Claudia was a very good student. In high school her grades were almost straight A’s.

Whether in chemistry or history or English or geometry it was the same for high ranks. She had a good voice and sang in the choir. Her piano skills were average, but on the cello she excelled and played in the school’s orchestra.

Claudia’s music teacher encouraged her to seriously consider a career in music.

When Claudia began her university studies she enrolled as a music major with a concentration in voice. She sang in the choirs and was often given solo parts in concert numbers.

Her broad program required five years to complete. She was awarded a bachelor’s degree and accumulated $80,000 in student loan debts.

During her university years Claudia worked part-time as a clerk at Old Navy for minimum wage. After graduating from the university she went fulltime at Old Navy with some increase in wages, but not a lot. When Claudia became an assistant supervisor at the store, her wages increased to $ 10 an hour.

Her total wages were not sufficient to support an apartment, car, food, utilities and insurance and still have money to start paying back her student loans.

Since student loan payments did not need to begin while she was in school, Claudia enrolled in parttime studies while she qualifies for residency in another state. Then she will start a two-year educational program to qualify for employment in the medical field.

When, as a university faculty person I was advising students, I would ask, “What is the one most important factor in choosing a university study program?” the answer I usually got was, “Something I am interested in.”

And I would respond, “You are dead wrong!” After the student recovered, I would explain, “University studies are preparation for employment. You need to choose a program which will qualify you for a good position in the working world. If there are few or no job opportunities for you when you graduate, you will have at least partially wasted your university years and the money that they cost.”

Then I would explain to the student how to logically evaluate the employment opportunities in a given field.

First, ask around as to what are the professional or trade journals for a given occupation.

Then look at some of those journals to see how many want-ads there are for people in that field and what qualifications are the employers looking to find in the applicant. Secondly, go to the alumni office of the university and ask for names of people who recently graduated from the curriculum you are considering.

Those names are probably also available on copies of the past printed graduation programs and available in the school’s library. Contact some of those people. If they are unemployed, or find it hard to find a position, they will probably level with you about their occupation.

Finally, the U.S. government Occupational Outlook Handbook is available online.

Claudia did not exercise due diligence in research before making her first choice.