INTRO: OVERQUALIFIED, OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID IN NEW YORK CITY

     This is more than a complaint, it's a gotdamn state of affairs. And if you're lucky, as I am, it is apart of your daily coffee-where the F are my keys-go-to-work-and-suffer daily grind. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a blog about (not) making it in New York.

                                                                   Welcome.

We are not alone. Anya Kamenetz in her book  Gener@tion Debt wrote: "We are...the most highly educated, technologically advanced, ethnically and racially diverse, creative group of adults on the planet." And "We are also the most debt-burdened generation ever produced."

Truer words have never been spoken. In 2003, the U.S. department of labor quoted a ridiculous statistic: Those with a high school diploma earn an average of $554 per week vs. $964 a week for college graduates.

Who are these people? No one in my humble circle of friends, who have graduated with their master degrees in the past year, makes anything near $964 a week. If I made that much I wouldn't be complaining. If I made that much I would be blogging about attractive vacation resorts in the Bahamas. For someone who is single with no children, this sounds amazingly, joyfully rich. To the tune of $51,194 annual salary kind of rich.Which, who am I kidding, is not rich but to someone who has been living on a college income for 6 years (4 years undergrad plus 2 years of grad) sounds down right orgasmic.

This is an affliction facing our generation. I can tell you my brief story, and it might differ on the details but I bet the plot line sounds pretty familiar. I attended a top tier college, UC Berkeley, for my undergraduate degree in two languages: Chinese mandarin and Spanish. I studied abroad. Tried to get a decent paying job and decided to go to graduate school because the job market in 2010 was still being resuscitated. (Some would say it still is). I applied to a bunch of graduate schools and the only one that accepted me came with a big price tag: New York University. And guess what? They gave me $20,000 scholarship!

                                              Flash forward: I am $140,000 in debt.

While $20,000 scholarship sounded great, at a school where it is $64,000 a year to attend, $20,000 was a drop in the bucket. Add that to my $23,000 worth of loans in my undergrad, and you've got a mortgage with no house, equity, credit boost, or white picket fence. In fact, there's hardly any upside at all.

So you think, "Well, I'm educated. I've got a decent list of accomplishments: I've been published four times, presented my research six times, have great references! I'll work hard and make enough."

Six months later you find that you're working harder and for longer hours than you ever have before. You have sacrificed and didn't get anywhere near your dream job. In fact, you're working two or more jobs. You're living with stifling rent in a tiny NYC apartment, with bills barely getting the minimum payments when THEY come: student loan bills. Their short 6 month hiatus is up.

"But I'm barely breaking even!" Or, if you're like me, you say more accurately, "But I'm broke!"

Broke has become a lifestyle for many of us in the age 18-to-35 category. Suze Orman in her book Young, Fabulous and Broke offers us some comfort:

"Most likely, you're young; I hope that you feel you are fabulous; and chances are, you are also broke. I've talked to thousands of young people like you over the years, and, for what it's worth you've got plenty of company."

If you're confused about whether you belong with your fellow broke compatriots, Suze Orman breaks it down. If you are broke, ONE of these things (or more) describes your situation:

"BROKE IS relying on cash advance on your credit card to pay the rent or mortgage, and praying that you have enough on your credit line to do so."

"BROKE IS having a ton of student loans that make you nauseated when you think about how long it is going to take you to pay them off."

"BROKE IS not opening your credit card bills because you're terrified to see what you owe and have no way of paying. So instead, you get hit with the late fee and finance charges."

"BROKE IS wanting to buy a home but having no clue where you can come up with the down payment. So you are stuck renting a small place."

"BROKE IS counting every coin in your change jar as well as scrounging under the sofa cushions in a desperate attempt to find the dough to cover your bounced check and the $25 fee your bank is going to slap on you."

Sure, we're not homeless. NO, we're not begging for change. There are millions of people all over the world who are suffering a much more difficult life with much, much less.

But I can't help to shake this nagging feeling. It's the same feeling I get when I pass a restaurant that has a great $16 entree that I just can't sit and enjoy because I will feel it in my pocketbook. Every time I want to actually have a weekend or an evening off, but I work the burdensome extra hours because, frankly, I need the cash. It is especially there when I push the "submit payment" button on my student loan homepage. It's the feeling of being cheated. Cheated out of the American Dream.

                                          And I'm not the only one.