The May 26 letter to the editor “Helping needy students attend Illinois colleges,” from four presidents of esteemed local institutions of higher education, advocated no cuts to the Monetary Award Program. Included was the statement “According to state and federal estimates, those who complete their education will earn $600,000 more than those without a college degree during the course of a 40-year career.”
The word “will” sounds like certainty. I completed my education, yet have not been allowed to work at a job requiring my degree, let alone major, to say nothing of starting my career. My earnings record since graduation is less than that of the average high-school dropout.
Because I have a calling as well as a college degree, I use job-seeking advice compatible with what your respected columnists in this field suggest. The Illinois Department of Employment Security’s (IDES) attitude is that if the sort of job you are educated for doesn’t show up in the want ads, you’re supposed to forget you’re a college graduate, forget your talents and passions, forget who you are and get “training” for a lower-skilled job that has want ads.
After I was part of a mass layoff from the Census Bureau last year, three phone calls that were supposed to come from IDES employees didn’t, and my state senator and representative have not responded to my requests for help. Meanwhile, not only is Illinois not getting the benefits of my economic contributions, but the state budget isn’t getting the high taxes I should have to be paying.
It would be most helpful if these educators would pay as much attention to the back end of higher education as to the front end, and push for full employment of all Illinois college graduates.
