While I may not be able to confidently say where I’ll be in five years, I certainly hope — wherever I am — that I’m utilizing my degrees and the skills fostered through my undergrad and graduate studies.

In five years time, I envision myself having settled down. I assume that I will still be living in the Boston area, preferably in a condo or similar set-up on the edges of the city. I would hope that within five years I can land a permanent teaching position somewhere within the Boston area, but that will most likely be a hard-fought and long battle just to get my foot in the door, through working first either as a teacher’s aid or substitute teacher.

Being on the tail-end of my graduate program, a move towards a doctoral program may be in the stars, but that would be a large commitment that I may save for my ten-year plan — along with forming a family.

I do plan for the future, but at this point I’ve been trying to keep my options open. By this, I mean that within a year or two I can envision myself seeking out teaching opportunities overseas and, similarly, looking for research opportunities for the work that I’ve completed. So perhaps I won’t be living in Boston as I foresee but instead living abroad putting my education and research to use. Either would be satisfying.

Growing up, I always envisioned myself entering the teaching profession. Moving through the public school system, I was never aware how competitive a field it really is, nor just how endless the amounts of work and different roles that teachers must fulfill to be successful. Well, it’s been about twenty years and my end goal still remains the same, especially after numerous experiences working within the public school system and finding myself at the head of the classroom.

While I’m not in the classroom at present, I don’t feel that I’ve had to give up on my dream. Instead, the competitive nature of the position that I want for myself and the subject that I wish to teach has pushed prospective teachers like myself to work a lot harder to get in the door and to network.

After getting my hopes up about the Teach for America program and then having them crushed so abruptly, there was a long period where I thought that I would need to put teaching behind me. That, coupled with the negative political environment surrounding education, began to frighten me and I seriously rethought my desire to return to the classroom.

Instead, I’ve changed my priorities, focusing more on building credentials, returning to school, and cranking out research and original work to build my CV and better prepare myself for the teaching profession. Actual teaching is now on the back burner as I work to beef up my knowledge about and ability to teach history.

Teaching aside, I do believe that I am still a bit young to worry about owning a home or settling down. In high school I always envisioned myself being on the run in my twenties, traveling and trying my hand at different jobs. While the practicality of that lifestyle is questionable, I know some friends who have made that work. And on the flip side I know some friends who have worked hard out of college and saved up enough money to own their own home. I do care about owning a home in the future, I just think it’s going to take me a while to get to that level. Though I will say that it’s not entirely far off as I’ve been savvy about saving.

To keep myself optimistic, I like to think this will all work out. Of course, nothing that you plan will play out exactly as envisioned, but I do believe that my goals are attainable and within reach, five or ten years down the line. A lot of work lies ahead of me, but I’m not afraid to get my feet on the ground and start running.

My economic stress was alleviated after my departure from the Teach for America program. Having been a teacher, I was able to receive my salary until the end of the summer, and by that point my unemployment was all situated and so it was a smooth transition.

However, I quickly grew disenchanted and frustrated when it came to applying for jobs after that summer — responding to over two dozen Craigslist posts a day, and not hearing even a “your application/resume was received” response. I’m sure each post must have received hundreds of replies from job applicants, but not hearing any confirmation at all makes you wonder if the time you’re investing has any value at all.

Teaching applications are a story of their own. With districts adopting new automated electronic application interfaces, I can apply to a dozen different systems around the Boston area and not even have contact with a real person. I’ve spoken about this with friends who tell me I should be aggressive and proactive, calling up jobs and inquiring about positions I’m interested in. But whenever I’ve tried this approach, I’m met with receptionists who insist that if I’ve submitted my materials, then they would have been received and will be reviewed shortly.

Still, none of these frustrations has significantly affected the way I view myself or led me to question my own capabilities. Instead, I’m left to question the state of America’s job hiring process, which has become both inundated and convoluted, on account of automation and the cookie-cutter expectations of employers.

I myself am highly qualified for an administrative position, yet because my resume doesn’t contain administrative buzzwords and past job experience with similar or exact job titles, I’m tossed aside after an employer takes the thirty-second glance over each resume.

Have I become cynical? I would say that the downturn in the economy and the state of liberal arts-based professions within America has indeed turned me rather cynical. I wish our nation valued the arts more than sports. I wish we placed as much funding into NASA, revolutionizing classroom textbooks, or PBS as we do on nuclear armament and wars in the Middle East. Where are we fighting nowadays again?

I’d love to conclude by saying that I believe all that could change this election cycle, or if we can just wait until the economy recovers. But I’m not sure that I believe that’s the whole problem.

I wouldn’t say that my financial or employment situations have necessarily changed any of my relationships, but my relationships have been a minor source of frustration during this period.

My parents have always been supportive of my decisions and have seen me as successful and independent. Thankfully, my situation was never dire enough to warrant me having to ask them for help.

Unlike a lot of my friends, I never moved back home after college and since graduating I haven’t gone to them for financial assistance. I don’t owe this to luck, but to my frugality and ability to save while teaching. That savings allowed me to get myself back on my feet without having to go back to my parents.

While my parents are supportive, and though I don’t discuss job prospects or my finances with them, I do feel that there is a disconnect with their recollections of how the job market works and the actuality of how it is working for graduates today. For example, my father often tells me that all I have to do is get a job working for a state university or simply working for the state so I can be all set with benefits and retirement. But the way he talks about it makes it seem like something that is a) extremely easy to find for people of all skill levels, and b) that government jobs are multiplying by the second — when in fact, it’s the opposite.

On the same page are my grandparents, who often ask about my prospects in obtaining a teaching job. When I see them, they helpfully tell me about new schools opening up in the Boston area and places that are hiring, but they also fail to grasp the extreme competition to get into any Boston-area school districts, not to mention the lay offs in the area of social studies education.

The one relationship that was strained the most was with my very good friend. While I was becoming increasingly frustrated last fall in applying to jobs (more information on this frustration to come in my following post), I looked at him in envy and at times anger for the ease at which he was able to get into his field, not to mention his ability to make a very sizable hourly wage right out of college.

While I acknowledge his intelligence and hard work at getting into his position, I become frustrated because his choice to major in the sciences (biology) opened up more doors for him and opportunities for growth, while my choice to enter into the liberal arts in a sense stymied mine.

This was definitely a hard pill for me to swallow — that my educational choices as I was applying for college at the ripe age of 18 would set the expectation for my future salary fresh out of the gate.

I’ve never been one to feel entitled or blame others when something hasn’t worked in my best interest. I have a shy demeanor, avoiding rejection, but I have never been one to pass the blame for the direction my own personal choices have led me. To that end, I believe that the position I am in currently is partly due to my own decisions and partly to factors outside my control.

Expanding on that, I chose to go into the field of history and teaching — a field that I’m passionate about and have a genuine interest in. Outside factors have led to the devaluation of history and the liberal arts, especially in terms of high-salaried positions within this field. But it was my own decision (and no one else’s) to enter into this field, knowing well that the field wasn’t going to lead to a pot full of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I do not agree that my generation is the “entitlement” generation. If we were so entitled, then why are housing costs so high? Why are we racking up student loan debt while the cost of colleges continue to rise? I’ve never felt entitled to anything, but I do believe that I am warranted to have my share of expectations for how the society that I work for, contribute to, and strive to improve treats me as a citizen.

Furthermore, I believe it’s unfair for any group of individuals to call another “entitled.” In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the times are changing — fast. While technology grew and changed rapidly during our parents’ generation, it continues to evolve ever faster for ours. Globalization has been further redefined within the past decade with advancements in the Internet, and it all equates to further stress on the economy and the job market.

Therefore, for anyone to sit back and call our generation “entitled” is only advancing the problem and misconception, and I personally find it disgusting when one age group feels the need to target another and hold themselves on a soap box to justify struggles that all generations go through (in different forms). All that does is weaken our nation and further divide an already bipolar America.

For the past half century upon entering high school, the American Dream has taught us that college is the necessary path to take. College, it is told, will open up paths and jobs that are not available otherwise and move a student forward out of a public-school system designed to breed manual workers. But if what they said about college is true, why are so many degree-holders currently working at coffee shops and reception/admin jobs?

College grads should have expectations. We should expect to get a well-paying job upon graduating that we couldn’t normally find without a degree. Of course jobs should not be handed to college graduates, but they should not be forced into advanced schooling when our society doesn’t have the job market to support the growing influx of advanced degrees. Let’s face it: our government can barely afford to keep our space program operational yet our schools continue to pave students towards a college education. Likewise, college graduates should expect to make above minimum wage after graduating from college.

Otherwise, why did we go so far into debt for something that isn’t aiding us?

Expectations have changed drastically. The U.S. higher-education system has opened the floodgates and allowed too many students to attend college, thus making Bachelor’s degrees only a step up in value over high-school diplomas. Yet, what really gets me is that while this devaluation of our education is occurring, the cost of college education continues to rise, and our politicians do nothing.

And while I don’t believe I feel entitled, I think college grads like myself SHOULD feel entitled. We spent tens of thousands — hundreds of thousands — on a college degree that isn’t taking us (all) where we should be going. We’re consumers. We purchased our college experience, some went for high-end private schools, more frugal others like myself chose state schools, so we should be entitled to a society or system that values our commitment to education and the purchase we made. Yet we graduate and find that this is not the case.

Luckily, having chosen to study at a state school has protected me from racking up huge amounts of student-loan debt. For a fraction of the cost of private schools, I got a great education, was provided with the same opportunities as any Ivy Leaguer, and was taught by and worked alongside top scholars.

Plus, I got to make use of the Massachusetts state school tuition waver granted to advanced MCAS students. At least the state exam provided something positive, after stripping me of the chance to learn real critical thinking material in high school and replacing it with “teach to the test” curricula.

Graduate school within the UMass system has also been very kind to me. With most of the cost waived through grants and a teaching assistant-ship, I will graduate this spring with a Master’s degree for under $10,000.

Sadly, the bulk of my student-loan debt was acquired through one year in a M.Ed program that was required of corps members in the Teach for America Mid-Atlantic region. This program, required to obtain state certification and the ability to teach with TFA, put me back $25,000 for one year of coursework. The price-tag was nearly the complete sum of four years of undergraduate studies in the UMass system.

And, due to complications in the Teach for America program and my departure from it, in the end I had nothing to show for the $25,000 loan I accrued aside from a few M.Ed course credits.

But you live and learn. Perhaps someday I will use those credits to complete my M.Ed.

Because of my continued studies, I have yet to pay back any of my student-loan debt and have put it in the “out of sight, out of mind” category. I’m also in no rush to pay it off.

While paying the minimum will increase the loan amount and payoff schedule in the long-run, which most will argue is a stupid decision, I refuse to use my money that I need to enjoy life in order to pay above the minimum and get the student debt cleared away as quickly as possible. I know I will eventually pay it off, but I refuse to let it have a significant impact on the way I live my life, spend my money, and enjoy myself in the present.

Although, a bit of a side-note: I have always lived my life by the mantra “you could be dead tomorrow.”

In short, I believe that I should not be penalized and drained of my money because I chose to obtain an education. Something is clearly wrong with the immense price tag on education in America and the government needs to wake up to it. I don’t feel entitled, but something has to be said about the fact that the price of an advanced degree continues to rise astronomically each year while salaries and wages remain stagnant.

In terms of credit-card debt, I am responsible and somewhat obsessive by nature, which has allowed me to curb any debt. I have two credit cards and use them frequently to build credit and obtain bonus rewards, but I never allow the balance to get out of control and often pay off the balance completely upon use. I obsessively track my spending on both a daily and monthly basis, and I budget my money down to the penny. I do not live outside of my means, but I also don’t restrict myself.

As such, I would say that debt has very little impact on my life. At present, I can afford the lifestyle that I want to have and I try very hard not to allow money to get in the way of my personal happiness, success, and enjoyment.

I’m a naturally frugal person and have allowed myself to build a savings since graduating from college. While it will be more difficult because of the grim job market and lack of competitive salaries in my field of choice, I do believe that someday in the near future I will be able to fund the lifestyle that I imagined myself having in the future. I do not think that money will get in the way of that.

A college education is a necessity in today’s America. This is no more evident than within our public school system, where the mantra is that all students can and will attend college. At the elementary school where I worked last year, students were bombarded with this message on all fronts: from the college pennants and posters plastered on the walls, to the college cheers they were taught, down to the school’s mission that 100 percent of the students would go to college.

With this mission, the public school system has successfully created a mold that all students need to fit into: that of a college student. Colleges essentially have become nearly mandatory for any who wish to make a decent salary above minimum wage, yet most who attend will work their whole careers just to pay off student loans that made it possible for them to make said wage. Not to mention the fact that students who receive a Bachelor’s degree enter into an over-saturated marketplace that devalues the higher education they just received, and has turned their Bachelor’s into the near-equivalent of a high-school diploma.

I strongly believe that my college education was worthwhile and there is little that I would choose to do differently if given a second chance. I attended a state school, which was both affordable and academically strong. I received a strong education and was given numerous opportunities for personal growth and professional advancement. I’m a strong believer that a student takes what they can from education that is presented to them. In my own mind, little opportunities separate a private from a public school, aside from the name.

That being said, if I were to change one aspect of my college career, I would have chosen a degree in a field of science rather than liberal arts. It’s evident that the liberal arts are being pushed aside and devalued in America. Once the cornerstone of higher education, liberal art degrees today are barely worth the money spent to attain them. While I am passionate and love working within the field of history, it’s turned out to be a difficult field to get into due to lay-offs and lack of funding for memory institutions and museums.

Graduate school is a necessity in many of the humanities, and the best-paying positions require at least an MA. As such, I am currently enrolled in an MA program at another state school. At present, I am satisfied with my graduate education and have been granted further opportunities and professional growth in the field due to it.

I do not regret studying history, but, if I were to go back, I would study history independently while moving through a science track that would allow me to make a very sizable salary within a few years of leaving college. This upsets me as a historian, because it’s depressing that in the United States today one cannot comfortably follow their passions and academic interests as we were told to believe in elementary school.

The school that I chose had prepared me well for life after college. Sure I had a few bumps, but everything has since turned out fine. Luckily, by choosing a state school and doing well enough to receive scholarships, I may make it out with only a fraction of the student loan debt a lot of my friends have to their names. And I find myself in the same rather abysmal employment situations as friends who went to private schools and have a much larger debt burden than myself, further satisfying my choice to have attended a state school.

While I wouldn’t trade my college experience for anything, as the friends, memories, and experiences it led me to have been the best years of my life, I do believe that our nation is at a pivotal moment in terms of higher education. Burdening new graduates with debt and education costs that grow with each passing year is not sustainable, and I believe it is the duty of our government to look toward reform sooner rather than later.

While I have a job, it’s not where I want to be.

To start, I got a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts, which turned out to be worthless as the research and communication skills garnered are not sought after.

In an effort to get a job out of the gate, I joined Teach for America, which aims to recruit college grads to go into teaching. A lot of college students are aiming for these “job guarantee” programs, which I argue are not worth what they say they are.

The program was terrible, no support, and f****d me over. The program I was in forced us into getting a teaching certificate for the area we taught in, which put me down $20,000 in loans because they were affiliated with an Ivy League school. I ended up leaving after one year and going onto unemployment once I was back in Massachusetts.

Since then I’ve joined an MA program and took exams to get certified in teaching here in Massachusetts, but, of course, there are more layoffs than hires. Now I’m working in a job that uses none of my skills from college and is taking me nowhere, as I apply to teaching jobs that are not existent.

I never foresaw that, at the age of 25, I would still be struggling to find a career and working at a job I am overqualified for. I know I must be thankful to have a job while many others do not, and especially a job that doesn’t pay minimum wage, but I always thought I would be further along by now.

I attribute that to the abysmal job market.

I am currently working at a job where my daily tasks have become very routine and do not utilize any of the skills or knowledge I gained in college. I am enrolled in a Master’s program studying history and archival methods, so I initially took the job to learn some archival skills — namely, digitization methods — and because I wanted to get off unemployment. And I do feel lucky that I have gained some tools in the archival field.

But after working here for nearly ten months, I am finding little opportunity for further growth. I’m content with staying at my job until I graduate with an MA this spring, but, with the slowdown in teacher hiring and fast track of teacher layoffs, that might extend past graduation.

I am very frustrated by the job market in the Boston area. After having taught for a year under a competitive teaching program, I took the MA state teaching exams and became certified to teach History for Grades 5-12. But no one is hiring. And those who are hiring are looking for teachers with more experience, a hurdle that I’ve heard a lot of post-grads come up against: the mandatory three-to-five years experience in positions that utilize skills that anyone with a college degree should be overqualified for.

Of course, teaching experience is different than, say, the experience that employers seek for administrative assistants. But I would think that having two years of teaching experience under my belt and being a semester away from becoming a scholar of history, having written two lengthy theses, would be enough to standout from a pool of social studies teacher applications.

Yet I can’t even get my foot in the door as a teacher’s aide or substitute.

Another of my frustrations is that job applications have become mechanical. Employers are looking for key words on resumes and do not seem to appreciate the broad skill sets that come with liberal arts degrees. Employers will turn me down for administrative jobs that simply require answering phones, managing a calendar, and greeting walk-ins. Yet because I don’t have three-to-five years experience in a nearly identical role, I am seen as unqualified or, more often than not, not even worthy of an email response.

I am trying to give myself options by opening as many doors as possible. So, while the door to teaching is not opening for me right now, I’ve made do by teaching a course this fall at UMass Boston’s OLLI Institute, adding another credential to my name. And, in case I come across more difficulties in landing a teaching position this coming spring, I’ve begun applying to do research abroad next fall.

Part of me likes the idea of being a “jack of all trades” and leaving my future open to possibilities, but I also long to settle into a teaching position and be able to share my love and passion for history with students.