“Being an adult is expensive” is a sentence uttered by mothers everywhere and discovered annually by college students who think that their story is going to be different.
We all attend college, in some part, to get a position in an industry we, hopefully, like and perhaps even love, so that we can exist in a capitalistic society.
Going to college and getting a degree used to mean that you should be able to find a job in your specialized field and then live comfortably off that job in a single-income household. However, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, that wasn’t really true then, and it certainly isn’t now.
More and more people join dead-end careers that they might love, but that don’t give them the means to survive in an ever-increasingly costly world.
Teachers are a great example of this, a basic answer to the formula of going to college and getting a degree: ideally, educators do their four years of hard work and learning in college and then apply to teach at a school.
Upon getting hired at said school, they get a job that they can comfortably live off of.
Except literally everyone knows teachers don’t get paid enough to do this. In fact, countless educators are picking up side-hustles to pay their bills.
An important distinction must be made between having a side-hustle to add to your income and having a side-hustle to supplement your costs, which are very different. Teachers, including ones I know personally, are having to do the latter.
This phenomenon isn’t exclusive to teachers either. I know plenty of office jobs and law enforcement officers who are turning to other means to help make rent.
Also, we’ve got to acknowledge that people should be able to live comfortably off their career salary; they shouldn’t just be making rent.
Despite these borderline dystopian conditions, I have some advice for all my fellow hustlers who are attempting to make money but are going about it the wrong way. Stop going into the arts.
Far too many hustlers think that making cutesy t-shirts and curating a vintage jewelry booth at the local market are the ways to add to their income. These options are costly and take lots of time and money to build up a clientele and supply. And honestly, most of us aren’t talented enough in the arts to make marketable art, which is okay.
Instead, as much as it pains me to say it, turn to corporations like DoorDash and other restaurants as a part-time worker. Or perhaps, build on your other skills that relate to your job, i.e., teachers could get involved in tutoring, etc.
It is awful that our society is in this situation, but we must make the most of what we have while fighting for better conditions for everyone.
Garrett McEntee is a 19-year-old English sophomore from Benton, La.
