Sometimes students question the future job opportunities in this economy and if thee efforts in the academic will be validated. I always encourage them to strive since the people that prepare themselves, for when the better times come, are the ones with a solid advantage over the street smarts. Many of them lost the job do to business closings and the only thing backing them is the experience they had since there is no academics. The question is who will the companies prefer, someone with an academic degree and a problem solution spectrum or someone with experience and no academics.