Ingenuity

College graduates are up against some tough odds these days.

While the amount of college debt continues to rise, the opportunities for college graduates have been shrinking.

Individual student loan debt carried by college graduates is now over $1 trillion. Graduates of the class of 2011 held an average of $22,900 in student debt and that number has risen to $26,600 in just three years. For those who are able to find a job, the average starting salary is $44,482, more than double the average debt level.

A college degree is not always a ticket to financial prosperity. There are 280,000 BA holders and another 37,000 persons with advanced degree working minimum-wage job. Given these grim statistics, it comes as no surprise that more than 13 percent of loans lead to default.

With these bad cards stacked against them, three college-bound New England girls did some creative thinking back in 2011 to flip the odds, applying good old ingenuity to help raise college tuition money and bringing smiles to the people of Wilton, Conn. in the process. After the girls realized there weren't many ice cream trucks in the area, they began their own business. It's helped them to develop the kind of financial and management skills and real world experience they could never find inside a classroom.

Taylor Toll was a freshman at Bucknell University when she received a call from her lifelong friend Lindsay Wheeler, who was at Middlebury College. The third co-founder of the College Creamery business is another childhood friend studying at the University of Vermont.

Searching on Craigslist, the girls found a 1977 ice cream truck in York, Pa. that fit their needs. After Wheelers parents, who are lifelong entrepreneurs, supplied a personal loan to buy the truck, the girls fitted out the inside with the right equipment.

College Creamery opened for business the summer after the students' freshman year and it's been a success story ever since, allowing them to roll into their senior year of college in much better financial shape than their fellow students. They've booked their truck at everything from children's birthday parties to corporate events to the annual Relay for Life. On a good day, they can bring in up to $1,000 a day.

The business is simple enough to operate. The vehicle doesn't require rental space and the overhead is low since no employees are needed. The profits don't quite cover tuitions but it has helped them pay for books and other expenses.

Their ice cream treats are not only popular with the children along the neighborhood streets of Wilton but with adults who remember those Norman Rockwell moments from their own childhood when the ice cream truck frequented the neighborhood.

Eventually, the girls plan to sell their truck to someone else in the area and since the community has been so supportive of the College Creamery, they intend to give a percentage of the proceeds to help out other college students. They have already gotten letters from budding young entrepreneurs from around the country, wanting to know how to start their own businesses.

This isn't simply a story about creating your own ice cream business on wheels. It shows an American spirit and ingenuity - the building blocks for entrepreneurship in this country - at its best.

By Jim Zbick

jzbick@ptd.net