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I graduated from Miami University in December 2008, which, apparently, was not the time to graduate. I am writing in to share some of my experiences from the past nine motnhs. "Is a college degree the new high school diploma?" my friend Katlyn recently asked me. She graduated in May with a degree in education. She isn't teaching.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, the unemployment rate for young Americans - age 16 to 24 - has exploded to a post-World War II high of 52.2 percent. Additionally, a recently published study from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth shows the damage to a new career by a recession can last nearly15 years. Despite this discouraging news, I tell my friend that we must remain optimistic. But her question definitely got me thinking: Should there be a market for college if there's no market for jobs in which a college degree is necessary? And, as unemployment and personal debt rise, why so does the cost of tuition?

My family is lower-middle class, which meant saving for college started early and as soon as I was old enough to work, I did. I was certain a degree from Miami would be a wise investment in my future and so I set my sights on earning one.

After graduating from high school, I got a little scholarship money and spent four semesters enrolled at Miami's less-expensive Hamilton branch, working part-time as a lifeguard at the local YMCA and as a mealtime server at a retirement home to offset the remaining cost of tuition and textbooks.

In 2006, I transferred to Miami's Oxford campus and tested into the university's strategic communication program. In the two years to follow, I completed internships with a FORTUNE 100 company, a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization and Miami's Office of Marketing Communication. I graduated in December in perfect health with no student debt, no criminal record and a GPA worth including on a resume. I did not graduate with a job.

There are no guarantees in life, and I understand that we all start at the bottom of the totem pole, but it's frustrating when you can't even get to the bottom of one to begin the climb. I've gone on some really great interviews, but so did many other people. If it really is all about networking, then my problem is that my network consists disproportionately of recent college graduates who are struggling themselves with the reality that there are too few jobs to go around. So, I moved back home. I would have liked to return to D.C. to pursue a career in non-profit communication, but those opportunities dried up. Without a job and nothing in the bank, this wasn't financially feasible.

Eventually, though, I landed an interview with a marketing agency in Cincinnati and accepted an offer to assist in the creation and implementation of local direct marketing campaigns. There's another name for this, and that's door-to-door sales. The best interview advice I can give you is to be certain to ask the interviewer to describe in specific detail the exact duties and functions of the position for which you're applying so that you can be completely informed. The door-to-door did not work out. (It was the dead of winter, after all.) Shortly afterward, I found a temporary gig assessing written responses on high school proficiency exams. You'd be shocked to learn what our state's department of education will accept as a qualifying response for a student to be eligible to graduate.. In this digital age where everyone has an opinion to post but few possess the linguistic prowess with which to post it, it's a shame that many educators seem to have given up on spelling.

Once this ended, anyhow, I was back on the market. In the meantime, however, I was certainly finding ways to keep busy. I took part in the Cincinnati Opera's summer production of Carmen as a stage extra and began volunteering with a local organization dedicated to empowering youth. None of this was paying the bills, of course, and soon the costs of out-of-pocket health insurance and unanticipated car repairs hit me hard.

Desperate, and with some experience in fine dining, I set out to find a serving job. There wasn't much, but I did notice a "Help Wanted" sign in the restaurant window of a popular '50s-themed burger chain. When I inquired within about filling out an application, the restaurant's manager asked me to tell him my age. When I told the manager I am 23-years-old, he informed me I was too old to apply and explained that his particular restaurant prefers to keep its wait-staff young to achieve a particular 1950s aesthetic. I believed this to be an incident of age discrimination and told him. However, the state and federal government does not see it this way. According to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one must be older than 40 to allege age discrimination (which sounded a lot to me like age discrimination).

Moving on from this ordeal, I accepted a part-time position selling discount clothing at an outlet store whose discounts I could hardly afford. And I must admit that I was a little embittered to discover that a former high school classmate who had not gone to college enjoyed a salaried management position with the retailer next door.

Since starting, I have been scheduled to work full time but continue to be paid the lesser part-time wage. When I've requested compensation commensurate with the hours I've worked, my manager tells me to stop complaining and just be grateful to have a job. This is a man who delivers instructions to his staff in the slow, slurred tone of voice you often observe in people with Down syndrome. After several occasions of enduring this, I asked him to refrain from imitating the speech of people with disabilities because I find it offensive. He did not take well to this "act of insubordination," and it's been icy in the workplace ever since. Let this also be a lesson to you: You will encounter people who will try to take advantage of you because they think you will accept mistreatment in favor of unemployment. It's a game I won't play. I've put in my two weeks notice.

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I would love to one day be a Miami success story, but I can't do this alone. We all must look out for each other as part of this great Miami family. U.S. News & World Report last month ranked Miami as one of the nation's Top 50 public universities. Surely, there is value in a Miami degree. Who will let me prove it?

Jason Boeckman '08jason.boeckman@gmail.com


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