Her Daughter Graduated With A Liberal Arts Degree Last Year And Still Can’t Find A Job, So She’s Been Paying For Her Student Loans And Living Expenses, Which Has Been Tough
Many of us were told to “dream big” and “shoot for the moon” when we were kids, but unfortunately, the occupation you think you want to pursue as a teenager isn’t always the most practical or fruitful option when you finally become a real adult.
This woman’s 23-year-old daughter is currently in the same boat. Her daughter received a sizable scholarship to a prestigious college when she was an incoming freshman and opted to major in liberal arts. The problem? Her major offers few job prospects.
Now, the reason why she and her husband didn’t say anything about their daughter’s decision is that they both actually have liberal arts degrees themselves. Her husband landed a government job; meanwhile, she started in customer service for a corporation before moving on to marketing and, later, a whole new career in health science.
“We would have been hypocrites if we had insisted [our daughter] major in something more practical, but we did warn her about how hard it would be for her to find a job with her major,” she recalled.
Regardless, her daughter went through with it, graduated in May 2024, and still hasn’t been able to find a job. Her daughter was able to scrape by while working part-time for one year following graduation. However, she was ultimately forced to move home this year.
And in their hometown, the job market isn’t any better for people with liberal arts degrees. Apparently, they live in an area that’s popular for tourists, meaning there are a ton of service jobs available. The issue? Her daughter believes these positions are “beneath her.”
“The odds of my daughter finding a job in her area of study here are bleak. She would have to save up money and move to a major city,” she explained.
In the meantime, she and her husband have been paying for their daughter’s student loans, which cost $500 per month. On top of that, they’ve been covering all of their daughter’s living expenses. This strain has made it virtually impossible for them to save any money.
That’s why she’s reaching the end of her rope and wants to tell her daughter that she must get a job. Her daughter could work in a supermarket for all she cares. She just wants some assistance paying down the student loan debt, at the very least.
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Her husband, though, is apprehensive about forcing their daughter to do that. He’s supposedly worried that they might damage her self-esteem.
“But I think it would actually help her self-esteem to be able to support herself, even partially,” she reasoned.
She and her husband’s differing perspectives have made her wonder whether forcing her daughter to find a job would be helpful or just too harsh.
Would they be enabling their daughter if they continued paying all her bills? At what point do adult children need to be given a “push?” How would you handle this if you were in her shoes?
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