Vermonters on the Economy: 'There Is Not A Level Playing Field.'
Vermont’s jobless rate is one of the lowest in the United States. But thousands of Vermonters continue to struggle to find good-paying jobs.
Many Vermonters who do have jobs don’t feel they are earning enough money to give their families the lives they were hoping for. Many of Vermont’s college graduates feel they can’t pursue their “dream jobs” because they have tens of thousands of student loans that must be repaid. Meanwhile, other Vermonters shared that they have serious doubts about whether there is a “level playing field for opportunity.”
“I find the economy is very hard to live in today,” said Rachael Trill, 29, of Colchester, Vermont. “I live in a two-parent household. We have a young daughter and we both work -- and we still can’t manage to get by financially.”
Trill said she would like to go back to school, but doesn’t want to take out thousands of dollars in loans to do it. “I can’t work, and go to school, and take care of her -- and afford to do all that at once,” she said, describing the challenges of affording day care, covering household expenses and finding money to pay for tuition.
Thomas Smith, 56, of Burlington, Vermont is concerned many people in Vermont and throughout the United States won’t have enough money saved for retirement, a situation that will cause major difficulties in the decades ahead. Overall, he said, “I think one of my main concerns, in terms of economic policy in this country, is that there is not a level playing field for opportunity.”
‘PEOPLE CAN’T LIVE THEIR DREAM’
Marc Brunco, 23, senior at Lyndon State College, said student debt weighs on his personal finances and his future plans. He is not sure exactly how much debt he has – but estimates it is “around the $40,000 to $45,000 mark.”
“I just try not to think about it,” he said.
Seven in 10 seniors who graduated from public and nonprofit colleges in last year had student loan debt, with an average of $28,400 per borrower, according to The Project on Student Debt. In Vermont, the average debt was $27,318.
Brunco says student loan debt may prevent him, and other Vermont college graduates, from picking a job that truly interests them. Instead, he said, many will gravitate towards jobs that help keep the creditors at bay. Graduating seniors, he said, often must “pick a job that can pay the debt rather than pick a job that they want to do. So people can’t live their dream … because it doesn’t pay well.”
“More and more often, I’m hearing my friends graduating in all this sort of debt and I hear even more friends, sadly, saying ‘I’m going to withdraw because it’s too expensive,’” he said.
Brunco has a message for students in Vermont and throughout the United States: “I would just say you have power. Not just through voting, but you have the power to go down there: to Montpelier to Washington. ... You have the power to say to the government, do something about this because you’re supposed to serve our interests. And this is the interest that’s near and dear to our hearts.”
