Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Another Law Graduate Shares Her Woes of Unemployment and Poverty

{ July 17, 2013 @ 10:18 am } · { Uncategorized }
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(Over)Educated, Black, Broke, and Jobless in NYC

“Share my day to day struggle of trying to find gainful employment in New York City after earning three degrees. Will I make it or will I end up homeless? Only time will tell, and there is not much left. . .”

http://diariesofanunemployed.tumblr.com/

You cannot make this stuff up! I don’t recall how I stumbled across this page. It appears to be similar to a blog but the posts are shorter.

From the title and caption summary it appears this person has a PhD–wrong a law school graduate.

If you scroll down to the post entitled “Bitter” you will realize it is yet another unemployed law graduate struggling to provide for her basic needs. Another one bites the dust. You who still want to attend law school, should perish the thought. Or let homelessness, malnutrition and depression and unemployment be your demise. Your choice.

Georgetown Law Graduate Discusses Law School: Is it Worth It?

{ July 16, 2013 @ 7:41 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Freedom from the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Say No to Law School

Freedom from the Sunk Cost Fallacy: Say No to Law School


July 2013

During my fourth semester of law school, having already put in two years’ patent law work at a prestigious law firm, I realized that I didn’t want to be a lawyer.  All my friends told me to stick it out and finish the final year since I’d already invested two years of my life, and a lot of money, into law school.

Then I discovered the sunk cost fallacy: the mistake of incorporating past losses into current decisions.  For example, consider two men who have concert tickets to a favorite band playing at an outdoor venue; the first man received his free as a promotion while the second man paid $50.  On the evening of the concert, the weather is terrible and neither man wants to go.  The first man rationalizes that his ticket was free anyway, so doesn’t go, while the second forces himself to go, lest he lose $50.

But, of course, the ideal rational decision should be the same.  In both cases, at the time of decision, the men simply possess tickets to a show.  Assuming their preferences are the same, it is irrelevant how they came by those tickets – therefore, neither should go.  The second man has been duped by the sunk cost fallacy, believing that the cost already sunk in his ticket is relevant to a later decision.  It isn’t.

In deciding whether to finish my final year of law school, the only relevant question was whether it was worth the additional year and expense to receive my law degree; it was irrelevant whether I’d already spent two days, two years, or two decades pursuing the degree.  I finally decided that it was, considering that a law degree can be used to open a wide variety of doors (not just doors to law firms), but if I’d been in the same position after only my first year, with another two more years to go, my decision would have been to walk – nay, run.

Now that graduate degrees are what undergraduate degrees were twenty years ago, Generation Y seems to feel professionally incomplete without a master’s degree, law degree, or MBA.  U.S. law schools are graduating more future lawyers than ever before, and it’s a booming business for University, Inc.  Unfortunately, job opportunities and income are simply not keeping pace with the supply of graduate degrees, and Millennials now complain of debt, particularly student debt, as their “biggest financial concern.”  So it’s worth asking the question: Is law school worth it?  Let’s look.

Tuition.  At Georgetown University Law Center, my alma mater, annual tuition for 2012-13 was $48,835.00.  Just tuition.  To give you an idea of how much that is, here is a picture of several stacks of $100 bills, totaling $40,000.  Stare at this picture for a moment.  Then repeat to yourself: All this money is NOT ENOUGH for a SINGLE SEMESTER of law school tuition.
Living expenses.  Depends on where you go to law school, of course, but D.C. is not a cheap place to live.  My poorest law school friends squeaked by on another $20,000 a year, but most people racked up $30,000+ a year in rent, utilities, insurance, transportation, books, fees, and entertainment.
Opportunity cost.  Few Americans have enough savings for six months’ worth of unemployment; can you imagine three years of unemployment?  Some students were lucky enough to get summer associate positions at law firms but they were few and far between.  Most students settled for a modestly paid or even unpaid summer internship.  To calculate opportunity cost, figure out how much you could have made in the same period and subtract what you actually did make.  For most law students, the opportunity cost is well over $30,000 a year.
Interest.  Money ain’t cheap.  Most students will pay interest on their entire law school debts for many years after graduation.
Let’s assume a net expense of $70,000 per year for three years, plus an annual opportunity cost of $30,000, and amortize that over ten years at 6% per year.  That comes to a monthly cost of $3,330, or about $40,000 per year – for the next ten years.  But remember: that $40K premium is paid with after-tax dollars.  (Yes, there is a student loan interest deduction, but it’s limited to $2500, a tiny fraction of the interest paid, and it doesn’t apply to single people whose adjusted gross income is over $75,000.)  At a 30% marginal tax rate, representing federal and state income taxes, this $40K premium actually represents $57,000 of one’s nominal income.

In other words, if you go to law school under the above assumptions, then you’ll be paying $57,000 a year for the next decade just to break even, so your new job as a lawyer better account for that.  But what happens if you discover you don’t like practicing law?  Or what if your law degree doesn’t add $57K to your salary?  The major D.C. law firms, for example, are starting new lawyers at between $100K and $140K, but these positions are highly competitive and a relatively small proportion of law school graduates, even from the highest ranked schools, can get these coveted positions.

According to Above the Law, the median starting salary for law firms in 2012 was just $85K, and for those not lucky enough to land a law firm job, the median starting salary was only $60K.  Then again, over 15% of 2011 graduates had a median starting salary of $0, since they couldn’t find a job at all.

So let’s say you give up your $50K/year job to go to law school and get an $85K/year law firm job.  Not only will your real income shrink by $22,000 a year ($57,000 in annual debt payments makes a big dent in your increased salary) but you’ll actually be working significantly longer hours just to make that higher salary.  That’s right.  To succeed in one of those high-paying law firms, expect to bill 45+ hours a week, which means actually being present for 60-70 hours a week to deal with meetings, non-billables, and other administrative and corporate bullshit.  Believe me, I’ve been there.  And, of course, you can’t leave – you’ve already incurred the law school debt and need the job to pay it off.

Conclusion?

Option A: Quit your job, go to law school, incur enormous amounts of debt, compete for the coveted law firm position that will pay you, after your student loan payments, less than you made before, where you will work 50% to 75% more hours, and that you cannot leave for ten or more years because of your law school debt.
Option B: Be happy with your current job and avoid law school like the plague.

2013: More Rejection Letters

{ July 8, 2013 @ 3:50 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Select Rejection Letters 2013–Need I say more?
06/03/2013: Dear [     ]
We would like to thank you for applying to the above vacancy.

After a careful review of the background and qualifications of all candidates, we regret to inform you that you have not been selected for the shortlist.  Although you were not short-listed for this position, you may want to continue to review the opportunities in myJobWorld (http://myjobworld).  

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you continued success in the future and to thank you for your interest in this position.  
Kind regards,
Human Resources Services
The World Bank Group

NOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS SYSTEM GENERATED – YOU CANNOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE.

05/14/2013: Thank you for your interest in the International Relations faculty position
at UC Berkeley. This search was highly competitive, and unfortunately your application is no longer under consideration. We appreciate the time and energy invested in your application, and encourage you to apply for positions listed in the future. 

We wish you every personal and professional success with your job search.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Spaw
Academic Personnel Analyst

Re: Position 1758 – UC Berkeley International Relations Faculty Position

05/14/2013:

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY    
USCIS HR OPERATIONS CENTER    
70 KIMBALL AVENUE
SOUTH BURLINGTON VT  05403    

 Dear [           ]    

   This refers to the application you recently submitted to this office for the position below:    

Position Title: Entry Level Attorney    
Pay Plan:       GS   
Series/Grade: 0905-12    
Vacancy ID:      826700    
Announcement Number:      CIS-826700-COU    

Hiring Office: US Citizenship and Immigration Services    

Results regarding your recent referral to the Hiring Official are as follows:    

Referral Type:      Non-Traditional  
Appointment Type: Excepted Service Permanent    
Specialty / Grade:      0905 – 12    
Promotion Potential:      15    
Locations: Location Negotiable After Selection    

Thank you for applying for this position.  Your application has been considered.  However, another applicant was selected.  We appreciate your interest in employment with our agency.    
Audit Code:    NS    
Code Definition:    Not Selected    
Code Explanation:    

The selecting office has indicated that you were not selected for the position.    

Thank you for your interest in Federal employment.  You are encouraged to visit http://www.usajobs.gov to view additional Federal employment opportunities and information.    

PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL MESSAGE.  IT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED.    

For additional information, please refer to the vacancy announcement for this position.    

05/03/2013
Recently we received your resume/application for the Humanities/Philosophy, Undergraduate School – Adjunct Faculty (Req# 8644) position at UMUC. Unfortunately, the University has decided that the position will not be recruited at this time. Please visit our career page where you can explore other opportunities that may be of interest http://www.umuc.edu/employment .

Thank you for your time and interest in UMUC. 
Sincerely, 
Talent Acquisition
Office of Human Resources

04/29/2013:
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY    
USCIS HR OPERATIONS CENTER    
70 KIMBALL AVENUE
SOUTH BURLINGTON VT  05403    

Dear [         ]
This refers to the application you recently submitted to this office for the position below:    

   Position Title: Entry Level Attorney    
   Pay Plan:  GS    
   Series/Grade: 0905-11    
   Vacancy ID:      826700    
   Announcement Number: CIS-826700-COU    

   Hiring Office: US Citizenship and Immigration Services    

Results regarding your recent referral to the Hiring Official are as follows:    

   Referral Type: Non-Traditional  
   Appointment Type: Excepted 
     Service Permanent    
   Specialty / Grade:      0905 – 11    
   Promotion Potential:      15    
   Locations: Location Negotiable After Selection    

Thank you for applying for this position.  Your application has been considered.  However, another applicant was selected.  We appreciate your interest in employment with our agency.    

   Audit Code:   NS    
   Code Definition:   Not Selected  
   Code Explanation:    

The selecting office has indicated that you were not selected for the position.    

Thank you for your interest in Federal employment.  You are encouraged to visit http://www.usajobs.gov to view additional Federal employment opportunities and information.    

PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL MESSAGE.  IT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED.    

For additional information, please refer to the vacancy announcement for this position.

04/26/2013:    
EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR US ATTYS    
DO NOT MAIL APPLICATIONS    
YOU MUST APPLY ONLINE
WASHINGTON DC  20530    

Dear [          ]

This refers to the application you recently submitted to this office for the position below:    

   Position Title: Assistant United 
    States Attorney    
   Vacancy ID:      844037    
   Series/Grade:    N/A    

The agency has cancelled  or postponed filling this vacancy.    

Thank you for your interest in Federal employment.  You are encouraged to visit http://www.usajobs.gov to view additional Federal employment opportunities and information.    

 PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL MESSAGE.  IT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED.    

For additional information, please refer to the vacancy announcement for this position.

04/15/2013:
[AP Search] JPF00011 J.D./LL.M./J.S.D. Program Tenured Faculty Search

Dear Applicant,
The Search Committee has concluded their review of applicants for the J.D./L.L.M/J.S.D. Program faculty position at Berkeley Law. There were a number of candidates applying for the position, and after much consideration, we regret to inform you that your application is no longer under consideration. 

We appreciate your patience during this long review process and thank you for your interest.

– Berkeley Law, Academic Positions    

04/06/2013: 
Hello [            ]
Thank you for taking the time to apply with us. We are unable to offer you a position at this time, but we do appreciate your interest in Target.

Target (YOU READ CORRECTLY-T-A-R-G-E-T)

For years trying these tactics have not and still do not work:  Informational interviewing with former professors, colleagues, referrals and attorneys I met at conferences didn’t help, going to different cities and knocking door to door to speak with legal secretaries and receptionists, parking lots of different businesses, and handing out one’s resume provided no leads though I get “You have all this” and “you seem great”, discussing the issue with volunteers at non-profits only to be provided the “you are doing everything right” or “that’s a shame,” registering at different state employment agencies though providing free services and undergoing verbal abuse and contempt on a daily basis by civil (oxymoron) workers who find out how educated you are leads to them not wanting them to help you or to see you succeed as they complain about how they did not “get” a chance to go to university and it doesn’t matter because these places focus on retail, IT or blue collar jobs that have no intetest in you; professional outreach workshops and networking provided few leads all the while continuously applying to jobs blind via online and postal mail; including those advertised at federal agencies, which provided no compensation at the federal Assistant Attorneys Office to only be told you are eligible; qualified; ranked among the best qualified and have the credentials and more but [herein lies the secret-you’re not white; you’re not male; you’re not IVY League; you don’t have connections; how would it look for us politically–in other words, for whichever reasons, we do not want YOUR kind here]

Don’t take a gamble with your future, especially if you’re a minority. Sallie Mae doesn’t care how hard you try, they will devour you.

TIME Magazine Article: Just How Bad Off Are Law School Graduates?

{ April 6, 2013 @ 10:57 am } · { Debt, Economy, Imagery vs. Reality, Lack of Money, law graduate, Law School, Unemployment }
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I don’t think it is just the scam blogging I think the problem is so obvious that mainstream media has to address it:

TIME Magazine Article (03/11/2013): Just How Bad Off Are Law School Graduates?

The first thing I’ll note is that this piece focuses on recent graduates, when I say recent I refer to those who graduated in the past four years, primarily when the economic collapse occurred until now. This problem has been pervasive for decades and band-aiding it with non-profit centers while students have nearly mortgage-sized debt and no ability to pay or discharge the debt will not cure the law school malady. Here’s an excerpt:

And it gtimeets worse still. There are a surprising number of job postings for lawyers that offer no salary at all, including government law jobs. That raises the question — as one headline put it — “Would You Work as a Federal Prosecutor — For Free?

Being unemployed — or working at minimum wage — is rough in the best of circumstances. But it is especially crippling for students who get out of school with six-figure debts that are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The average debt load for law school graduates is now over $100,000 — and at some schools, it tops $150,000.

My favorite part is: Prospective law students are already responding to the dismal job market. Applications to law school are expected to hit a 30-year low this year — down as much as 38% from 2010. Some law schools have responded by shrinking their class sizes, and there have been predictions that in the not-too-distant future some lower-ranked law schools might have to close entirely. (emphasis mine)

Keep it up!, with more  schools closings, more professors will lose their jobs or not make tenure and then the law school administrators and those who tortured us a purveyors of the industry in the name of intellectual pursuit will know how it feels on the other side. The message is beyond clear, it is translucent: Do not go to law school, it simply is not worth it (and stop being rude to those who did years ago, we were trying to make better lives for ourselves but apparently it was based on a lie).

Get the word out, don’t let your son, daughter, sister, brother become a victim of joblessness, insurmountable debt. Just tell them “say no” to law school–they’ll thank you in the long run.

College: Is is Worth It? A Recap of Katie Couric Show

{ April 2, 2013 @ 11:55 am } · { Uncategorized }
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A week or so ago, Katie Couric had a show entitled: “College Is it Worth It.” She had a panel discussion with 3 people: The young actress from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, a Columbia professor (black) and one white guy who said college wasn’t worth it.katie

I found this episode interesting on many fronts because–I usually do not watch her show and the people likely to promote education were Black. I find it sad that Blacks remain deluded into thinking that college provides upward mobility in this post 9/11, current global, automated grind we call a world economy. I sympathized with Tatyana? Ali’s view as she graduate from Harvard and people would take her seriously. Worthy that her’s was an exception after having relative success at a young age in the theatrical arts she could actually afford and would know about an IVY league school.

It has always been the history of corporate America that a white male can work his way up the corporate ladder by starting in the mailroom and making connections. If you are a person of color, you are expected to not only be in the mailroom but to stay there. So I was not surprised to hear his viewpoint. The guy actually was a recipient of some fellowship that will pay high school graduates $100,000 to NOT GO to college/university in order to promote innovation. Now that’s an opportunity most of us wish existed when we were making our decisions whether to attend university.

Later, she had Tina Fey and Paul Rudd promoting their movie in which the former plays an admissions counselor in college. Katie Couric asked Tina Fey what advice she would give those considering college. Her response, geez I don’t know, I graduated from UVA, where the price was more reasonable. I was able to live off of $600 a month and take improv class. She said the college experience helps develop you as a young person. Then she looked so befuddled at the current state of affairs and just said I don’t know I guess you guys have to pay back the student loans.

Lastly, the show asked recent undergraduate students to tweet their college debts. Mind you these people haven’t even began to matriculate in graduate or professional level university. I saw three tweets at a glance–they were all female and each one had over $100,000 in student loan debt. Mind you women in America still make only 70% of what their equally qualified and/or educated counterpart makes. This also does not include women of color who, I read months ago in Trans-global report about economic and job progress stated that Black women who earn higher education degrees (university and/or graduate level) still have a harder time gaining employment than black male counterparts. Presumably the latter can find work in construction or labor jobs which do not require college degrees.

College, is it worth it? With all of this information regarding worthless degrees, shrinking economy, interdependent global economy forcing nations to bail out other nations because of a pact while ignoring the tens of thousands of unemployed and underemployed people in their own borders, I think the answer is quite obvious.

Behind the curtain of student loans (Law graduate gets a student loan discharge but…)

{ June 18, 2012 @ 9:08 am } · { Economy, Unemployment }
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Behind the curtain of student loans – Generation J.D. (06/14/2012, Maryland Daily Record)

I will sum up this article. You either have to be a parapalegic, suffer under a severely disabling disease or die for a bank/Sallie Mae to CONSIDER fully discharging your student loans.  I’m not sure why the U.S. Department of Education, the Federal Trade Commission (Truth in Lending Act) and other federal departments/agencies take a stand. Oh…Sallie Mae has the money for the lobbyists. That’s how they were able to get Congress to change the bankruptcy laws so discharging student loans is nearly impossible. Welcome to financial indentured servitude. The text of the article is below:

Behind the curtain of student loans By: Dorothy Hae Eun Min Last month, a former law student won a bid in bankruptcy court to discharge nearly $340,000 in education debt because her diagnosis of Asperger syndrome rendered her unable to repay the loans. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland found that Carol Todd, who attended (the University of Baltimore School of Law, met the difficult burden of showing that she would suffer undue hardship if forced to repay her debt. (emphasis mine) Todd received her high school GED during the late ’80s, at age 39. She received an associate degree at Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University) and a bachelor’s degree at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (now Notre Dame of Maryland University). She began attending law school in 1992 but did not complete the program. She went on to obtain a master’s degree from Towson University and a Ph.D. from an unaccredited online school in 2007. She filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2009. Todd pursued success in education “as a stepping stone toward a measure of liberation…to help her achieve something closer to a normal life.” Carol’s case is a rarity. The difficulty of proving undue hardship —the majority of claims are unsuccessful — and of discharging student loans has prompted the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys to call on Congress earlier this year to pass legislation that would allow graduates to discharge loans taken out from private lenders, including for-profit companies such as banks and student loan behemoth Sallie Mae. Similar legislation has been submitted over the past two years by Congressional Democrats without making much progress, but NACBA holds hope that this will change soon. While Todd’s story raises questions about undue hardships to borrowers due to a permanent mental disability, what does this mean for any changes to legislation when it comes to a borrower who suffers a permanent physical disability that ultimately prevents him or her from holding down a stable job to pay off student loans? Will Carol’s court decision cause lenders to increase scrutiny on prospective students with disabilities? What if the borrower is the victim of a tragic accident that leaves him in a coma? What happens when the borrower dies, but has a parent co-sign the loan? That’s Christopher Bryski’s story. Bryski was a college student at Rutgers University when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2004 in a fluke accident. He was in a coma for two years before passing away in 2006. To facilitate taking out private student loans for college, his father co-signed on the loans for him. Because his father co-signed on Christopher’s student loan from Key Bank, he was obligated to continue to make payments under the terms of the private loan agreement. He paid more than $20,000 of the $50,000 debt, which forced him to come out of retirement to make the monthly payments. Key Bank finally forgave the loan this past April, but not before the Bryski family struggled for six years after Christopher’s death to make payments and started a Change.org petition to seek help from the public to fight against the bank. What are your thoughts on these issues? In a volatile economy, many individuals seek further education to improve their prospective job opportunities. Should student loan companies provide more transparency to borrowers with regard to accidents and disabilities that could cause them to have trouble making payments?

The court in the first story may have granted the discharge with additional consideration that with all these degrees, one unaccredited and another (law degree) from a TTTT law school, there was no way she would be hired to pay off the debt. Interesting.

“American law schools in crisis” Title of a Recent News Article

{ June 4, 2012 @ 2:58 pm } · { Debt, Economy, Esquire, Imagery vs. Reality, Investment, Lack of Money, law graduate, Law School, Make Us Proud, Unemployment }
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Yes, the mainstream media continues to take the baton in this law school-scam-busting relay. Likely the primary reason for these news outlets to focus on law schools because graduate level students take more debt than undergraduates (usually) and the student loan bubble has been stewing in a pot of Congress’ let’s turn away and not deal with it kitchen until it’s too late.  I laughed when I saw the first paragraph thinking “we told you so.” It’s like applying pharmacy ointment on a 4th degree burn. The article was written by a former dean at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Interesting, maybe he’s trying to mitigate potential lawsuits against him, other deans and law schools, though I found another article about this guy planning to resign months ago because he disagreed with how the LAW SCHOOL WAS SPENDING MONEY (Closius resigns as UB Law dean, Maryland Daily Record, 07/2011).

Anyway, here’s an excerpt of “American Law Schools in Crisis”:

The Golden Age of American legal education is dead.

Every law dean knows it, but only some of them will feel it. Elite schools (the top 25 in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings) and the 43 non-elite state “flagship” law schools are almost immune to market pressures. Those at risk will come from the other 132 law schools — the ones that produce the majority of law graduates…

Jobs and tuition, then, become an issue of quality admits. The fall 2010 entering class actually increased to a new high of 49,700, even as the job market was falling. Schools must now choose between admitting smaller entering classes (and sacrificing revenue) or dealing with a decline in the quality of their students — or both.

You hear that 0L? Stop the delusion, the madness, and unfortunately for people of color who thought going to law school was the one lift they needed for upward mobility it has not been this way for 20 years. I suggest engineering, chemistry/scientist. I would say medical doctor but that industry is corrupt in and of itself. For those of you who attended law school and continued to do so after seeing these blogs, the only thing I can suggest is despite the “competition” naturally inherit in American adulthood, do something for your fellow man/woman. Warn them about the perils of attending law school. The full article can be found at the Baltimore Sun website here: American law schools in crisis 06/04/2012

$10,000 First Year Associate Salary-Boston

{ June 2, 2012 @ 2:59 pm } · { Debt, Economy, Esquire, Imagery vs. Reality, Investment, Lack of Money, law graduate, Law School, Unemployment }
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No,this is not a joke. The article begins with:

Say No to Law School
Protect Your Sanity and Your
Financial Future

By now, most people know a law degree hardly guarantees law school graduates will snag a good job, let alone a high-paying BigLaw position.

But it may be even tougher than you think to get a high-paying legal job just out of law school. Hiring law firms, if you thought you were low-balling new grads, think again. (Boston Business Journal 06/01/2012): Legal job market hits new low: BC Law lists job below minimum wage 

Yahoo’s version: (06/01/2012)  Attention Lawyers: Get Your … $10,000 a Year Salary: 

The beginning of the article states: Attention college students applying to law school: put down the LSAT prep book. You might want to consider another line of work.

How can this be legal, it reminds me of how waitresses are paid poorly on an hourly basis then make most of their money on commission, maybe this is the same scheme. For shame, BELOW MINIMUM WAGE. Sallie Mae, SLM, Access, Nelnet does not care: All they say is _________ , you better have my money with a financial, back-handed slap known as late charges, additional finance charges, interests and other ‘costs.’

This has been going on for decades. Mainstream media is just late to the party; I would dare say ‘fashionably late.’ The kind of oh I was going to get there, so when I (mainstream media) arrive I appear to expose this dying legal market.

The Mainstream Media Harks the Trumpet: Overburden Law Graduates with Usurious Student Loans (NYT)

{ June 1, 2012 @ 10:02 am } · { Debt, Economy, Investment, Lack of Money, law graduate, Law School, Unemployment }
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The New York Times

So, at this point the mainstream media gets it? Why you may ask. Because the Housing bubble put the nation and the world economy on notice that the old way of financially devastating working/middle class persons who took a chance on higher education will not only destroy their way of living but burden the world economies. Interestingly, the author suggest more accountability in accredidation (not likely to happen, if Sallie Mae lobbied Congress to privatized and obliterate “fresh start” by discharging student loans through bankruptcy; I’m sure these for profit institutions will lobby (pay) Congress to keep out of ABA’s ‘free market enterprise’ of exploitation–ironically in the legal field.

He also suggests stripping away tenure track positions. Hmmm maybe professors will be forced to teach with integrity and on merit not based on race, personality conflict or whether the student is the child of a local judge. Doubt the latter, but support the author’s recommendation. Here’s an excerpt:

Two factors have combined to produce this situation: the federal loan system and the American Bar Association-imposed accreditation standards for law schools. Both need to be reformed.

First, consider the loan system. For more than three decades, law schools have steadily increased tuition because large numbers of students have been willing and able to pay whatever price the schools demanded. Annual tuition at many law schools in just over a decade surpassed $30,000, then $40,000 and is now more than $50,000 at a few. The reason that students have been able to pay such astronomical sums is that the federal government guaranteed student loans from private lenders, and now it supplies the loans itself with virtually no limits.

To restore some economic rationality, the federal loan system needs to demand greater accountability from law schools: those with a high proportion of recent graduates in financial trouble should lose their eligibility to receive money from federal loans. (A similar requirement is currently applied to for-profit colleges.)

The full article can be found at:

How to Make Law School Affordable – NYTimes.com (05/31/2012)

Summer is in the air, so is the stinch of unemployment: More Rejection Letters

{ May 29, 2012 @ 11:15 am } · { Debt, Economy, Imagery vs. Reality, Lack of Money, Law School, Unemployment }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , } · { Comments (4) }

What would be a start to a new season without sharing some additional rejection letters for employment the past few months. Ready, let’s dig in! :

05/25/2012:
This refers to the application you recently submitted to this office for the position below:
Position Title: Public Affairs Specialist
Series/Grade:
1035/11
Promotion Potential: 11
Vacancy ID: 651583
Agency: Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the Office of the U.S. Attorneys
Considered For:Southern District of New York
Duty Location:
New York, NY
We have reviewed your application and found you qualified for the position listed above. However, you were not among the most highly  qualified candidates. Therefore, your name will not be referred to the employing agency at this time. If we receive a request from the agency for additional candidates, or another agency requests a list of eligibles for a very similar position within the next 90 days, your application will again be reviewed for possible referral.

I regret that a more personal form of communication is not possible. For any questions concerning this acknowledgment, please send an e-mail to usaeo.usastaffing@usdoj.gov or contact the agency representative listed in the vacancy announcement. Thanks again for your interest in employment with our agency. (Yes, I am sure you are simply heart broken that I did not receive further consideration, oops wait no real consideration for this position. Let me grab a tissue for you. Meanwhile Sallie Mae continues to threaten me because I am unable to sustain payments.

04/18/2012:
Thank you for your interest in the Attorney position with PGCPS. Unfortunately at this time, we are unable to fill this position. Please continue to check on our website for future positions at pgcps.org. (Here’s clue, stop advertising for positions you have no intent to fill. This is a waste of the local taxpayers money and for those who sent applications/resume via postal mail, it is a waste of resume paper and postage. See it costs money on both sides when you play this game).

04/09/2012:
Dear Applicant:
Thank you for your interest in the Program Manager-Libya position with the National Democratic Institute (NDI). We have received a large number of inquiries from highly qualified candidates for this role. At this time, we have decided to move forward with an individual who more closely matches the skills and qualifications required for this role. (I’m sure you have, while I applied as others encourage me to pursue the versatility aspect of a law degree and to try “something else.” Maybe you can tell them you don’t care for lawyers either.)

02/28/2012:
This refers to the application you recently submitted to this office for the position below:
Position Title: Attorney Advisor CORE
Pay Plan:   GS
Series/Grade:  0905-13
Vacancy ID: 519372
Announcement Number: MG2011-T0333-DAV-519372-COR
Hiring Office: Administrator 000 Office of Chief Counsel
Results regarding your recent referral to the Hiring Official are as follows:
Referral Type: Non-Traditional
Appointment Type: Temporary
Specialty / Grade: 0905 – 13
Promotion Potential: 13
Locations: Washington DC Metro Area, DC
The hiring office has decided not to fill the position at this time. (You don’t say, hmmm is it because of the federal deficit or the fact that people who are the highest unemployed are people of color and that’s the bulk of your applicants. Guess you are waiting for your perfect Harvard bred, Anglo-Saxon, male applicant to fill this position.)

02/23/2012:
Thank you for your interest in USAID and the position listed above (Contract Specialist). We are writing to notify you that the team has completed the review of applicants and you were not selected for this position. USAID is a rapidly growing organization that must quickly adapt to the changing world. Consequently our hiring needs change frequently. We would like to invite you to continue to look through our open positions at USAID.GOV or http://www.avuecentral.com. There may be other positions that might match your skills. (wait I thought I could do any thing with a law degree including contracts?)
Because of the volume of resumes we receive, we find it necessary to use the on-line application to screen candidates. If you do apply for another position, please provide as much detail as possible on the application form.
We appreciate your on-going interest in USAID and wish you the best of luck… (I usually won’t go there but I’m at my brink so I give a “liar and f*** you” to the person who auto-generated this rejection letter.)

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