers' row that subcontractors can demand endless "free samples" and never have to pay anyone. Honestly the writing market is so glutted I don't believe there's much hope. How would I make connections?



Most legitimately successful people in America are ruthless douchebags, e.g., Steve Jobs.

I understand that the approach is unlikely to succeed; as I said, my intent is to take an incidental approach. If it works, great, if not, oh well, have to pony up. As I see it, they are the weasels for making me take on so much debt to get an education, so they can build their own little private empires out of what is supposed to be a public education system. They have burned many people, and if they get burned in turn, that's the breaks.



I have little interest in getting hired. I want to be self-employed. I should have rephrased my OP better; I am worried there isn't enough freelance CPA work to go around.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

People don't ever just call it UC...they identify the campus, right? IE: UC-Davis, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Irvine, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, etc.

In any case, fair enough, call it what you will.



As someone who owns a business that utilizes contracted writers from time to time, asking for endless samples and not paying anyone would never work. If they are a proper business, not some scam, they will ask for 1. a resume and 2. a random writing sample of anything (just so they can see your abilities). As soon as they actually give you a real project, they'll pay you for it. Anyone who would work on a project as a "sample" and not expect payment is an idiot.

How do you make connections?

Step 1. Register "ethanfarber.com" and set it up
Step 2. Put your resume on it.
Step 3. Use it to post some creative writing as well
Step 4. Search for freelance writer databases you can join: https://www.elance.com/ , http://www.freelancewriting.com/ , etc. etc.
Step 5: Also look on Craigslist for freelance writing gigs, direct people to your web site when you sign up
Step 6: Gather loads of emails from blogs on topics you're interested in (video games, greek literature, etc.) and write them a generic email introducing yourself and saying that you're willing to write guest posts for them (set your price as something like...hmm 50 bucks maybe for 1000-2000 words)

The connections will come rolling in if you keep at it. The first thing you have to do is try.




Define legitimately successful. I don't even think I'd call Steve Jobs "legitimate" -- he never built anything, he just had the uncanny ability to order people around and get what he wanted. He was able to bully and take advantage of Steve Wozniak's genius. Not that legitimate.

Anyway, I'm successful, and I'm not a ruthless douchebag. I think many "successful" people aren't douchebags...but again I guess it depends on how you define success.



Cincinnati is a public university, subsidized by the tax dollars of Ohio taxpayers. The reason you'll have to pay more is because you'd be out of state...meaning as a non-Ohio resident you don't get the discount tuition because neither you (nor your parents) ever paid Ohio taxes for it.

But if you're rallying against the institution of higher education as a whole...I do agree with you. All colleges are too expensive (if you look at tuition increases versus inflation it's hilarious). Still, depending on the loans you get (federal / private) you'll probably be fucking over taxpayers if you don't pay them and default. So....yeah.



If you want to freelance as a CPA you'll need connections anyway...so you might as well set up your personal web site now.

I don't know much of anything about the freelance CPA market...I know you won't be able to compete with large firms in terms of volume or reputation. You'll have to build it the old fashioned way. Where you'll have to compete is in your quality service and low prices. You'll have to pound the pavement and find small businesses, mom & pop stores etc., and offer your services. You'll have to tell them why you'll give them better treatment. You'll have to find successful business owners and get to know them...and convince them that you're trustworthy and will do them right, save them money, and keep them away from any kind of trouble.

You'll need to form your own LLC.



No matter what you do, you're going to have to give it your all, be trustworthy and likeable. You can't be ruthless and douchebag your way into it. Not if you want to be your own boss.

The way you describe the professional sycophant blogging thing is very interesting; I am aware of that trade (which I think qualifies as "weasel work") but not in such great detail. Shilling is inherently dishonest and I don't see the difference between that and being more straightforward about being a ruthless douchebag.

I think this is a dialogue between Rosencrantz and Claudius.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Hmm, I don't see how offering to write "guest posts" is a sycophantic activity. Web sites / bloggers / etc. need content...it's what makes the web world go round. You'd be offering your services to create this content for them on topics of their choosing (or your choosing if they don't care). It's an easy way to make some $$.

And my comments about being a freelance CPA or writer don't mean you need to go around and suck everyone's dick...I simply mean that sincerity can go a long way in a people business. If you want to be a freelance CPA, it's a people business. How do you get wealthy business owners and businesses wanting you to look at their books? You don't douchebag your way to it that's for sure.

I say this knowing how I selected my CPA both personally and for the business. You'll have to convince people why they should choose you. And unfortunately, they'll have all the leverage since you're going to be in a service industry. You'll be able to push back eventually, but to get their accounts, you'll have to be a salesman. I'm not convinced you can do that.



Since you express yourself well through written word though, and have shown you can negotiate fairly and keep your word (and you have talents as a writer)...I think online freelance writing is the perfect solution to your dilemma. I also think you could save yourself 80K, or at least the time and energy it would take to weasel your way out of paying the loans back.


Anyway, that's my recommendation. Take it or leave it - and good luck whatever you decide to do.

I endorse the suggestion of freelance blog writing for $. You write well enough to merit being paid imo.

How great would it be if you got set up with writing for a blog or site that harbors similar views on the issues you do? I don't think you'd have it any other way, to be honest.

Brawlsack

Taking an extended hiatus from gaming

Azelma, thanks for taking my questions seriously and volunteering a lot to think about. I will have to think about what you said. Really, thanks.



I don't think those like me have any money or organization, a problem I would like to solve but have no idea how to do so.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.