By the time you are done reading this you might get the idea that I think education is a bad thing. Far from it, it is one of the most important things in anyone's life. However as you will hopefully understand the economics of the higher education system, particularly in the US, has become skewed to the point that more education becomes a financial burden that is not worth the cost.
That's right, it might be a better idea to NOT go to college. In this case I mean college specifically as the traditional four years of school the majority of high school students assume to be the next step in their lives. You know the ones where they spend 100,000 to 200,000 dollars of their money, their parents money or someone else's money for the privilege to attend.That is the main issue facing students today, the cost. Is it really worth spending that much money (no matter who's it is) to get a basic college education where sadly, 80% of what you learn will never be applied for practical purposes in their entire life? Full disclosure, yes I went to college, yes I got decent grades, yes it is a well regarded institution and yes I graduated. But, I also know from my own experience, and the experiences of many of my friends and classmates that their liberal arts college degree didn't help them all that much. So why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain knowledge that will be largely unused and forgotten? Answers to those questions are one each person must decide on their own, but let me give an alternate direction to the usual answers.
This is not the "the world needs burger flippers too" speech. This is the, "you probably can get the education you need elsewhere, without going into a massive financial hole" speech. I work in computer software. There are trade schools that can teach the basics of what is required for a career in the same field, for a quarter of the cost (or less) than what it would cost a most colleges. So why would someone want to start their independent life with 100,000 dollars in debt, when they can achieve the same level (or better) of job preparation and knowledge by being 20,000 dollars in debt? It makes zero financial sense. Spend an extra 80,000 for a different piece of paper?
Lots of "educated" people will use statistics to try to shoot holes in such an argument. College graduates earn and average of 1,000,000 dollars more over their life time, is one of the favorites. Well that only serves to remind me of one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." The rate of increase in college tuition has outpaces the rate of inflation 4 to 1 over the past 15 years, so that statistic has become outdated and not at all reflective of students long term prospects in today and tomorrows world (it is primarily a reflection of their parents time).
Let's relate this to the doom and gloom perspective of the current economy. What would help get consumer spending moving, homes selling and highly qualified people filling job openings? Is it lots of 22 year olds that struggle to pay for a small apartment because of the burden of big student load payments, while working their entry level job and hoping they can pay down their six figure debt in the next 10 years? Or, is it those same 22 year olds taking some of the money they saved, and maybe mom and dad saved, to comfortably have a start in their small apartment (or even small starter home!), while working their entry level job, knowing the little debt they have will be paid in a year or two? Seems like a pretty straight forward answer to me.
There are careers where the traditional college education and beyond are needed, but this is a smaller percent that what many would believe. Doctors, physicists, researchers all provide huge benefit to the world and largely need that college education. There are also many benefits for the students, communities and world that colleges provide. Colleges are not bad things, they have just largely lost focus. Many have become run away financial based institutions where more facilities, more sparkle and more prestige have become the focus instead of how prepared are students for their currently chosen career path.
Bottom line, choose wisely. There is not one best path for everyone and college is not always the best place to go.
