When you think of community college what comes to mind? Cheap, slackers, immature kids with bad grades. These are the first things that popped into my head when I had to make the decision to go there for the semester before I transfer schools. I thought it was going to be pure hell, but instead it’s actually kind of my idea what college should be like, minus a few things. Here’s what to expect if you’re going to community college next semester or summer.

The Good:

Free parking! - I was pumped about this, since parking at my last college (NC State) was about 200 bucks. This is also a bad thing because everyone can afford to park, so I have to leave my house 40 minutes before class (and I live 15 minutes away) to beat traffic and find a spot next to my building

The Fests - Back to School Fest, Fall Fest, Latin Fest, Halloween Fest….there’s always some type of “fest” going on….and they all involve a DJ, a moon bounce and loads of free food!

Online classes with NO extra fees - Most colleges label online classes as Distance Education and slap a few extra fees on the courses so that you’ll actually come to campus and not sit in your dorm/apartment/parent’s house watching your lecture via laptop wearing your your favorite tee and a pair of sweats (heaven!). Well, because so many people go to good ol’ community college (mine has 4 campuses total and is 40,000 strong), they actually prefer if you take a class or two online. But be warned: most online classes don’t have deadlines and it can be tempting to slack off. I’ve been taking Ethics since August and haven’t taken any tests just because I don’t feel like it! Read More »

With the economy in the sh*tter…it’s not crazy to ask yourself how the eff you are gonna pay for college. Well for you young’uns lookin for schooling in this time of economic turmoil, here’s a list of schools you might want to avoid, despite their prestige.

Consumerist.com posted a list of the 25 most expensive colleges in the U.S. (determined by tuition + room and board). Naturally, this list consists of the creme de la creme of prestigious schools (though surprisingly you won’t see Yale or Harvard on there), that charge extra for the name.

Now, I may not be going to Sarah Lawrence - which costs about $53,166 per year - but I think I’m getting a damn good edumacation without totally putting myself in debt (by “totally” putting myself in debt” I mean I’ll only be paying back loans till I’m about 40… not 80). While prices are on the rise, Hofstra University maintains a rather affordable tuition with plenty of financial aid. The University boasts several accredited departments as well as famous alums, such as Francis Ford Coppola. Hofstra proves that there are schools out there that offer a great education without having their students bend backwards to cover tuition.

So really guys, what’s in a name? Why the hell are these school’s so expensive? And how is anyone going to pay back the loans if they can’t get a job? And are these schools really worth all this money?

So many questions; I need answers!

If there’s anyone reading this who attends one of these top-o-the-line schools, tell us: are you gettin your penny’s worth?

You hear the same marketing crap all the time: you’re in college to better your future.

Of course, having a Bachelors doesn’t really do anything anymore. I’ve heard about a ton about people who have their Bachelors and are working at a Domino’s or something. Getting a Masters seems like the next logical step, for students and apparently their parents. So is it such a bad thing that I really don’t want to go?

Being around a ton of people who are all talking about getting recommendations and narrowing down their grad school list makes me realize more and more that grad school really isn’t for me. My mom’s look of horror when I told her this one day this summer is the only thing I see when I talk about wanting to go into vet tech after I get out of school. Issue is, as an English major, I’m mildly suffering with what-do-I-do- with-this-diploma? syndrome. Publishing and editing are options, sure, but I don’t want to deal with that crap. It seems that some people assume that because a field has something to do with your major, you will inevitably want to be a part of that field.

And of course, there’s that inevitable money issue breathing down the necks of graduates. Do you stay in school for another two years so you don’t have to pay off loans just yet? Everyone seems to sort of just assume that jobs are lining up to grab college grads, but with the economy the way it is, I’m thinking that this is somehow far from the case. More and more of my senior class seems to be regretting their major because there’s nothing they can do with it to get money. What ever happened to going to college to just learn? Read More »

Have you heard? The economy is in a downward spiral! People are losing their homes, their jobs, and all of the money they’ve been saving forever! And here we are, a bunch of wide-eyed, “the world is our oyster” college kids who can’t wait to get out into the real world!

Oh yeah, and we are poor.

Between those student loans we are gonna have to pay back and the fact that we may not be able to get a job upon graduating, we gotta start eating canned goods saving now. So, how are our writers handling this economic situation (A.K.A. sh*tstorm)? Here are their tips for saving money and stretching a dollar. Read More »

So, apparently the Wall Street crisis is hurting people in more ways than we thought. We’ve discovered yet another desperate person trying to sell sex to pay off debt.

Remember that crazy, desperate college grad student from Sacramento who tried to sell her virginity to pay for her student loans (I guess working and saving is just not as profitable)?

Well, looks like she inspired someone because after Johnny No Name blew away the severance pay he was offered when he was let go from his investment banking firm position, he decided to move on to selling his gay virginity online — because whoring yourself out is the must have job of the year.

What is gay virginity, anyway? According to him, it’s a hand job and/or blow job, but absolutely no anal (at least not part of this specific deal), because he’s not gay. Sure, keep telling yourself that.

The real comedy comes when he swears to the bidders he is “HOT” and looks like Adam Brody. Well Johnny, if you’re so “HOT,” maybe you should try to model your way out of debt instead of selling a hand and blow job.

…Just a suggestion.

It may or may not shock you, but where there is one desperate person there is of course a few more; currently Johnny No Name has a high bid of $11,000.

You gotta loves those brothels in Nevada and Rhode Island, thanks to them this is all perfectly legal. I wonder if Mr. No Name’s plane ticket from New York to Nevada is included in the bid?

This is just another piece of evidence that shows how far people will go for money and sex. Would you sell your body to pay off thousands of dollars of student loans?

It’s official, kids. The Senate passed the bailout plan tonight! It took three long hours of debate (which any sorority girl can tell you is nothing compared to rush), but the Senate voted in favor of the newly adapted bailout plan that will cost a wee bit more than the original $700 billion dollars.  All we have to do now is wait for it to slide into the House…and hopefully pass there…

I am no economist so I can’t tell you exactly what is gonna happen next, but it looks like we won’t have to stock up on the canned goods for now!

So get out there and celebrate the fact that the stock market isn’t crashing, your student loans are still available and all that money you have in the bank is safe for another keg.

This political season, everyone who is against abortion keeps rattling off about how it’s an easy choice for a woman. I hear words scrambled into arguments that are excruciatingly harsh. Words like…MURDER and SELFISH and HUMAN LIFE and RESPONSIBILITY. I am here to tell you that abortion is never an easy choice. For anyone.

No, I have not had an abortion myself. Thankfully, I have been using birth control and condoms consistently and I have never been pregnant. If I were to ever become pregnant somehow, I cannot say that I would have the baby. I know that choice is gut-wrenching. That is why I do everything I can to make sure that I don’t ever have to make it. I have been sexually active for almost 5 years now and my methods of birth control have always worked.

Some of my friends, however, have not been as careful as I have been. Some of my friends, including a best friend and a roommate, have gone through the process of an abortion. Believe me, it is not as easy as many people paint it to be. I have watched these girls cry for nights on end. The choice to have something taken out of your body that could grow into a life, regardless of whether or not you believe it is currently ‘alive,’ is one of the hardest choices a woman can ever make.

My old roommate, Carol, couldn’t speak for days after she found out she was pregnant. She was 21, in college, and a dancer. Going forward with having the baby would mean postponing her college graduation at least a year. She would have had no way to pay rent — since she was paying it through student loans — if she left her dance program. She would have to move back across the country to live with her mom and be apart from all of the friends she had made, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend wanted the choice to be hers, but we all knew the truth: he didn’t have any money and hardly any responsibility. Read More »

With all this talk about Howard Stern helping to auction a college grad’s virginity off at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch (a legal brothel) in Nevada, we here at CC have got to talking about legal prostitution and how strange that life must be.

Natalie Dylan (not the girl’s real name) is a Sacramento State graduate currently seeking a way to pay off her student loans.  Naturally, the 22-year-old brunette thought that letting the highest bidder take her V-Card was the best way to score fast, tax-free cash. Somehow Stern is involved, and because he’s involved, everyone and their mother is buzzing about the morality of the issue.

But we’re not interested in whether God likes it if you let dudes pay you for sex.  We’re interested in what life must be like inside the Moonlight Bunny Ranch.  Do prostitutes really like their job?  Does it ever get…like…tiring?  Are they happy?  Damaged?  And what about the guys who go there?

A few years ago, 20/20 did a report on the Moonlight Ranch, and we were able to find a clip where a lot of the girls spoke about their future plans, and why they were legal prostitutes in the first place.  What’s interesting is that even though none of the women seem out and out unhappy, there’s a distinct hardness to everyone. I’m here because I have to be their eyes seem to be saying, I’m here and I’m fine.

Take a look at the video after the jump and let us know what you think.  What’s your opinion on legal prostitution…and about this whole Natalie Dylan issue? Read More »