Help encouraging my boyfriend?

[chrissyb]

My boyfriend is finishing up his undergraduate degree in English at age 27. He got a late start on college due to enlisting in the military (which has been veeery slow to pay up the promised benefits), and spent several years working minimum wage jobs and some entrepreneuiral side buisinesses beforehand. He has some savings from that invested, but even though he went to community college and public university, he will graduate with non-negligible student debt (25k or so).

 It was his dream to study humanities, but now he regrets that decision because of the debt and feels that he is out of options. He also has a poor credit score because of some medical problems and a gap with his insurance right after he got out of the Army-- it was the military's fault, but he has to live with it and this gets him down because he wants to be able to get a mortgage, etc.

He is actually very sensible about money and investing, and often comes up with good ideas for buisinesses and potential investments. I want to encourage him to act on his entrepreneurial talent, but he is very discouraged right now about his past choices, his credit, and the job market. Do you have suggestions about what he could do with his degree, and to improve his general situation? He is really a very smart, great guy and we are hoping to get married in the next few years.

(I am currently in school to be a phlebotomist, in hopes of getting into P.A. school within a few years. I have about 10k of college debt and I'm not worried about my financial situation at all).

[kkbmustang]

Chrissyb-

Your boyfriend is going to be fine. I say this as a psychology and political science double major. (Attorney, too, but still had a liberal arts undergrad education. And my minor? Theatre.)

There are a lot of things he can do with an English degree:

1. He can teach. If he doesn't have a teaching certification, he can teach English as a Second Language. (Search the forums for information on how to get a certificate for that. I recall it's not a big deal to do.) He can tutor high school and college kids, if there is a college nearby.

2. He can become a freelance writer. (This is what I do now. Sort of my phased in ER job.) There are lots of resources out there. Starting rates for business writing tend to be around $50/hour. Depending on his areas of interest he can also write for online publications. He can check out Peter Bowerman's website (The Well Fed Writer). His resources are first rate. Also Carol Tice. (Make a Living Writing).

3.  He can proofread and edit other people's work. This doesn't have to be done locally. He could do it all virtually.

4. Check out MMM's latest posts on jobs you can get without a degree making $50k or more a year.

5. Office administration jobs.

6. Jobs at other universities or colleges. Think admissions, advancement, etc.

Most of all, he shouldn't get discouraged. He has a lot of options. He just needs to explore what they are. Also, he needs to accept where he is, right now, and not look backwards. He needs to look forward. If he digs deep and lights a fire under his own rear, he'll be just fine.

[footenote]

One addition: technical writing. If he has any technical aptitude, learn enough about whatever's hot in your local area.

(I was an English major. Took enough computer science classes to understand the basics and got my first "real job" as a technical writer.)

[CU Tiger]

He has some savings from that invested, but even though he went to community college and public university, he will graduate with non-negligible student debt (25k or so).

 It was his dream to study humanities, but now he regrets that decision because of the debt and feels that he is out of options. He also has a poor credit score because of some medical problems and a gap with his insurance right after he got out of the Army-- it was the military's fault, but he has to live with it and this gets him down because he wants to be able to get a mortgage, etc.

Your boyfriend should focus first on
Getting a good job
Getting out of debt
Saving an emergency fund
Starting his stash

THEN he can worry about taking on more debt in the form of a mortgage. First things first!

Has he pulled a credit report to make sure everything on his is correct? Have him request his free ones to see if they are accurate. But he has a lot to do before worrying about that.

[sassy1234]

Perhaps he could get a job at a company that offers good tuition reimbursement, then go back to school and get his MBA.

[plantingourpennies]

Hi!

I average 95k per year with a BA in philosophy, in an area of the country where the household income is about 44k.

Having a humanities degree isn't a problem-beating himself up over past decisions is!

Best,
Mr. poP

[badassprof]

Have him look at the recent thread here on liberal arts degrees. Lots of people making 100,000+ with humanities degrees.

Also, he might be interested in the following articles...



"The Best Argument for Studying English? The Employment Numbers"
By Jordan Weissmann
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/the-best-argument-for-studying-english-the-employment-numbers/277162/

"Why I Hire English Majors"
By Steve Strauss
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-strauss/hiring-english-majors_b_3484409.html