Seventy percent of plasma donations in the world come from America. This is due, in part, to today’s youth being increasingly saddled with student debt and shrinking incomes. Many students resort to donating blood plasma in order to pay for rent or food. What does this mean?
The American Dream has been distorted throughout the years, leading to something that more resembles a type of dysphoria rather than the dream in which we’re conned into believing from a young age.
Dysphoria is a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life. It’s the opposite of euphoria.
The American Dream is no longer a dream. It’s the American Dysphoria.
Tuition costs have taken a major climb since our parents were in school. They’ve exploded by more than 1,225 percent since 1978. Our parents paid up to $1,000 for a whole year of college, whereas we’re spending upwards of $10,000 for the same schools.
Thankfully, there’s such a thing as financial assistance, right? Nope. If you take out a loan for $10,000, you’re going to end up paying back far more with interest costs. And scholarships are getting smaller and more scarce.
But what about getting jobs? Why don’t we just get a job like our parents did and pay our way through school? In general, median incomes across the country have decreased, save for a handful of states on the east coast. After adjusting for inflation, millennials make $2,000 less than our parents did at our age.
Not to mention the fact that working whilst going to school is extremely stressful. It’s difficult to work around class schedules, and homework in college takes much longer than it did in our high school years.
Once we have college under our belts, what’s next? According to the established American Dream bit, buying a car and getting a house are the next steps to happiness.
Car prices have skyrocketed since our parents were in college, as have housing costs. The average cost of a home in the U.S. in 1980 was $76,400. The average price of a home today? Upwards of $360,600. On top of that, if you live a city, chances are you’re going to be paying quite a bit more for a house. We all probably — hopefully — remember the recession a few years ago.
So what are we, as millennials, supposed to do? Good question. We’re stuck in an economy that our parents, grandparents and governing corporate minds ruined. Some youth are lucky enough to receive money from their families, whereas some students don’t receive any financial assistance.
Wouldn’t it be nice if tuition could be free? Maybe in an alternate reality. Where are Rick and Morty when you need them?
I’m a full-time student taking sixteen credit hours. I also have a full-time job. It’s tiring. Hillary Clinton thinks students should have to work during their college years. I simply disagree. Having to do it myself, it can be immensely and unnecessarily overwhelming.
It’s a sad thought that the American Dream is slowly fading from our grasp by way of greed and generational delusion. Students shouldn’t have to resort to things like selling plasma to cover living costs. But that’s not my business.
