Unsure of my post-college future.

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I literally graduated from high school yesterday, and im thinking a lot about where I will end up 10 years down the road. Im starting college in 2010, taking a year off to save up money. However, im really unsure if ill even get a job in my major.

Ill be majoring in Video Effects & Motion Graphics at the Art Institute. I have pretty much zero experience in this field, but it does seem interesting. Other paths seem more interesting, but I have no means of studying them. Music Production, Club DJing, Ring Designer, are some of them. Anyway, the average salary for this perticular field is around $45,000 which is about $19,500 above my minimum standard of living that I am comfortable with. This is obviously a really good thing. My problem is I am very unsure as to if ill get a job making that much money.

I have a friend who already has made a few video games and pretty much uses Multimedia Fusion 2, Photoshop, and some other program every day. Hes been doing this since he was 7, I believe. The art field is highly competetive and he would be part of my competition. I dont think I could impress major companies more than he could, and im extremely worried tons of people going to this school will be just like him. This means I will be spending over $60,000 for nothing other than social experiences. I dont want that to happen and im getting very worried it will.

I could simply go to another college and study something else, but im really bad at academic things. Thats why I chose an art school, because it will be less about reading a book and writing an essay on it and more on learning software and creating something with it. I have no where else to go, other than working a minimum wage job all my life. If that ends up happening, I can see myself being very depressed.

Im not worried about buying a house at this point in my life, because id be perfectly happy with a nice apartment. $45,000 would allow me to live a lifestyle that I am not only comfortable with, but also is above my minimum and maybe go on vacations without having to save like a squirrel in the fall. Plus, the longer I work at this job, the more my salary increases. This makes me very excited for my future, but then I think about my uncertainty, and it makes me sad again.

I wish you luck with this. Remember, it's your portfolio that counts when looking for a job, not past experience. You might be able to beat out your friend who has been doing it longer. It's a competitive field, but since you are passionate and dedicated, you should go far.

Thanks. Im not really passionate about this field though. Passionate about music, defenatly yes, but not video effects and motion graphics. If the Art Institute had some sort of music program, I would have signed up for that instead.

Just do whatever you can.

Oh yes, be assured there are many successful aspies here. We all fail in life at some point and... in the end, it's more important that we rise up whenever we fall. So just go ahead and try and give it your best shot!

My two cents....

Education just isn't worth what they are charging.

IF you do that path....

1. Make sure you graduate DEBT FREE. This is the poison most college graduates are dying from. Tons of debt they can't pay back on what jobs they are finding once they get out of school.

2. Believe NOTHING that the school tells you about your degree or its marketability. Their job is getting you to come and pay for classes. Few give a damn if you ever find a job doing what you trained for.

3. NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK! Finding ANY job after you finish school will be based on people who know you and your skills pulling to get you into a GOOD job when you finish school. You would be well-served to be working in a limited capacity while going to classes if you can swing it.

Whats a limited capacity? I think my final sumester, I will be doing a job shadowing type of thing if thats what you mean. As well as a portfolio presentation to the school.

The school says it has a 95% rate at finding alumni jobs, but never specifically mentioned what type of job. As long as they find me a job at Wal-Mart, they met their statistics. So basically, ill be relying mostly on myself, but im sure they will still help somewhat.

Graduating debt free would be next to impossible for a $60,000 college. Thats 3 years. If during those 3 years all I did was go to classes and worked, I wouldnt be able to handle that stress. Especially if the only thing I spent my money on was food and paying off my loan.
15 years, $60,000 debt, 4% interest = $443.81 a month. Is that typical? ...oh man...15 years, yeah thats a very long time to be paying over $400 a month on a loan. Well, the good news is my mom is trying for financial aid and ill try to get as much free money from other sources as I can.

Graduated FROM LAW SCHOOL with around $65-70K of debt. This was right after 9/11. Never found a job that enables me to support myself AND make payments on my loans. My accruing interest is over $300 a month as it stands. My debt has grown to over $100K since then.

The jobs just are not out there for most graduates. $450 a month to pay off you debt sounds easy...until you discover how much rent, food, utilities, etc. costs every month AFTER TAXES. If you can live with someone else and cut your living costs significantly, that's a help, but the fact is that if you are stuck on a single income, you are in trouble if you don't get a very good paying job.

This is why I try to talk people out of going to college. If you can't get a job that pays you well enough to live a meager life while repaying your debt, you're better off working a low-skill job and working up but being debt-free.

Debt is the new slavery, and student loans are exempt from bankruptcy protection in all but the worst of hardship cases.

Jeese. I dont know where else id work though. Theres no way I can support my lifestyle on minimum wage unless I live with my mom for the rest of my life. Everyone that I ask says the job market for my field is pretty high and there are always jobs in the entertainment industry (or more accurately, the visual effects behind that entertainment).

So you mean... Don't go to university that can incur us in debts? Just go to cheaper colleges/community colleges? So why are we encouraged to go to universities then? Are we heading towards a life of debts, debts and more debts?

And what is the value of the low-skill jobs if Aspies really do not have the skills to cope in the workplace? Just curious>.<

Well, what is going on is that college/university is OVERPRICED. The tuition keeps going up, but the job market simply is not paying wages that allow graduates to go to work and repay their debts while supporting themselves.

It has been this way for about 20+ years, and getting worse every year. The website devoted to student loan justice can document how schools largely lie to prospective students so they will attend classes, borrow money to pay the bill and trust that a job will be there when they graduate....but that isn't happening in real life. Graduates find themselves in largely dead-end, moderate paying jobs that are increasingly being outsourced overseas.

Being a slave to debt is the model that a lot of power brokers want. It's why all the clamping down with tougher bankruptcy laws always seems to punish the debtor and never the creditor who knowingly extended credit to people they knew were high risks to start with.

Low-skill jobs have certain advantages.

1. Minimal skill to get started.
2. Many allow you to get better pay by learning more about your job and proving your ability to work.
3. Increased job skills often come by the employer paying for the classes. If your skill training is paid by you and directly related to the job/industry you are in, the whole cost may be tax-deductible against your income (something student loans don't get).
4. If you work your way through school and get a degree that enhances you on your job, you have a better chance of the education "paying for itself" because you already are on a job where your work ethic speaks for you. Promotion from within is the norm on most any job site.

5. If you were to never go for schooling, having a job means you get paid here and now. You get pay raises because that's the norm over time. Just by being a faithful employee (come in and do your job reliably) you will have new opportunities open up for you. If your employer is a dead end, you can look about and move to a job that offers more of a future than where you are at.

6. In the end, a college graduate needs to bring in more money to "break even" with the non-college graduate. If you have $500/month student loan payments, you need to make $500 more a month (more if you factor in the taxation impact) just to take home as much as the guy who didn't go to college. They argue that in the long run, college graduates still do better, but that data is unreliable. That is modeled from a time when college graduates were a limited commodity. Now, there are so many of them that they offer no real value to employers that justifies a significantly higher paycheck. I illustrate that by saying how I expect to be well-paid because I have loans to pay back but the employer says, "I can get 10 people in here who will do the job for less money." I have to take the low pay because of the law of supply and demand. The economic reality that I need more money to repay the loans is irrelevant. Also consider that by the time an average graduate pays off their debt, they might have incurred 2 to 3 times the amount of the original loans in interest fees paid.

7. Most "wealthy" people NEVER went to college or never graduated from college. You make money by doing something people need, not by having a specialized skill that demands a big pay check. Those types of jobs are rare, but an enterprising person who will work with their hands can find multiple ways to make a living.

Well this sucks. Where else will I make $45,000 a year? Theres no way I can live off of minimum wage for the rest of my life, even if I later get an extra dollar or two added to my hourly wage. I see your point, but I have no where else to go. I dont know what to do for a job other than the one the Art Institute supposedly will get me. But now im worried they will never find me a good paying job. On the other hand, I am a little confident, because they did graduate many students that have worked on popular video games and movies. One student graduated and later helped design Halo 3.

Oh I see. My dad always preaches to me, 'Study hard and you will at least have a passport to better jobs'. But I think an Aspie like me will not get a chance to go to gain access to all these, given that social skills are really important in thr real life. I think unless I get a free ride to university or college (Hmm, let's see how are my grades like), I will work at least part-time somewhere.

I can learn socialization skills, its just going to take some time. Ill get past my fear if it means making much more money in the future.