Too Entitled To Fail?

Poor Cortney Munna. The 26 year-old New York University graduate has found herself, like many recent graduates like her, mired in college loan debt. The New York Times financial columnist Ron Lieber uses Munna's story as a cautionary tale on the dangers of making investing and borrowing decisions based upon emotion rather than reason.

And just who are the villains in this morality tale?

"For starters, it's the shared responsibility of parenting and loan underwriting...but perhaps the biggest share lies with colleges and universities because they have the most knowledge of the financial aid process. And I would argue they had an obligation to counsel students like Ms. Munna, who got in too far over their heads."

While I would submit that Ms. Munna herself assumes the onus of the responsibility here, I can't say that I totally disagree with Lieber's belief in the culpability of the university system. I think colleges and universities ought to provide incoming students with information on employment statistics and career prospects for their chosen major - including students who are taking on debt to finance their degree, and especially those students enrolled in academic degree programs in the Arts and Humanities.

Alas, Cortney borrowed almost $100,000 to finance a degree in Religious and Women's Studies - and is now putting all of that acquired knowledge of Buddha and Sylvia Plath to work as a photographer's assistant while living in the fourth most expensive city in America.

For me, this is the more meaningful moral of the story - that if you're going to leverage your rainbow, you'd better make sure there's a pot of gold at the end to pay for it.