It's a bleak world for college students these days, it seems.

The economy is going to the crapper, jobs anywhere are hard to come by, and even getting the student loans needed to get through college is becoming a more arduous task. In the journalism world especially, newspapers across the country are consolidating jobs like crazy, and as a student only halfway through I'm getting a little wary of what the outlook will be like when I do (finally) graduate.

So, it's never too late to start thinking about career alternatives. If that job at a major metro paper doesn't end up working out, here are some other options myself (and probably anyone else graduating in this era) can look into.

1) Full-time college student. Why quit something you know you're good at?

2) Pan handler. Once you know you're good at begging for money from your parents, you might as well move on to total strangers. And this way, you don't have to lie when they ask what you're going to use the money for (see above photo).

3) Server. Maybe it depends where you're working, but in reality this kind of gig isn't that bad. But maybe that's just in college towns.

4) Lab rat. Could be kind of risky, but hey. When there aren't any jobs in existence anywhere and you can still get paid for doing pretty much nothing in terms of real work, I say jump on it.

5) Porn star. Meh. The world's gonna end in 2012 anyway. Might as well live a little on the edge before that happens.

6) Professional Robin Hood. When those in the upper echelons are the only ones with anything left, the other 95 percent of the American public will probably resort to drastic measures. So when you can't beat em, why not join em? 

7) Hitman. See above two explanations. And with this job, you can pretend you're your favorite movie hero (or criminal). I'm thinking along the lines of Bond (James Bond). 

Anything I missed? Feel free to add some more on!