It's a bit like heroin, I met a guy once who could use it every other weekend to no ill effect, he had a great ol time. Most though find heroin degrades their quality of life, and a few are outright killed by it.
Quite a lot of these Uni grads are finding out the hard way about HECS now too. 6 year degree, times 2 semesters, times $5000 = $60,000 debt. Then add a Centrelink student allowance upgrade debt. The Niece did an IT degree at the best uni in the state and came out near the top of the class. Microsoft? Google? No, just some dead-end job in a small start up that repairs corporate gear for bread and butter. 2 years later, no new car, no nice apartment. Just the battered old holden and the debt! There was a lesson in this waste of time and money but it still isn't seen. The guts dropped out of IT over a decade ago, well before she started uni and it only got worse and worse here. The dream was it will soon get better, even against all fundamentals. So many people fall in love with a dream and never take a cold reality check to see if that dream has a possibility of turning into a nightmare. This CC debt trap is just such a dream. One day I will get a better job and pay it off in 6 months... but until then I will use it, hell I couldn't live without it!
The numbers seem a bit off, $5000 a semester? That's not possible on HECS with IT; it shouldn't be over $8000 per year (source). It used to be cheaper too, 30-40k for 6 years seem about right even with the indexed value. As for her job, you seriously cannot be blaming HECS/uni for her not finding a good job right? I know people in Google, MS and other big IT firms who weren't the top of their class (and some who were). Sorry mate, her failure to secure an awesome job is entirely her fault if her academic results were really that good. And 6 years... that's like a double degree? With a double degree and awesome marks you really have to fail hard to not secure a good job. Also HECS debt is not payable until you pass a certain threshold for salary, if she is stuck in a crap job earning 35k her HECS debt doesn't need to be repaid (yet). It is indexed to inflation (which we know is bull), it is the cheapest long term loan you will ever get in your life.
Thanks for that insightful retort fishball. Yes my numbers probably are a little off, but you can expect that in an anecdotal posting. As for whether my niece deserves a good job in IT or not I am sure she would agree with you and not with my opinion that she would have done better to pursue another career, perhaps in the mining sector. It was all just waffle really, the opening to express my thoughts on how people get locked into a dream and refuse to budge. It is one of the greatest human failings I see in the people around me, they just refuse to let go and change course to a better life. Far better to question your fundamental decisions on a regular basis and see if the facts or assumptions you based them on are still accurate. I see many old people in my daily work, living alone in houses they cannot afford to maintain on their old age pensions but unwilling to sell and give up the pittance the government gives them in exchange for over half a million dollars they would have upon sale. Those in their 80's and 90's have only a decade or less left to live, and wisely invested the money from sale would give them a carefree life beyond their dreams. Are they stupid? I think so. Stupidly locked into a way of life they entered decades ago when the old age pension was actually something you could live on. So they live in poverty in houses with peeling paint so they can leave the bounty for relatives that never even call or visit. Or they leave it to the RSPCA, so the profits can be spent on lavish lunches and the new vehicles that the directors to drive around in. I know one RSPCA division where the manager has employed his wife and his daughter. Obviously the family is very talented.
