Did I say “academic success”? Sorry, I meant “shoving consumerist lifestyles down the already-choked-by-debt throats of Americans.”
I was visiting a local Best Buy store to pick up some blank CDs, when I saw this “Back to School Tech List” displayed near the customer service desk. It starts with a nice Lifehacker-style title: “Top 15 must-haves for this year’s college students“, but the rest of it is essentially a big load of crap.
Here are the first eight essential tips for academic success:
And here are the remaining seven essentials for college life:
They probably missed #16 - apply for a Best Buy credit card with 32424531% APR, and then keep making minimum payments. Now, that’s also an essential aspect of academic success and college life.
A more appropriate title would be “Top 15 must-haves to start school with credit card debt“.
All these years I was under the impression that academic success depended on how hard you study, how well you understand, and how diligent you are with your homeworks and assignments. Things have probably changed now.
I am just picking on Best Buy because I happened to have their ridiculous list in my possession; however, these type of lists are fairly common in many retail shops around this time of the year. The back-to-school shopping business is really bloating up into a Thanksgiving/Christmas style shopping mania. Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess has some interesting thoughts and numbers on the subject. She also refers to an interesting report by National Retail Federation (NRF) which says that back-to-school spending will exceed $18 billion this year. It’s probably a coincidence, but this is what I found in the report:
“Electronics have evolved from luxuries to necessities, not only for college students but also for their younger siblings,†said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “While some students may be pleading with mom and dad for an iPod or a cell phone, parents are also investing in desktop or laptop computers, educational software and printers to support their children’s learning.â€
I guess that’s where Best Buy picked up it’s *essential* tips from.
Many months ago, I wrote this post “Students, Laptops, Digital Cameras, Huge Cars, and Debt“. Some of you will find it interesting in light of the above discussion.
[Quick note: I mentioned "porn" near the Geek Squad logo in the first image above; read this article and this article on The Consumerist to know more about it.]
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This is so true. My husband and I went to buy a wedding gift at Bed Bath and Beyond a week ago, and we noticed that you can ‘register’ for going back to school.
Who does that?
This is reason # 3,456,999 not to have kids.
Really, how is what Best Buy is doing different than what the drug pusher on the corner is doing? (other than one is legal and one isn’t).
Now I know why I can’t succeed in my job! I don’t have a television (at all–much less flat panel!) or iPod! If only I had those, I’d be a success. At least I assume what makes one succeed in school could also make one a success at work. (I’d like an iPod, but it’s never made it onto my list high enough to spend any savings on it. And I’m not buying it until I have money in savings specifically for it.)
Last week my 12 year old nephew told me he “needed” a laptop to take notes in because it would be “easier” than writing them down in class. Maybe he’s been to Best Buy?
ok, so i was doing my data mining for porn on this website and it stopped at this article. here i was all excited about finding porn, and discovered there was no porn. this was such a bad tease. thx a lot.
with that said, anyone who turns a computer into someone else to look at should just expect that the data is no longer private. wrong, right, or indifferent, this is true. ensure that your private data is saved elsewhere or that you don’t care about the data.
despite the rant about BB using this marketing list, the fact of the matter is that campuses are becoming more digital these days. this doesn’t mean you have to buy the latest and greatest thing, but it does mean that you need to buy something.
with that said, a point should also be made that spend within reason and your budget. in the end, the economy depends on spending. your savings and investments depend on other peoples’ spending. let’s just remember that.
The only thing in my care packages was cookies and Ramen.
How about
- Learning where the library is.
- Not graduating with $10,000 in CC debt.
Jon - your point about not graduating with $10,000 in CC debt is a great one - it should be illegal to offer credit cards on campus. Students are given easy access to credit and very few are trained in the habits of simple budgeting - how about: if you don’t have the money you can’t afford it!
To think how boring the life back in the 80s was:
1) we didn’t get our first credit card until after we graduated, got a job, and actually had some money in the bank
2) most of us, even grad students, didn’t have a TV and had to run downstairs to the “TV room” in the dorm 15 minutes before the start of “Dynasty” to ensure nobody switches the channel. I actually considered getting my own TV but thought that it’d be so easy to turn it on and watch it instead of studying
3) we used computers at one of several university’s “computer rooms”. Now, I would admit that having my own laptop would’ve been useful, but then I was majoring in CS. I don’t see the problem with doing other subject’s homework using university computers. Too old-fashioned.
But really, the stories of students getting into CC debt makes one earn for the “good old days”.
Lol, that ad is just great. Get debts now - there is always the Salvation Army
What about the wireless card for your laptop so you can steal your neighbor’s wireless signal for more money savings???
The truth is always painful. This is so bad for the students. You need to have more than 20,000$ to study for a year and in my view with so many “must have” things these money will not be enough.
Decision of the problem: don’t study in usa, go in ukraine instead
Joking of course!
Yeah, Best Buy got me. I did think a lot of that stuff on that list was kind of stupid and always try to keep my eye out for stuff like that. I did need a laptop though and ended up getting one from there. Cheap thing, too.. always break.
I totally suggest the site on my blog. It’ll help me pay for college when you join the site on there (I make 20% of what my referrals make)
Thank you very very much!
Thank you for this brilliant and hilarious post. I’ll definitely be back.
shawna,
tell your nephew to learn shorthand!
great post, btw!
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