Attention Class of 2009—Don't Graduate! - Millennial Money with Cliff Mason

BIO

Cliff Mason is the author of Millennial Money. He is the Senior Writer of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and has been that program's primary writer, in cooperation with and under the supervision of Jim Cramer, since he began at CNBC as an intern during the summer of 2005. Mason was the author of a column at TheStreet.com during 2007, which he describes as "hilarious, if short-lived." He graduated from Harvard College in 2007. It was at Harvard that Mason learned to multi-task, mastering the art of seeming to pay attention to professors while writing scripts for Mad Money. Mason has co-written two books with Jim Cramer: Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich and Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). He is 100% responsible for any parts of either book that you did not like. Mason has also had a fruitful relationship with Jim Cramer as his nephew for the last 23 years and will hopefully continue to hold that position for many more as long as he doesn't do anything to get himself kicked out of the family.

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Jan.09

4:56 PM ET

Friday, 9 Jan 2009

Attention Class of 2009—Don't Graduate!

Posted By:Cliff Mason

Topics:Careers | Economy (U.S.) | Economy (Global) | Recession | Stock Market

AP
If you happen to be a member of the class of 2009, I've got some important advice for you. Don't graduate...at least, not this year.

Via Matt Yglesias' blog I came across some truly horrifying pieces of information for anyone who was thinking of finishing school in 2009.

Apparently, numerous studies by economists have shown that students who graduate from college or grad school during a recession will take a hit to their income for the next ten years.

In other words, entering the workforce during a recession doesn't just hurt your ability to make money in the near-term. It has negative long-term effects on your career and earnings power that could last for the rest of your life.

If you want to read more about why and how this is, I'd check out this article that Yglesias cites written by Austan Goolsbee, economic advisor to the President-elect, back in 2006 when we weren't in the midst of the worst economic climate since the depression.

I'm less concerned with why, and more worried about helping you get around this fact of life with the least possible effort. If graduating from college and finishing grad school will put a dent in your income for the next decade, it seems to me the easiest way around this is to take a year off from school and graduate in 2010, when we'll hopefully be in a better situation.

Since the deck is stacked against anyone who tries to start working during a recession, the easiest thing to do is wait.

Maybe you think you don't have the money to take a year off from school and support yourself with a low-paying job in the interim. But think about the long-term costs of finishing school in 2009: You'll be earning less money than your peers who graduated when the economy was in better shape for ages, and all because of a quirk of fate! You might have to spend a year flipping burgers, but when you do graduate a year late, you won't have to spend the next ten-years playing catch-up with your paycheck.

There's no helping the class of 2008, but the class of 2009 can still be saved.

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Now is a great time to go backpacking around Europe to shore up your bourgeois credentials. It's a great time for a little stint in the French Foreign Legion, where you can pick up another language and some great stories. But according to the experts, it's a terrible time to graduate from college.

On a related note, I have never felt better about belonging to the illustrious class of '07.

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