Sometimes I wonder if in my own personal situation, if I too will be priced out of the market forever.

I can understand those feelings of being hopeless as a college student! They should choose wisely on what major to choose – not some easy major because it is easy.

My husband graduated last year from CSUSM with a degree in Computer Science – one of 19 other graduates (I just looked through the commencement booklet to count them). There are hundreds of Business Administration majors in the commencement booklet! I know that it is a good school for business but what my husband noticed was that a lot of people don’t want to take the time to take the extra lab classes, more science classes and the higher math.

He would’ve been done with school a lot sooner if he had chosen to do business however, the subject matter didn’t interest him and he loved the classes that he took for computer science – even all of those very hard classes– because he learned something!

I really admire my husband because he is one of the few people I know who has a great work ethic. He worked 40 hours a week, went to college full time and graduated cum laude. The whole time he was going to school, he worked for Kinko’s as an assistant manager and had to deal with rude people everyday. On his measly Kinko’s salary, he was the sole supporter of our family – we had 2 children while he was in school and I have stayed home with them since they were born. He worked for Kinko’s because the hours worked well with his school schedule and we needed medical benefits. There were days that he was totally exhausted but he just kept on going! We even had a very scary illness happen to one child and a neurological disability diagnosed in the other child during this time period. It was a huge sacrifice that he made for our family and I’m so thankful for his mindset!

Now he will be going back in the fall for his Master’s in Computer Science. He isn’t getting paid a whole lot right now but at least we are getting out of debt and not living paycheck to paycheck anymore.

He feels bad that he can’t give me a house to raise our family in. I just tell him that I’m thankful to be home with them. We are having our third child soon and we will be a little bit more crowded in our apartment but I’m thankful that my kids have great parks to play at!

We hope to be able to save enough to have 20% down on a house when we want to buy. We hope that prices will go down, as we know so many people in the same situation as us. We’d hate to see the economy tank with the housing market. Someday we’d like to own a modest home with somewhat of a yard. We’d like to stay here because this is where both of our families are.

I do feel a bit of that hopeless feeling however, I am so happy that my husband isn’t working that old job – that he loves his job that he has now and that I see him a whole lot more! He doesn’t have to commute either, he walks to work. For me, working is not an option. I refuse to have someone else raise my children for me.

I also realize that we are not entitled to anything! Just because he was a great student doesn’t mean he’d get great pay as soon as he graduated! In time the pay increases will happen. We might look like fools – having kids while he was still in college however it made us budget and try to live within our means as best we could. If we could make it through with kids, we will be able to make it in the long run! I’m glad that I wasn’t bringing much income in before the kids, it would’ve been more of a shock to stay at home with them.

I’d tell the students to not be hopeless! If they work hard and perserve, they can make it. They might just have to cut out cable t.v. (we did that, still don’t have it) and do without many of the finer things in life to get where they want to go. Things happen in life that can’t be planned for (such as illnesses and having children with a disability) and these things can happen during college as well. I’d encourage them to stay in school, despite what else is happening in their personal lives.