Gender Pay Gap in Student Loans

As a senior in high school, I have to ask myself whether or not I want to take on student loans going into college as I'm sure many of you have to too.  However when I was reading an article in the newspaper a few days ago, I was disturbed, but not surprised, to read about how women are more likely to "have a tougher time handling the same amount of student debt as their male peers" (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune).  Women have to struggle more than men because lower salaries typically follow women throughout their careers.  Even though its been statistically proved that more women are going to college than men and we earn higher grades on average.  BUT, the year after college women are earning less in jobs than men who graduated at the same time as they did.  Knowing this in advance really sucks because I know that unless I'm going to college on a full-paid scholarship (which probably isn't going to happen!) then I am going to need student loans. 

However there was a catch in the article saying that the reduced amount of pay between men and women can be linked to the career choices that women make.  More women make "choices that sometimes position them in occupations like teaching, which pay less than fields like engineering that tend to attract more men."  So whoopee to me for wanting to major in Geology!  But then it goes on to say, "But about a third of the gap cannot be explained by factors such as a woman's major, career choice or hours worked." (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune).  No more whoopee.

Summing up the article to a nice little chunk is to basically say that it all depends.  It all depends on where you go to college (whether it's a more selective college or dumpy college), on what you choose to major in (teaching versus engineering), and how "women should be willing to negotiate for higher pay when taking jobs" (Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune) in which men tend to do more than women.  So for all the women out there, including myself, be aware of the rule of thumb out there that you shouldn't be taking on monthly loan payments that exceed 8 percent of monthly pay unless you're in a relatively high-paying career with advance potential.

Obama Daughters

So I just recently read an article in the paper called "Coming of Age at 1600 Pennsylvania."  When I saw what it was about -- a breakdown of the lives of Malia and Sasha Obama -- my first response was "Oh, this is gonna be some boring article about the Obama kids livin it up in the White House."  But it was actually interesting to me!

The article mentioned that "President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have endeavored to shield their daughters ... from public scrutiny."  Michelle Obama has made it a point in the past, and well now I guess in the future, to keep her daughters' lives, for the most part, private.  "In an election in which the mom in chief is a key campaigner, there is one thing that Michelle Obama has promised she will not discuss: her daughters' dating lives."

"Just about everything else in the parenting realm, it seems, is fair game."

Theeen the article went on to say that no, neither of the Obama kids are dating.  And it listed all of the sports they're involved in, that they aren't allowed to watch TV on school nights, they're fans of the Hannah Montana Movie, they give their dad the space he needs to be prez, they make their beds every morning, and, oh yeah, Malia went on a field school trip to Mexico over last spring break.  You know, in case you're keeping tabs on the president's daughters.  I guess we know pretty much the whole layout of their everyday lives now, huh?

I just found this article to be really counter intuitive because it was talking about how the Obamas want to keep their daughter's lives private and away from the general public, yet it listed as many details as it could about their lives.  To me, that doesn't seem very private.

P.S. I know this doesn't have having to do with the moral of this blog post, but one thing about this article irked me.  It was written before the election results so bear with me.  "In another four years, Sahsa will be a teenager, and Malia will be heading to college before her father's term is up -- if he wins re-election."  I dunno, that last part, "before her father's term is up -- if he wins re-election" stuck out at me as annoyingly cocky.  Peace out.