Once upon a time…an education guaranteed stability. College was for those high-achieving folks who would later go on to get paid decent to high salaries, own a home, live comfortably. So much for once upon a time. Today, college grads are waiters/waitresses and doctors are puppets to the greedy insurance companies.

Lawyers are taking on employment, like everyone else, where the cost of living has tripled and the pay has remained the same. It has seriously made “the american dream” a faint memory and most people work incredibly hard without being able to make ends meet. Resentful? You bet!

According to Dan Griffin, a prosecutor for the Cook County State Attorney’s Office in Chicago who has taken on a second job at night doing construction, it’s the only way to pay off his $70,000 law school loan, save for a house and have a chance at some future stability.

“I never thought I’d be working this hard as a lawyer,” said Griffin. “I love my job, but the guys I work with on construction, who are union, make more than I do as a lawyer. It’s pretty ridiculous.”

Griffin is part of a growing group of prosecutors and assistant public defenders who are moonlighting to make ends meet.

“More and more people are asking for permission to teach,” said Howard Finkelstein, public defender for Broward County, Fla. “I always give them permission. I want to keep people because turnover is such a huge problem so I have to let them make enough money to feed their families.”

In short, a formal education has become more of a burden than an asset. However, it is one thing that can never be taken away from you. Still, paying it off and trying to survive financially makes you wonder…is it all worth it?

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