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Student loan defaulters

College Prep, Communication, Family, Job Search, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Social Media /

Bank withdrawalI just watched a podcast showing numerous student loan defaulters who consider themselves “under-employed” and carrying “unsustainable loans”, complaining about the prospect of having to pay them back after years of covid and other reasons for repayment pauses.

I responded. Hard-hearted? Or real? Tell me what you think (nicely, please).

“I went to a state university because I couldn’t afford a top-tier private school. I had some scholarships, but also worked at least one job every semester and accepted financial aid via work-study and loans. With my degree, I got the job I studied for, struggled a few early years to repay my loan, and continued with life.

Current trends are to borrow immoderate amounts for over-priced private, name-brand schools, bypassing the more moderately priced options, to get a useless degree or one that offers low potential for justifying the price or the loan incurred.

With an attitude and degree no business wants to pay for, they accept lower wage jobs and spend what they should be setting aside for their loan obligation to get tatted, buy the fancy new car, best phone, gaming, credit card debt and party life. And then they want ME to subsidize their lifestyle so they don’t have to pay their debt. All four of my family went to college. Three involved loans. All paid back. Pardon my insensitivity.”

Increasingly, hs graduates are opting to learn high-paying trades or going into the military, which offers opportunities to learn, study, and gain financially — with stability. Those are wise decisions in the current environment.

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Earning and receiving a great reference letter

1 Comment / College Prep, High Schools, Job Search, Teaching Music /

referencesBy John Gardner (retired July 2020)

As a teacher, I was often asked to be a reference on a job application or to write a recommendation letter for students applying for scholarships, jobs, and/or colleges. I received a nice thank you from a former exchange student who had just re-used the letter I wrote for her as she was applying for graduate studies toward her doctorate at a university in Germany. Because I find myself answering the same questions or asking for the same information whenever students need this help, I’m going to organize them here and then refer students to this post when they want my letter-writing help.

How do you EARN a good letter and when do you START?

When sophomores and juniors interested in auditioning for Drum Major asked, “When are auditions?” My response was normally, “Your audition started freshman year.”

Similarly, a good reference doesn’t happen just because you ask or need one…. it happens because you have earned it during your years of association with, in this case, a teacher.

Few teachers or coaches get to know a student as well as a band director because it is often a 4+ year participation class — and especially marching band involves much more interaction than in a typical academic class. Students should realize and appreciate the value of such a letter — and work all four years to develop a stellar reputation the teacher will be happy to brag on.

Hire MeWhat makes a good letter?

I usually structure my letter to focus on multiple areas:

  1. Band experience. Which ensembles, what years, any additional responsibilities – i.e. section leader, drum major, etc.
  2. Qualification. Especially for scholarship letters, I like to emphasize genuine need and why I think meeting that need is a good investment for the scholarship provider.
  3. School experience. Grades, other extracurricular activities, honor rolls, awards, achievements.
  4. Community experience, especially volunteerism. Camps, counseling experiences, etc. Jobs.
  5. College/Career goal. What will you major in or what do you plan to do after graduation?
  6. Reputation. I like to reference the quality of friend choices, the wisdom of decision-making, and generally, the types of comments peers and teachers might make.

What YOU should provide the letter-writer.

  • Resume. Resumes typically contain much of the information needed for a good letter. If you don’t have a resume, use the above list and organize information. If not an official resume, at least a list of activities, honors, awards, jobs, volunteer work, and after-graduation plans.
  • Stamped, Addressed Envelope with sufficient postage. Although I often do provide a copy to the student, the customary approach is to provide everything to the letter writer who then can put the letter in the envelope, seal it and drop it in the mail. OR… links to the online application and an email to which to send a copy to the student. Don’t use your school email, which may expire after you graduate.
  • Additional Paperwork completed. Often there is an accompanying application or information sheet to go with the letter and it is both inconvenient and inconsiderate of you to expect ME to take that additional time. Fill in your addresses, names, and numbers. If I see that it will take extra time, I tend to procrastinate on the project.
  • TIME! The worst was a student approaching me after school about writing a letter requiring a same day postmark! C’mon…. If you want a comprehensive letter, give me time to do it. I will typically write a letter within a couple of days — but give me a week, please.

I love writing letters to help achievers because when I was where they are — there were people who went to bat for me and this is my way of returning that favor by passing it on….. Teachers don’t expect a lot in return, but a smile and a thank you can go a long way.

SUGGESTIONS for getting ADDITIONAL letters and help!  If a teacher has taken the time to organize and write a professional letter on YOUR behalf, consider a short, hand-written THANK YOU to the teacher. Guess who gets the better letters cranked out faster the next time?

Thanks for reading.

 

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I wanted to be a band director

Assistant Directing, College Prep, Family, Job Search, Music Department, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

In 7th grade, attending a band clinic at Morehead State University, I made the definite decision that I wanted to be a band director. No one on either side of my family had been to college, so I was clueless in many aspects of what it would take.

My band director, James Copenhaver, pulled me aside one day to explain:

You want to be a band director. That means you’re going to need to go to college, but your family can’t pay for you to go (My parents were divorced and my polio-surviving mother was raising five children.)

Your grades are okay, but not good enough for academic scholarships. You’re not athletic, so that is out.

The best chance for you to get to college is to become good enough on that clarinet that by the time you graduate, a college will pay for you to come. You’ve got four years.

It worked.

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My first employee quit a secure job to work straight commission

Leave a Comment / Business strategies, Fundraising, Income Opportunity, Job Search, Personal experience, Sales and Marketing, Selling in the Schoolhouse, Small Business /

i-quitBefore I left my first sales job, I had worked five years for a national manufacturing company which spent a lot of time making the case that, even though ours was a “draw-against-commission” job (straight commission with a regular check, in other words), we had the security of management and big business backing us up and that life on the outside competing as a “trunk-slammer” who represented a variety of manufacturers and importers was an extremely high-risk proposition.

The manager who hired me left the company during my fourth year to go work for an importer that competed with my manufacturing company employer. A few months into his new job he called me…

John, you gotta get outta there. There are too many stupid people out here making too much money trying to do what you have already been trained to do. Make the jump, you’ll be fine.

He sent me information and I started researching the contract I was under. This process went on for several months. I started making plans and connections. Then I got another call from Bob,

John, have you left yet?

No, but I have one foot out the door.

Well, never mind. Don’t go. I’m back!

He had been hired back as upper-level management. I did resign and was one of the very few who did so to start working independently in the same business, who did NOT get challenged on the contract — and my theory as to why — is that Bob, did not want to have to answer in court that he was, in fact, the one who told me to leave and advised me to do exactly what I did. I’m glad they hired him back.

My wife and I ate beans and cornbread for a few months, but we got our business up and running and never looked back.

As I made the rounds to some of my former customers to tell them that I was still in business, but would be operating under another name, George, an Assistant Middle School Principal and Athletic Director started asking me a lot of questions and expressed an interest in coming to work for me in my new business.

But George, you have tenure, a Masters Degree and a Principal’s License. I can’t pay you anything until you sell something. Take a couple weeks to think about it.

A few weeks later I called George,

Just checking in to answer questions and see what I can do to help reduce your stress as you consider your options.

I’m not under stress anymore. I just resigned.

I know it took him a couple years to match the income he walked away from, but I underestimated the thrill of helping get an operation off the ground. George was a faithful and successful sales rep for me for twenty years until his retirement a few years ago.

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