2008 Common Book Conference With Anya Kamenetz

Today the 8th Annual Common Book Conference took place at the South West Campus. For this event a book is chosen, and several students present their opinions and expressions about it. The book to be argued is selected by the students through a voting system and must have certain requirements, which include: having clear ties to the college mission and defining scholastic intellectual development for new students. The one selected for this year was ''Generation Debt'' by Anya Kamenetz.

HCC had the privilege of welcoming the author herself, and listening to a presentation she gave about jobs and the economy, healthcare, and the cost of college. Kamenetz pointed out that nowadays there is an immense amount of freelancers, people who change jobs frequently; and that it has become harder to find a job because of the significant growth of the global competition. She emphasized that currently 30% of people under the age of 30 are uninsured, and that 54% are worried about the health care costs. The Yale graduate writer also mentioned that the average cost of college is 54.356 $, and that the average salary of a college degree holder is 50.000 $ compared to the 23.000 $ of a high school dropout. She finally advised the public to use online tools in order to organize their finances and try to avoid debt.

After the presentation of Anya Kamenetz, a panel which consisted of five students who represented the Honors College, expressed their impressions about the book, and some of them even mentioned how they felt identified with the difficult situations written in it. Finally, the President of the HCC Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa gave a speech stating his impressions as well. It was a very pleasant and enriching event.