Xcel customers can thank Colorado Dems for keeping us paying on Comanche in Pueblo ... even after it's closed. And, I can't blame Gen Z for ambivalence about college.
Ever have the misfortune of owning a car that died while you still had to make payments?
If you have, or if you can imagine such a thing, then you can sympathize with Xcel's customers. Well, sort of.
There are some differences between the case of the Comanche plant in Pueblo and an old beater that dies while you're still making payments.
Comanche, the plant that is getting shut down, has maintenance issues yes, but it still does run and has quite a lot of projected life left. The reason we are going to get to pay for a plant we won't be getting any use of anymore is because of the state's climate policy.
Oh, and apparently, we're just now learning that we'll get to pay for some water options that are useless now because without a plant, you don't need water.
More in the link below.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/08/07/xcel-pueblo-water-rights-comanche-coal-plant/
Gen Z isn't so sure about college? Can't say I blame them.
With the way it's been pushed and the way it was sold to them (compared with reality), I would feel like I was getting sold a bill of goods myself.
According to the link below, surveys show that Gen Z'ers recognize the need for some sort of education beyond high school, but they feel some anxiety around the costs/debt they might incur and how prepared they are.
Say what you want about kids these days, I'm heartened myself to see them questioning their preparation and also the relative value of a degree. For too long now, I think 4 year degrees were sold as the key to success. Any degree, in anything, and everyone has to go to college. I think it's fair to say that that bubble has popped.
No, you cannot in fact borrow into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a degree in medieval French poetry and have any reasonable expectation that you can quickly pay that back. No, you will not earn more with a philosophy degree that entitles you to work as an entry level clerk in some giant corporation than someone working as a plumber.
This topic being close to my heart, pardon me for a minute while I step up on my soapbox. If you know someone mulling over what to do with their lives, run through the below with them (if they don't already hear it from academic advisors in high school or college).
--Sit down and have an honest conversation with yourself. Are you ready for the commitment that comes from education? Do you have a direction and are you energized at the prospect of working hard toward a college degree? All education requires sacrifice. You will have to, for a time and on occasion, miss opportunities to have fun because you're going to be working toward a future goal. I.e. you will have to put off gratification now to enjoy it later.
--If you're not, if you're even unsure, stop. Get a job. Get an apartment. Stay out late with friends. Play video games and waste time. You might start college late, but believe me you'll still be ahead: you won't have paid to take the same classes twice because you were rudderless and immature. Believe me that nothing makes you shrug off how "difficult" it is to attend an 8 AM class and do homework like having to work and pay rent.
--When it does come time for college ask yourself if what you want to attend for is to build a career or to learn first. For me it was learn first, career later. For others it may be career first, learn later. That is, for some they might look at a degree as something that gets a good paying job and they'll get their life's enrichment elsewhere. For some, the enrichment is in the study. If you're the former, research what jobs you can do with any of the degrees that seems to suit your talents and abilities. If you're the later, come up with a plan for how you can feed and clothe yourself if you get a degree that doesn't translate directly to a career.
--If you did fall into the category of someone who wants to study something for enrichment and worry about a job later, whatever you do, DO NOT (REPEAT DO NOT!) borrow to get your degree. Borrowing is only worth it, if what you're borrowing to do will net you enough income later to live on and pay off your loan. I knew well ahead of time that I didn't want to work in defense after a degree in physics (one of the few ways that you can turn physics straight into cash), I just wanted to learn physics. I was smart enough to not borrow to do it. I worked. It took longer to graduate but I got there in the end (honestly, it's not a race). And I made it out clean.
--This may not hold forever, but right now, the only things worth borrowing for would be an in-demand trade, nursing, or engineering. Those are the only ones on my list.
--This will be somewhat repetitive, but shrug off the idea that you're somehow less than or unsuccessful because you took a trade instead of a four year degree. Take it from someone with both a trade and a graduate degree in an academic field: neither one says that I'm a better human. Neither pegs me as someone more intelligent. Do you honestly think that an experienced tradesman or woman diagnosing a problem in a hydraulic system has less brain function than someone who could tell you some obscure theory about how to understand modern dance? Your intelligence, your worth is completely divorced from your education.
As much as anything else, take the example of your Gen Z peers from the article below and think critically and carefully about your choices in life and what consequences they'll carry. Get lots of advice from lots of people. Then sit down and thoughtfully make sense of it for the direction you want to take.
And if you don't have a direction yet, fine. Sometimes those things come with time. Just don't rack up debt while you're deciding!
https://co.chalkbeat.org/2023/8/3/23819387/gen-z-college-four-year-study-colorado-counselors-scholarships-jobs