In 2000, Millennials were an upbeat, engaged generation of talented young people who would lead the country into a leaner, greener, better future one instant message at a time. By 2009 we'd somehow morphed into, "a generation of hot-house flowers puffed with a disproportionate sense of self-worth". Must've been something we tweeted. In less than a decade, Millennials went from bright hopes to great disappointments as Zuckerberg, Wales, and Page left us entitled, needy, and "without the resiliency skills they need when Mommy and Daddy can't fix something". With books like, Generation Me or The Narcissism Epidemic, odiously expounding our, "sense of entitlement" adding to the criticism, almost no one really asks: are Millennials really that self-absorbed?
Sure, advances in computing and the internet birthed a myriad of technological luxuries, but it's taken the world out of the buggy and into the bullet train, leaving behind anyone who can't keep pace. Millennials live in a world with the Internet giving corporate grade software away for free, a labor force flush with advanced degrees and where the wrong status update can leave you unemployed. On the other hand, Generation X not only lived through the greatest period of economic growth and prosperity, but was also the first beneficiary of civil rights reforms won by its Baby Boomer parents. So it's time to set the record straight, and find out whose generation really is entitled.
Knowledge....Is Expensive
It's a well-known fact that having some form of postsecondary education is vital for one's future job prospects and financial security. Historically, degree holders get better jobs, and receive higher salaries than those that don't. Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Eduation Data System (IPEDS) shows that this fact isn't lost on Millennials; 129,950,543 were enrolled in a degree-granting institution between 2002 and 2009, about 18,564,363 people a year. However, the fact that the cost of attendance at public and private institutions rises with each entering class is no small matter and these costs make completing 2 or 4 years of coursework no easy task.
Numbers from the National Center For Education Statistics (NCES) show that since 1980 (the beginning of the millennial period) attendance costs for 4-year programs at degree-granting institutions increased 631.38 percent, while costs for 2-year programs rose 399.51 percent. If that's not enough the same database also provided specifics on current annual costs for 2 and 4 year programs at public and private institutions.
- For public insitutions: $8,085.00 (2yr) / $15,918.00 (4yr)
- For private institutions: $23,871.00 (2yr) / $32,617.00 (4yr)
How do these figures compare to their 1980 levels? In current dollars costs at public institutions are 398.87 percent and 624.24 percent higher for 2 and 4 year programs respectively. In private institutions, including both non-profit and for profit schools, costs went up 554.75 percent for 2 year programs and 583.07 percent for 4 year programs.
Article comments
1 - ken
This article is full of half truths and some facts are not correct. I am a Gen-Xer and I did not grow up in a time when I had money. I had to get that on my own. It is true however, Gen-M is a very needy generation and on top of that they thank the Govt should do everything for them. So, I have studied and work with Gen-M and they think the Govt. should give them everything - it is a generation of Me. Case Closed no seat needed.
2 - Sarah Sladek
I would dispute that Xers were raised during an era of economic prosperity. The late 1970s introduced 30 years of massive layoffs and downsizing in corporate America. The divorce rate was skyrocketing during their Xer youth and cable television arrived - bringing with it access to news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Xers were the first generation to have never known job security and most Xers were raised in single-parent households or households where both parents were working. They are self-sufficient since they practically raised themselves and skeptical of hierarchy and authority after being raised amidst divorce, layoffs, and heavy television media which showed the nation's leaders failing to deliver on their promises. Plus, Xers are a small generation (48 million compared to 78 million Boomers) and have been stuck in middle-management, hitting their heads on the 'gray ceiling' and waiting for Boomers to retire for the past two decades. Plus, most Xers carry heavy financial burdens, caring for aging relatives at the same time they are raising children under the age of 18. Yes, we need Xers to sustain our companies and our economy. But Xers are more independent, withdrawn, and cautious for a reason - and to suggest this generation is entitled is way, way off base.
3 - karl f
I think you are thinking about the boomers. I am a gen x'er and started my career in 2004 (After college and grass school). I essentially got three good years. I guess you can hold that against me if you want, but it's not like I had any money to invest when the market was good.
I REALLY hate it when you all group gen x w/boomers. We were latch-key kids only to see our parents laid off. I have over $100,000 OK n student loans. It was the boomers who had it all and once they no longer needed things like highest education and labor unions, they threw them under the bus.
4 - Alexander J Smith III
When i was researching the piece, most of the consensus on the Generational periods broke down like this:
Baby Boomers: post WWII ~ 1960 or 1961
Generation X: 1960/61 ~ 1980
Millennial: 1980 ~ 1999
The bulk of the research conducted around Millennials deals with individuals who would be in higher education or early - mid career which covers most folks from 1980 to about 1994 or so. The points about Generation X are about the economic conditions they were born into, and would have existed by the time the oldest of them were young professionals as older Millennials are now.
5 - Gen X
"Creation of Medicaid and Medicare by the Social Security Act - 1965
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Establishment of Affirmative Action by President Kennedy- 1961
Expansion of Affirmation Action under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Carter 1965-1979
End of Conscription in the U.S. - 1972
Passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution - 1971
Record high for purchasing power of the Minimum Wage at $9.86/hr (2011 dollars) -1968"
LOL. Generation Xers were still wearing diapers or weren't even born yet when the events above occurred. Are you ill or something?
6 - Igor
I was born in 1937 and my 5 kids scattered between 1960 and 1973. I always worked hard and had a modest lifestyle. But at least I was always able to eat and live and I had a Land Grant college to attend to get skills.
For several years I've worried about how recent generations could possibly survive and have even middleclass lives. At least in the old days a manual worker had the protection of a union, but now that seems to be gone. What did we get in exchange for giving up unions? Even richer CEOs?
We seem to have 'privatised' the Universities. We made profit centers out of them. And what have we gained for that sacrifice of public assets? Even richer CEOs?
7 - Matt
What a shockingly poorly written piece. From an extremely narrow focus on post colligiate education to Cherry picking data sets to back up the economic positions, this is a weak argument. Example: there were 0 gen x people working in 1967, yet that's when your data set begins. Likewise for millenials; not too many in the work force in 1990 if their generation starts in 1980. Why not start your data from when the respective generation would begin to enter the work force? 1978 and 1998 respectively. It's because your argument would then be completely baseless. Leading edge gen x started working in the face of a recession. Millenials did not.
Millenials have endured massive increases in secondary education, and the bulk of the generation has graduated into a truly bad job market. But keep in mind that no generation has endured more recessions than gen X, they're the 1st generation to make less money than the one before (compare incomes 1970 vs.. 2010)no generation lost more wealth in the last recession (59% 2004-2010)than any generation before. Social security begins to run out of money 2035, exactly when gen X begins to retire en mass. I won't bother with the upheaval in benefits like pensions and health care that gen x was the first to have to face as well. Millenials have a tough road ahead, no doubt. But to suggest that Gen X had it better is laughable.
8 - Lori
" Gen X and Baby Boomer's should keep in mind that the next time they need their Google Calendar synced to their iPhone, or an updated benner on their website it'll be their Millenial son or granddaugther doing it. So to all our "haters" out there, here's the chair, feel free to have a seat. "
I'm pretty sure we can do these two things since we invented the code and practically built the internet ourselves. We don't hate you. I understand social networking is your life , since it is the way to stay informed and in touch. We wish all of our peers were like you, so our world could rocket along next to you. Sadly our elders never take the bull by the horn and embrace all the changes, so your generation invents the ways to use the technology.
9 - Wei Min
Astute statistical work. Though it kind of feels like the author is looking to pick a fight. Does it look like "Gen X" cares? We ourselves remember what we went through and how crappy it felt. And that's what matters. Can the author not process his own generational gripes without putting other people down?
10 - Wei Min
Also... all this Gen X pointing finger at the Boomers, or Gen Y doing so to Gen X, with charges of narcissism. Let s/he who is without narcissism cast the first blog! This exercise is wasteful and impractical.
We got problems: crumbling infrastructure, wasteful foreign intervention, and financial coffers cleaned out some time ago. There are those who profit from the confusion that this generation-vs-generation (white-vs-black, native-vs-foreign before) animosity. Let's unite, get off our computers, and take them down!