25 CommentsBwog Sewage Specialist Jon Hill sends this picture from a gutter on 113th Street, where dreams find their final resting place. The Off-Campus Flex Affair has been one long and painful breakup between Columbia students and every eating establishment for miles, but this sort of cruelty to Ms. Card is uncalled for.
Note the broken bottle lying next to her. Crushed like our spirits.
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25 Comments
@why is bwog so negative
negative tone of voice
@person heh. suck my atrophied, neglected engineering dick.
@... I heard a story once of a student who convinced his parents that “Flex” on the Student Account Statement was a form of NY State Education tax.
@pardon I don’t believe I shat on the less financially secure. I’m sorry if my post reads that way.
@uhh i thought the whole point of flex was that it was tax-free?
@duh dining dollars is tax free, not flex. duh.
@yeah now that I think about it… even if every eating vendor took Flex, you’d still carry your card around for Duane Reade or beer or whatever else, so really there’s no point of Flex off-campus. I don’t buy the whole theory of mommy paying for food… if they’re giving you money for flex I’m sure they’ll be okay linking credit cards.
@also because you can pay it off whenever you want if it’s on your student account and not have to worry it coming straight from your bank account/ruining your credit.
@... oh wait no, you’re right too – touche bwog posters
@card confusion can someone please explain to me (please don’t read sarcastic tone) why flex is preferable to cash or credit card? does financial aide cover flex, too? much obliged.
@aidez-moi yes.
@hmm I don’t know about financial aid covering flex (I know mine doesn’t), but I know people like it because you can charge flex to your student account…and mom and dad can pay it. whereas some parents make you pay for your own credit card/make your own cash
@yup that’s the whole kit and kaboodle
@Anonymous Flex is useful if you do not actually have real money at the time. If you live from loan dispersement to loan dispersement, it is nice to have an interest-free balance carried on your Columbia account in the interim. Note that this sort of precarious financial scheduling is not exactly conducive to establishing better credit either. Thus Flex is useful and preferable.
If you have money coming in from a job or parents, this is moot. But please stop shitting on those with less financial certainty.
@When you graduate you won’t be able to use Flex. Learning how to spend responsibly and not have an unrealistic crutch might be a good idea for college.
@When I graduate i’ll be well off. i’m not wasting college worrying about developing my discretionary spending habits. I’m setting myself up to get a good job after i graduate!
@Senior #14, I like your sarcasm, but as a terrified senior, I’d like to inveigh upon my classmates for a minute, because a lot of them actually believe that, and they’re in for a rude awakening.
1. You will not make as much money as you thought you would. If you were a good student in a desirable major, and had some great luck, maybe you’ll get 50K a year.
2. You will not get to keep as much of that money as you hoped. 50K a year is 3,333 a month after taxes (I was gentle and taxed you at 20%). Rent and utilities, if you’re thinking about living in NYC, are going to be some $1500/month, and that’s going to require roommates.
Student loan payment $100/month.
Metrocard $100/month.
Health insurance $100/month.
Internet+cable+phone $100/month.
Cell phone $50 month.
We’re down to $1333 a month, and you haven’t eaten yet. This also assumes you don’t have any credit card debt from college, which is almost certainly false if you’ve been living beyond your means.
$1333 a month is $330 a week, with which you need to buy groceries, eat lunch 5 times a week at work, buy enough suits and ties to wear to this job, and keep yourself entertained.
These calculations also assume you don’t have a car and that you’re saving nothing for your retirement (or emergencies).
@wow Did crushing the little bit of hope that is keeping most students from going off the rails and dropping out make you feel better?
I hope so.
@also a senior Thanks. Someone has to put those uppity underclassmen in their place. They won’t be so snarky when THEY’RE the ones staring into the abyss that is the post-grad job market.
@Alum While I agree that post-graduation is not paradise, I certainly hope most of you can make over $50k a year (with bonuses, signing and otherwise) if your job is in Manhattan.
Then again, some choose to major in History and English so they have to suffer the consequences.
@CC '09 It has much more to do with the job market than your choice of major. Plus, most people change their interests and career plans over the course of their four years here, myself definitely included.
@I guess you get careless when you get old, Alum. He was saying $50k after tax. Most first year investment bankers make $60k + bonuses pre-tax.
@#16 Again No need to be mean, #23. I said $50K pre-tax.
But in response to you and #19, let’s think about the jobs out there:
Software Engineer: $60-80K, if you were a top student. By definition, only a minority of CS grads can be called “top students,” so the majority of recent grad candidates are going to be on the lower end of the scale.
Paralegal: A lot of CC kids want to be lawyers. Most of the paralegal job postings want someone with experience. The ones that don’t are firms that know a recent graduate will work for peanuts. Welcome to 35K a year for 60 hour weeks, friend.
I-Banker: Base salaries have come down, job security is iffy, bonuses are going to be harder to come by and are also taxed HARSHLY. Also, the point of doing I-Banking, as I understand it, is to take a few years of misery so that you end up a highly-compensated executive. Do you want to play those odds right now?
Teacher: hah.
Look, I don’t mean to piss on everyone’s parade– your Columbia education is valuable– I know the internships and work-study I did here are going to be the key to getting a job. My point is that the value is what you got out of your time here, not the name on your degree.
Most of the jobs out there don’t require much more than literacy and basic interpersonal skills. Of the ones that DO require actual competence, they quantify it in years of work experience, not in the rigor of your academic program.
No employer, especially in this economy, is going to pay a 50% premium for you vs. a state-school grad for an entry-level job because you’re a precious Columbia flower. Sorry.
See you guys at 40s on 40.
@Poli Sci major yeah, because the econ majors and MBA candidates are sooooo set up for post grad paradise.
don’t be a prick. every industry is hurting financially right now
@the varsity show posters are the most self-indulgent pieces of advertising i’ve ever seen at columbia. please take them down.