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I'm 28, Have $100K In Student Loan Debt, & I Can't Find A Full-Time Job
Yahoo Finance News ^ | August 29, 2018 | Ludmila Leiva

Posted on 08/30/2018 9:12:49 AM PDT by 11th_VA

For Alexandria Butler-McDow, 28, going to university didn’t provide the freedom and financial security she'd hoped for. After graduating with an associate’s degree from the California Culinary Academy (CCA) in San Francisco, CA, in 2008, Butler-McDow struggled to find a job that would allow her to support herself and her disabled mother while also paying off her enormous student loan bill.

Hopeful that a more advanced degree would help her make more money and better manage her debt, Butler-McDow went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in culinary nutrition, concentrating on clinical dietetics at Johnson and Wales University (JWU) in Providence, RI. By the time she had finished her second degree, Butler-McDow was even deeper in debt.

Now, nearly four years after graduating with her second degree, Butler-McDow (better known as Chef Alexandria at Better Taste Productions) is a Los Angeles-based chef and culinary consultant focusing on nutrition and education — and she is still six figures in debt. Though she has defaulted on her loans and deferred some of her payments, the end of this ordeal is still out of her reach. “We are sold the notion that getting an education is what will improve our socioeconomic standing,” Butler-McDow told Refinery29. “My degrees were supposed to bring me out of poverty but they’ve just anchored me.” ...

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: debt; education; frauduniversity; governmentemployment; millennials; politicalclass; socialism; studentloans
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To: ObozoMustGo2012

It also means that the entire article beginning this thread is a lie.


161 posted on 08/30/2018 10:39:51 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: JudyinCanada

Heck, she doesn’t deserve to cook >.<


162 posted on 08/30/2018 10:40:15 AM PDT by Bikkuri
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To: 11th_VA

https://www.gofundme.com/literally-my-last-resort

I’m in a financial bind and want to resolve a debt by January 31, 2018. Last year I worked as a live-in caregiver for a family friend on a “promise to pay” situation as the individual was awaiting a settlenlment. I worked for this person about four months, no pay- not even gas money as I ran various personal errands for the individuaI. Towards the end of my employment, as I was awaiting compensation for my diligence, time and effort, my car was repossessed. Once my employer was notified (due to the fact I couldn’t complete a task for her), rather than paying me for all the work I did, this person loaned me the money to get my car back. Up until that moment I had recently only received $700 for roughly 4 months of work. And the individual was able to loan me this money because they had received their expected settlement but still didnt pay me for all the work I did or indicate if they intended to pay me beyond the $700 I had received. I’m aware of how crazy this situation is and I’ve even been advised not to repay the person as they technically owe me. However I gave my word to repay them and had the intention doing so and never speaking to or seeing them again and count it as a loss and learning experience. I don’t want to sue, I don’t want to withhold my repayment- I just want it to be over. Unlike this individual, I am not irrational, nor unreasonable and value my word. I did have every intention to repay the money but as luck would have it, I lost out on another income stream which prevented me from repaying this personal loan. Please, if you can even just give $1 it will help. I’m single, educated, no kids, no financial support from anyone at all, not even my family. I currently work 2 part-time jobs that equate to less than 2 weeks of work per month and I’m still looking. I believed that working for that family friend was going to be the financial breakthrough to help improve the trajectory of my finances but it’s proven to be a detriment and burden. Thank you to all that have donated, thank you to all that empathize, and thank you to all that share. God Bless and I pray it is returned to you tenfold. Amen.


163 posted on 08/30/2018 10:41:23 AM PDT by outpostinmass2
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To: Snickering Hound
Also has skill where starting his own business is a very viable idea.

Her? Not so much.

164 posted on 08/30/2018 10:42:04 AM PDT by riri
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To: hal ogen

She’s in the right state, but apparently not talented enough to work as an actress until her restaurant career takes off.


165 posted on 08/30/2018 10:42:18 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: TakebackGOP

they’re ...


166 posted on 08/30/2018 10:42:24 AM PDT by Bikkuri
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To: JudyinCanada

Most Community Colleges have 2 year degrees in the Culinary Arts for way less than that.

And they are great places to go for a good deal on a fine meal.

Near the end of each semester they have a few weeks where the students are graded on the meals they prepare. Limited seating, reservations required.


167 posted on 08/30/2018 10:43:49 AM PDT by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: 11th_VA

Sooooo.... why aren’t these graduates suing the hell out of the universities like graduates of Trump U? ;)


168 posted on 08/30/2018 10:43:56 AM PDT by LadyShires
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To: miss marmelstein

He was just giving a very practical option, which you chose to take offense with.


169 posted on 08/30/2018 10:45:53 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("It rubs the rainbow on it's skin or it gets the diversity again!")
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To: ObozoMustGo2012
Long hours, barely a day off, forget about having holidays off.

Holidays off? Holidays are when people are MOST likely to want to eat out. Expect to put in overtime on holidays.

170 posted on 08/30/2018 10:47:30 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("It rubs the rainbow on it's skin or it gets the diversity again!")
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To: jyo19
Who racks up $100k in debt for a CULINARY ACADEMY?

The same type of mentality who would pay $100k to go to a house painting school.

171 posted on 08/30/2018 10:47:41 AM PDT by VideoDoctor
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To: Bikkuri

I know


172 posted on 08/30/2018 10:48:03 AM PDT by TakebackGOP
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To: miss marmelstein

“Dumb guys who think culinary school is about reading cookbooks.. I guess most of you guys got your knowledge from watching Audrey Hepburn in ‘Sabrina.’”

Why not? I learned everything I know about photography from Julia Ormond. ;-)


173 posted on 08/30/2018 10:49:09 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: PapaBear3625

Mothers’ Day 1991, still the longest shift I pulled in my life, 16.8 hours.

A few months later, I went back to school.


174 posted on 08/30/2018 10:51:51 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: JudyinCanada

Hi Judy, it is pretty AMAZING that people are this stupid, 100,000 for culinary school ASTOUNDINGLY STUPID!!! I have been in the food industry my entire life AND chefs just don’t make the kind of money worth a 100,000 debt!!! VERY FEW chefs make it big like Emeril Lagasse or Wolf Gang Puck!!! Most chefs work their entire lives dreaming of having their own restaurants AND even then the margins in the food industry are VERY SMALL you don’t get rich owning a restaurant!!! The hours you work are NEVER ENDING and your passion for food must run really deep because the rewards are EXTREMELY SMALL!!! This young lady obviously did NOT investigate how long it takes to get to the upper echelon of running a kitchen in hotels or fine dining restaurants!!! If she was smart (which she is NOT) she would take whatever baking skills she received at Johnson and Wales and open a wedding cake business!!! Wedding cakes are enormously expensive and you can make them for practically nothing!!! A wedding cake today can run from $600.00 - a few thousand dollars!!! This young lady didn’t NEED a college degree for this type of work, she just needed to start working in the field and LEARN on the job which having the experience is ALWAYS better than that stupid piece of paper from classroom training!!!


175 posted on 08/30/2018 10:52:40 AM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: PapaBear3625

You turn every thread you’re on into some stupid attack on women. Seriously, what’s your problem?


176 posted on 08/30/2018 10:52:54 AM PDT by miss marmelstein
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To: Gumdrop
Her field is not exactly one in demand by very many potential employers.

One big thing Trump could do:

1) Require each school to provide the Dept of Education with a list of each graduate, their major, total student loan debt, and SS#

2) Have the IRS cross-match with gross income a year later, and produce a summary table.

3) Publish statistics for each school, showing median graduate loan debt, and income one year and five years after graduation, broken down by major.

Parents can then take a look at the statistics, and tell their kids how crazy they are to even think of X studies major.

177 posted on 08/30/2018 10:53:23 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("It rubs the rainbow on it's skin or it gets the diversity again!")
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To: treetopsandroofs

“She HAS a job as a chef, and calls herself one.”

So she got a degree in Culinary Nutrition and can’t find a full time job?


178 posted on 08/30/2018 10:56:00 AM PDT by dljordan (WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
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To: 11th_VA
I haven't read any of the comments yet so I'm sure what I am about to say has already been said by scores of others. $100k in debt to take a two-year "culinary arts" program is completely insane.

Especially when the average salary of a culinary chef is around $33k a year.

If you want to make a career of cooking, that is fine. But your best path is to start working for a restaurant, any restaurant (they are always hiring), and learn EVERY JOB in the place first.

Then focus on cooking, seeking out more prestigious restaurants as your skill set develops. (This might mean working at Applebees or Red Lobster for a few years.)

179 posted on 08/30/2018 10:57:18 AM PDT by SamAdams76 ( If you are offended by what I have to say here then you can blame your parents for raising a wuss)
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To: 11th_VA

Another person working off that student loan debt.

180 posted on 08/30/2018 10:57:47 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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