#110 Contemplating Going Back to School to Put off Working

After aimlessly surfing the web for hours and running out of interesting things to to browse, there’s a very good chance the unemployed will eventually click on one of those University of Phoenix ads touting their online degree services. They’ll likely close out the browser immediately but by then it’ll be too late. Combined with all those asinine Career Builder articles talking about high paying jobs that can be obtained with certain degrees, the seed for going back to school will have already been planted.

Some people see unemployment as a time to get hammered every night on the government’s dime, some might see it as a time to look for the perfect job, while others might see it as a time to figure out how to maximize their debt while looking for a way to avoid going back to work. There’s nothing like having the rug pulled out from under you when it comes to finances only to dig yourself in deeper in the hole by deciding to either finish a degree or get a brand new one. “It’s an investment,” they’ll tell disbelieving people who have watched the unemployed struggle to live off their unemployment checks. “And when I graduate, this recession will be over and I’ll be able to make good money and pay off my loans quickly.”

It’s a plan that sounds too good to be true. Going back to school might make perfect sense for some people. But for a good majority of the unemployed who are still paying off student loans, the idea is just a temporary dream they have to push off the negative thoughts about eventually having to go back to being a worker bee. Thinking about school is just another way to kill some time while avoiding looking for a new job. For a week or so they’ll investigate getting an online degree, and then take a look at physical universities, both in and out of state. After they start receiving brochures in the mail and really getting excited about going back to school, they’ll take one practice exam for the LSAT, the MCAT, the SAT, or the GRE and claim temporary insanity and realize there’s no way they’re dropping so much “in this economy” to be miserable for a couple years. Besides, enrolling in school means giving up their unemployment checks, and it’s much nicer getting paid to do nothing.

Tags: going back to school, in this economy, killing time, recession