There is no doubt that attending college is extremely expensive. Between tuition, books, supplies, transportation, and all living costs it leaves students' pockets dry. The all known phrase "starving-college-student" is not so much an exaggeration as it is a reality.
Today, to make ends meets college students are racking up credit card balances higher than what they can actually afford to pay off. I, of course, am no exception.
According to the United States General Accounting Office 2001 "Report to Congressional Requesters", the average college student had one or two credit cards. Also, the average balance of credit was $1000 to $2000.
Personally, let's just say that I like to be above average. I have a total of four credit cards. Well, make that three because literally just two days ago I paid off one account I had used to buy a computer. And even though I was tempted to use the account to buy something else, I gained the courage and closed it, forever. For most college students that is an accomplishment to be proud of. Now if I can only pay off the other three accounts. With a total debt of $2650, it seems impossible but I have learned my lesson the hard way and I know that it is better to pay off credit card debts than it is to add to it.
The reason why I opened credit accounts was because as a first generation college student money is sparse, and my family does what they can but it is not much. Without credit accounts there would be times I would have had to skip a meal, or I would not have been be able to put gas in my car to drive to school. Unfortunately, I did not learn until it was too late that I should have only used my credit cards for such necessary purposes. Instead, I used my credit cards to supplement my shoe addiction and other completely irrational purchases.
I cannot help, as I am sure that other students cannot either, that I love material things. But I should have been able to help how much material things I was purchasing and how I was paying for such things.
I do not think that college students having credit cards the problem. However, I do think that college students not knowing how to properly use credit is the bigger issue that needs to be taken care of. High school students and even college students would be lucky to learn about credit from either a school institution or even their own parents.
Just like there is Sex Ed., there should be "Credit Ed.". A program that would educate students early on about what credit is, how to use it, what are the advantages and disadvantages, and how it can hurt them if used inappropriately. This could possibly change the financial future of many college students.
Fortunately, the government has taken one step to help college students and credit debt. In February 2010 a law was passed that provides some protection for students against credit card companies. To read more about the law and college students with credit card debt go to http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/9139.html.
Sadly though, in this generation where credit is interpreted as spend, spend, and spend college students everywhere are receiving F's in the world of personal finance.
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Monday, October 25, 2010
A Priofile of Minjeong Kang
Teaching is said to be one the most rewarding jobs, and for Dr. Minjeong Kang that does not fail.
There have been times when she questioned whether teaching was what she was meant to do. There have been times when she has been discouraged and felt unappreciated. However, teaching for Kang is still rewarding even when she can’t please every student and has received “super mean” and even humiliating comments from students.
“I am fascinated to be in a position to help college students become professionals in an industry that I love,” said Kang. She said she truly admires her students and really makes an effort to help each one.
“She’s a great professor, and really tries to push us to our full potential not only in academics but in our lives as well,” said her student Pablo Mendoza, 23, Apparel Marketing and Design, CSUS.
When Kang is not teaching or working, she loves to go dancing. Ballet, Ballroom, and Salsa: Kang loves it all. Another hobby of Kang’s is to sing. She especially enjoys singing to cheesy love songs.
In the last two years though, she has been so busy adjusting to Sacramento and her job as Assistant Professor and Faculty Advisor that she has not been out on the town. As soon as possible, she would love to revisit her hobbies.
Kang was born on August 20th, but refused to state her age, or even the year of her birth. However, she does appear youthful with her bright brown eyes and long, dark, wavy hair. In class Kang is often over-looked because she blends in with her students.
Her voice is soft and low, and she has a tendency to be shy. However, Kang is hard-working, confident and strong, putting all her passion into teaching. One example of her strengths is her ability to wear heels all day, every day; not just any woman can accomplish this.
Kang was born to Daemin Kang and Sookhee Heo in Busan, South Korea. She speaks her native language Korean and was taught to speak English in middle school which is a requirement for students in Korea.
A defining moment in her life was during summer vacation after her first year of high school when she realized her career goal and dream of working in the fashion industry while discussing it with her parents. She later attended Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea and graduated in 2002 with B.A. in Clothing and Textiles.
She earned her M.S. and PhD in Design, Housing and Apparel at University of Minnesota in St. Paul, Minnesota. A PhD earned in America is viewed as highly prestigious in South Korea so Kang moved across the Atlantic Ocean in order to do so.
Kang’s original goal was to earn her PhD here in the United States then return to South Korea and teach there. But, when she graduated from University of Minnesota in 2008 there was an opportunity here at CSU Sacramento.
“After 5 years studying here, I didn’t want to leave America,” said Dr. Kang.
Kang’s first job, during college, was as a part time visual merchandiser in South Korea to financially help her parents. During her last year at Ewha Kang was a clothing designer and continued this for a year and a half. Now she has her teaching position at CSU Sacramento.
While she is currently single, Kang does hope to soon be married, but will not say if she has a boyfriend or not. Ideally in the future she would love to have two children, one boy and one girl she says.
Kang has also done research in post-purchase consumer behavior, mood regulatory consumption, retail environments, customer loyalty, as well as social psychological aspects of dress. The classes she teaches at CSU Sacramento include History of Fashion, Quality Analysis of Apparel, and Fashion Illustration.
Kang said she does not want to lose or give up her teaching position but she would love to make the time to either design for another company, or ideally design for her own line of clothing. Sometime in the future, not sure exactly when but eventually, Kang would love to design again.
One of her inspirations for designing is so she can share her experience and knowledge with her students to help them learn about the industry.
Kang wants her students to realize that they are in “a lot better position to be more competitive professionals because they don’t have to spend so much time and money learning English.” She further went on to say that if she did not have to spend so much money and time on learning English she probably could have went to a school like Stanford
Monday, October 18, 2010
Meghan Daum
Meghan Daum's, author and columnist, writings are as minty and refreshing as her favorite ice cream, Mint Chocolate Chip. While she feels she either has 100 jobs or no job, she has become a sensation among many readers during her writing career.
Though born in California 1970, Daum was raised on the east side Ridgewood, New Jersey. Daum has a writing style that is comprehendible and relatable.
As a little girl Daum realized her dream of becoming a New York writer, and that dream was later acquired when she landed an entry level job at a magazine in New York.
As a Vassar College graduate, she soon quit that job and took out thousands in student loans to attend the MFA writing program at Columbia University's School of Arts.
After being thousands of dollars in debt and making little compared to the high cost of living in Manhattan, Daum said goodbye to her New Yorker dream and left for the prairies of Lincoln. Nebraska. Soon following the move in 1999 her first book was published, "My Misspent Youth." It was an essay collection about her experience with debt. Daum has said that an essay to her is "an outward inquiry, it's trying to figure out a problem."
In 2003, Daum was ready to move on to bigger things and moved even further across the continent to Los Angeles, California. She currently still lives there with her husband Alan Zarembo and beloved Sheppard dog Rex. Daum takes Rex practically everywhere and states "I love him disproportionately to what's probably appropriate,' in "Getting to Know: Meghan Daum" by Teresa Ferrel.
Since 2005 Daum has been a weekly columnist for the LA Times. She is typically assigned to write on "fresh" and "timely" topics but writes about things that she is interested in including topics such as social politics, class identity issues, and certain gender issues. A couple of headlines featured last year are "Doomed by Your Name?" and "Happiness is in Your Mind-and Wallet."
"Writing for a newspaper has been the most satisfying experience," she told Kolhatkar from New York Observer, November 2005.
Daum's method for writing is to take her life's experiences of American culture and remark on its effects. In fact she insists to Hillary Frey from Newsday that her second book, and first novel, "The Quality of Life Report" was only "32.9 percent autobiographical," said Daum on her website.
"I knew nothing about fashion. I had no interest in it," said Daum.
Ironically during the course of Daum's career she has written for numerous publications, including fashion magazines. She has written for Allure, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Self, Vogue, New York, Travel and Leisure, Blackbook, The Village Voice, and the New York Times Review. She has also written for the website Beliefnel.
Besides writing Daum has taught at various institutions including the California Institute for the Arts.
Not only has her work been in college textbooks, Daum has been the subject of columns featured in New York Observer, The New York Times, and Blackbook. And of course, she has also been on Oprah.
Daum's latest book was released this year, "Life would be Perfect if I Lived in that House." It is about her search for the right house for the right price in L.A. While currently settled in L.A. Daum's ideal situation would be to also have a farm in Nebraska and an apartment in New York.
All archives from LA Times and more information about Meghan Daum are available on http://meghandaum.com.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Dusty Shelves No More
One of the latest trends coming out of the current recession is outsourcing. For instance, a private company in Maryland is taking over libraries across the country, including in California. With success this private company, Library Systems and Services, have become the fifth-largest library system in the United States. The question now is whether this will be the new model for all libraries or is privatizing libraries a temporary trend in response to economic desperation.
Personally, it has been years since I have entered a community library. My memories are not fond of the dull experience the library had to offer. However, presently things may be different. The only other things I remember about community libraries were that there were tables and chairs, and countless, neglected, dusty shelves of books. Also, to rent a book there was a one-time fee of fifty cents for a library card that had your name and address.
In some hopes and dreams, Libraries might have more to offer to the public by being run by a private company such as Library Systems and Services, such as cleaner shelves. So what if individuals had to pay out of pocket for their library experience; they would probably appreciate the experience much more.
Furthermore, paid tax dollars support libraries, so in a sense, the public currently does pay out of pocket for community libraries, and even those who do not even visit the library pay for it. If libraries were run by a private company only the people who had a desire or need to go to a local library would pay for it.
Financially, this could also help the state budget, because it is one less program that needs funding. Also, as a private company that means they would have to pay taxes as well.
Yes it is a risk, a very small risk. On the other hand it could succeed enormously and the public and state will be able to reap the benefits. In the best case, privatizing public libraries could be so successful that there is a large profit margin. As a result this could create more jobs. With nearly a 13% unemployment rate in California it would slightly insane to pass up an opportunity such as this.
“There is no evidence that outsourcing per se has had a negative impact on library services and management. On the contrary, in the main outsourcing has been an effective managerial tool, and when used carefully and judiciously it has resulted in enhanced library services and improved library management” concluded Robert S. Martin, Ph.D., in “The Impact of Outsourcing and Privatization on Library Services and Management: A Study for the American Library Association.”
Privatizing libraries might be reducing the all-American, community feeling that libraries once were. But it is now the 21st century and change is happening, and it is good. What use to work then does not mean it works now and that can be said to more than just our libraries.
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