This sucks.

I busted my ass, did well in school, made smart choices. Now, I am graduating after four years of college that I paid for all myself – not through selling my “virginity” – but through loans. Now what? There are no jobs in the major markets that are even marginally appealing to anyone. I am not lucky enough to have parents who can float me for a year. My dad is a construction worker, but no offense, I am not graduating cum laude to do construction – sorry. I am just not sure I have a choice. But here are the few choices for graduating seniors I could scrounge together:

1. Everyone and their little cheerleader sister are heading to grad school. They don’t even know what for, but they took their GRE, MCAT, GMAT and every other test acronym I can think of. The upside is a delay for entering reality and you can push loan repayment for another 3 years or so, but F&*$ THAT! I need a break from school. I would love to actually get out of the academic world for at least a brief stint. Not writing off grad school totally, but I need about 2 years to figure out what I want to do. That degree in Finance, with a concentration in structured finance, that I am about to get isn’t worth the paper it is printed on. Thanks to my academic adviser! Way to steer me into a stable high growth industry.

2. A couple of my friends are determined to enter the military. Right now, there are serious incentives for entering the military. $10,000 in cash, money for grad school, and they will repay a portion of your school loans. Not too shabby, but we are talking about the military. Let us be straight, the US Military is not the beloved treasure it once was. My brother was in the Army and said he would help repay my loans for me before I join the military. Though tempting, I can’t take him up on it. Even though it will TOTALLY suck, it buys me 3 – 5 years, travel (to a desert somewhere in the Middle East), and serious help with school loans. The other upside is that as college graduates, we jump 5 pay-grades to an E-6 (Staff Sergeant) after training. Obviously I am trying to talk myself into this one – but it just seems drastic.

3. My girlfriend wants to join the Peace Corp, but with the way people LOVE Americans right now, I feel like that is joining the military without being given a gun. I hear stories about people who serve in the Peace Corp and attacked in foreign countries…not cool. Albeit, two of the people I know attacked in Africa were girls – I am just leery of that whole system. There are good stories too. People who get to travel the world, gain different perspectives, and learn different languages. Also, loan deferment is good – but they pay next to nothing, and my family doesn’t have money to spot me. I almost feel like the PC is more for rich kids who don’t want to go into the family business just yet. Either way, language experience in Swahili or something like that is not exactly going to a huge resume builder.

4. So many people are now running to get certified with education credits so they can teach. I am not one of those. I can’t teach. I would want to bang hot high school schools and 6-year-olds annoy the piss out of me. Noble profession, just not for me.

5. The Priesthood or some other religious vocation? I will pick up the Rosetta Stone – Swahili edition before I do that. Again, don’t like 6-year-olds.

6. There is always the option to just suck it up. Suck it up, and try my luck out in the job market. The problem is that there are tons of people in there late 20s through their 50s competing for the same jobs. People with ridiculous experience right now. I read in FORTUNE that GE right now has 50-year-old former executives with MBAs and law degrees, applying for the same jobs as college graduates. One thing is for sure – I wouldn’t pick me.

Seriously though – if I missed an option, please let me know. Yes, the idea of porn star and circus performer did cross my mind, but again – trying to not waste the $70,000 I just spent on school.

At COED we’re not only about boobs and beer – we also like to educate. Sometimes…

By now you’ve all heard about the financial crisis gripping America Earth, but most of us aren’t high finance majors – so you might be in the dark about what is going on and how it started. This is highly important information people – time to get in the know!

My buddy who works at Merrill Lynch (and magically somehow still has a job) sent me this irreverent yet tactful power point that breaks down the situation for people that aren’t at the Wharton School of Business.

He says, “Its perfect. It is THE dummies guide to how it all went down. Its stick figures being a little bit sarcastic but for the most part dead on to the whole mess. Id really suggest you take a look at it ASAP.”

For your own good, click to see how the financial disaster got started

You could say that I am a pretty normal college senior. I work in the summer, have a part-time job during the school year and depend on my parents for my rent. I consider myself poor and strapped for cash as most students are, using any money I’ve earned or gained for food, gas and ‘ yes – the occasional splurge at Target. Oh, yeah, and I don’t have a credit card. (more…)

So you just made Mom and Dad real proud–you’ve graduated from college and you’re still completely alive. Both nuts still attached? What a champ! Although the keg parties and late night puking into laundry baskets might not end for another few months, you should probably start thinking about your money situation.

Step One: Student Loans

If you took out student loans to pay for those joyous four years, you will soon be approaching a very important time period. You may have been made painfully aware of this by your parents or from countless postcards and solicited junk mail. Student loan interest rates recalculate each July 1st.

And thanks to a huge collapse in the financial market along with the continuing signs of a nationwide economic recession – interest rates are nice and low. Just follow this little formula I came up with:

Massive Financial Sector Layoffs = Massive Personal Financial Savings For Those In Student Debt= Massive Boner. (more…)

Whether you are enjoying the high life that is college – complete with parental support – or collecting change out of the couch just to get that much needed after-work-martini, coming into some extra money is a wonderful thing. Especially when you want one of these or, the newest addiction in my life, the latest version of Guitar Hero. (Note: SERIOUS chick magnet!)

But finding extra money isn’t always so easy. Or fun. Especially if you consider selling your sterm or serving your fellow students in the cafeteria.

I have recently found that my bank account is seriously lacking, but my beer addiction is not. I work over 40 hours a week, but still don’t make enough (yet) to live the way I want to. So, I decided I needed to find ways to come into some money. And while some of you may never want to even consider these options, I have found the following to be the easiest, least stressful and most fitting into any woman’s life.

1. Lawn work for the neighbors. Rake leaves, mow lawns, landscape and so on for the people you know best… your neighbors. You’re outside getting tan, gettin buff and making good cash while you’re at it. Plus you get to make your own hours and techinically you are running your own business. (more…)