10 Reasons Not to Go to College

1. A college diploma does not guarantee you a job. The conventional wisdom is that, if you don't have a college degree, you won't do well in life. They are selling you a bill of goods! They are using statistics to lie which anyone can do with statistics. Who are "they?" Those who stand to gain by getting you to go to college, namely, colleges and universities, themselves, and corporations for whom you are grist for the mill. I feel sorry for all the youngsters, especially poor black kids from the ghetto, who swallow this crap thinking everything will be hunky-dory if they just do what they're told and stay in school. Many of them are destined to wake up one day and be very disillusioned realizing that they have been lied to and sold a bill of goods if everything doesn't turn out as they were promised it would. Here are some reasons to think twice about college.

Your job can be terminated, RIFed (Reduction in Force-ed), outsourced. You can be fired, laid off, let go, given a pink slip, terminated. If you're self-employed, none of these things can happen to you. You don't need a college diploma to be self-employed or to start your own business. After all Bill Gates started Microsoft without a college diploma or degree. He is a college drop-out! Fresh out of college you may or may not be able to get a job. But if you lose your job after 10 or 20 years and are unemployed, the chances of your ever getting another one diminish with age. After 40 or so, the chances you will ever get hired again - especially in a high tech field - are negligible. The government doesn't guarantee you a job. Private industry will use you or discard you as they see fit. As you get older, your skill set will diminish relative to younger just-out-of-college types and your salary will have escalated compared to their starting salaries so that you're ready to be discarded as far as a corporation is concerned. They need to keep labor costs low in order to increase profits because their first responsibility is to their blessed shareholders, not to their employees. You're better off taking the $100,000. you would have spent on college and becoming one of their shareholders instead!

2. Student Loan Debt. Students coming out of college today are starting off with $50K to $100 K in student loan debt. It's like having a 30 year mortgage without having the benefit of a place to live. The money might have been better invested in a mortgage in the first place. An investment in real estate will appreciate over the years. An investment in a college education that leads to your becoming an employee will depreciate. Of course, if your college education prepares you for a profession which enables you to be self-employed or go into business for yourself, this is not true. No one is in a position to "let you go" if you are your own boss.

3. Self-education is better than forced feeding. You can learn more, develop your brain better and have more knowledge than most college graduates simply by reading 2 hours a night. Such subjects as art, history, literature, foreign languages, music appreciation as well as many other subjects can be self-taught. The learning resources are available on the internet and in public libraries. Why pay money for something you can get for free? All that is required is self-discipline rather than someone standing over you threatening you with failure if you don't study and pass tests! The beauty of being self-taught is that then you will learn what you are truly motivated to learn, what you are really interested in rather than courses that are required to get your degree. Such courses will be immediately forgotten once the final has been passed .

Many contributors to human knowledge were autodidacts, that is people who were sufficiently interested in whatever field to teach it to themselves. Such geniuses as Sir Isaac Newton (pictured at right) and Gottfried Liebniz, who simultaneously developed calculus, were largely self-taught. A lot of great musicians and artists are self-taught. The only reason to actually go to college is to get credentialed in a field that you really want to enter, and then it should be possible (it only isn't in order to give job security to professors) to just take an exam (like it used to be for the law) in order to gain the credential. Abraham Lincoln taught himself law and passed the bar without the benefit of a college education or diploma. Then he was actually able to make money at it - all without the benefit of a college degree.  Today, of course, we are much more civilized, requiring our lawyers to have a college degree in addition to passing the bar!

Anything you can learn in college you can learn on your own. If you want the equivalent of a college education, find out the course list and reading lists for any degree of the college of your choice. Then read all the same books. Anything you want to know is available on the internet. Why study a lot of boring stuff you're not interested in? You won't retain it anyway. Most college students study enough to regurgitate on a test and then immediately forget it. It's wasted time and energy. Study and learn what you're interested in instead of what is "required." That way you only will be learning what you have a passion for. Most people that are successful in their professions have a passion for what they do, not merely a "ticket of admission" to the field of their choice which is what a college degree represents.

4. Money Invested in a College Education Would Be Better Invested in Real Estate. If you took the money most people invest in a college education and bought a chunk of real estate instead at age 18, you'd be able to retire with the income and/or profit from this investment in 30 years. You do the math. Money invested is gaining appreciation and/or interest. A student loan will end up costing you many times the value of the loan itself in interest for a college diploma that only depreciates in value if all you have to offer is your labor as an employee. From a corporation's point of view you are just a labor input regardless of whether or not you have a degree. Don't think you're a privileged character just because you have a college degree. You're not, and, in a corporation's eyes, you're totally discardable especially if they can get somebody cheaper to do the job, say somebody in India or China. Don't think an American educational institution has anything over the educational institutions in India or China either. In many cases they're a lot better, and their graduates sure work cheaper.

5. Money Spent on College Education Would Be Better Invested in Starting Your Own Business. If you are your own boss, you don't need a piece of paper to prove to an employer that you're worthy of being hired by him. You don't have to worry about sucking up to your boss or getting along with your co-workers. Everyone I know who is an employee undergoes all kinds of stress having to deal with co-workers and bosses. Employees are stuck with their co-workers and stuck with their boss. The only way of getting rid of them is to quit your job. Be your own boss and you don't have to put up with that kind of crap. Bill Gates didn't need a college diploma to start Microsoft. In fact he doesn't have one and neither do a lot of entrepreneurs and people who have made great contributions to society.

6. Don't think a college diploma eliminates risk. Corporations are in the business of shifting risk to their employees rather than, as they traditionally have, assuming it themselves. Increasingly, employees are having to assume the risk for their own pensions which can be lost in risky investments in the stock market via 401ks. This risk used to be assumed by employers with defined benefit pensions. No more. Now there are defined contributions; read - YOU TAKE THE RISK! Also, if circumstances change for the corporation, you can be downsized, laid off, let go, fired, whatever euphemism, you want to apply to it...terminated? The corporation (or any employer for that matter) has no obligation to keep you employed. Health care is another risk employees are being asked to shoulder alone. Suddenly, paternalistic corporations are no longer paternalistic. You're on your own, baby! And don't expect unions to bail you out. Unions are passe with membership decreasing with each passing year.

So why not look your risk squarely in the face and become an entrepreneur, start your own business whether it's as a gardener, painter, handyman, carpenter, architect, civil engineer, lawyer or whatever. Just because you're a gardener doesn't mean that you're not the owner of a business that has value. Your customer list is a valuable asset that can be sold some day if you wish to retire or do something else.

Also there's no reason why you shouldn't develop a few different skill sets. For instance, you could become an excellent cook or a waiter. Doesn't take a huge training investment to do that. Then while you're pursuing an education in another field, you can be making money doing something more basic. Also it's something to fall back on should you ever be "downsized." Many people have aspirations toward very risky fields such as being an actor, musician, novelist or artist. Having an ability to make money in more mundane fields such as gardening or accounting may act as a launchpad (read "day job") for professions that are inherently more satisfying and are potentially more lucrative but in which relatively few are able to gain a reputation or make any money. If what you are doing is a labor of love, making money may not even be a requirement so long as you have an alternative way to make a living. Borat gave himself 5 years to make it as a comedian before he would give up and go into something more mundane. As it turned out, it took almost the whole 5 years before he started getting anywhere and now he's made tens (possibly hundreds) of millions of dollars on a #1 "moviefilm"  for which the production expenses must have been unbelievably low.

7. Start Life Early. Don't Delay it by Going to College. You don't have to delay real life by 4 to 8 years. You can start a family and your kids will be grown and out of the house before you are old and gray. You have a jump on real world experience. College unnecessarily delays starting out in life. At a time when your peers are graduating from college with so much student loan debt that they can't even afford to date, let alone get married and start a family, you could own your own business which you started from scratch, have a family started and own a house.

Be earning money during the 4 to 8 years you might have spent in college. Learn a basic trade or profession and build your business over the years you would have spent in college. Pay the minimum necessary to procure whatever credentials you need to practice that trade or profession. Learn it on your own. The only college degrees worth having are in the "thousand year old professions" such as law, architecture, civil engineering, medicine. In these professions you can hang out your own shingle - be in business for yourself. Forget high tech and anything that requires you to work for a corporation or as an employee and doesn't let you have the option of starting your own business. These degrees are worthless. As a laborer with a college degree, no matter how high tech, you are just a commodity. As a self-employed businessman, you call the shots, make the profits and build a business which has a value in itself, which can be sold some day if you choose to do so. Live simply and on the cheap when you're starting out pouring most of your money into your fledgling business. Be homeless if you have to. Live in your car or work vehicle. If you have a shop or storefront, live there. No sense in paying 2 rents. After you get going, you will be able to afford to move up in the world.

8. A 4 year college degree is worth practically nothing these days. Since these degrees have become so common, colleges and corporations have upped the ante requiring more and more college, graduate school, specialized training, licenses, post-docs and every other way they can figure to keep you paying tuition and racking up student loan debt which you will probably be paying off in lieu of a mortgage for the rest of your life.

9. College trains you to be a docile and compliant employee. Is this how you want to live your life? As Caspar Milquetoast? The second you mouth off to your boss, you're history! Be a free and independent individual instead. Have a passion for what you do. Have real knowledge instead of a piece of paper that says you know something. Do real work instead of make work. Be willing to take the risk of starting your own business instead of the pseudo-security of being somebody else's employee. Then you don't have to take crap from anyone or kiss anybody's ass!

Most college courses do not train you to do anything useful in the real world. Even as a working engineer, I never used 98% of the course material I had to learn in college. I had a professor at Georgia Tech who demanded that every electronics engineer be capable of working a thyratron problem. I was never asked to work a thyratron problem in my engineering work life or even to design any kind of a circuit. I was never asked to work a calculus problem. (Calculus was a required course.) Most, if not all, engineers do nothing more than push paper - especially if they work in the military-industrial complex. Of course, a lot of people are perfectly happy doing this!

Instead, learn a trade or a profession that deals with reality head-on. Otherwise, you're merely equipping yourself to be a paper-pusher. And you have no skills that are relevant to anything anyone would want to pay for in the real world if you lose your job in the corporate world. I found that the best engineers I met in my life were not even college graduates but people who had a passion for whatever it was they did. If you don't have a passion for your work, forget it, unless you're perfectly happy sitting on your ass and doing nothing all day. Then, by all means, get a college degree and enjoy collecting middle class welfare!

10. Learning resources are available for free in libraries and on the  internet. Anything you want to know is already available to you. Why pay for it? You're not going to learn anything by going to college if you don't have the self-discipline to study it on your own. You have to put in the effort. The teacher can't transfer the knowledge painlessly from his brain to yours. Most professors are useless anyway. All you end up doing in class is taking notes which you are  forced to decipher later. You might as well buy the notes and study them on your own rather than wear out your writing hand trying to keep up with the professor in class. He will have taught you nothing except how to take notes. Most of the material can probably be found in the text book or from other sources anyway.

Some of the great men in American history were autodidacts not products of educational institutions. Take Ben Franklin, for example. He only had a third grade education yet was a scientist, inventor, author, publisher, writer, diplomat - an all-around Renaissance man. He invented the lightning rod, the Franklin stove and bifocals among other things. He was fluent in 5 languages. He was also one of the wealthiest men of his day and was highly regarded as a scientist for his pioneering work in electricity. As a printer, he also had access to the tools necessary in becoming a published writer. This is an example of what I call concomitant serendipity, when a proficiency in one vocation synchronizes with another enabling one to move from one to the other with ease. Another example is becoming an architect and a contractor at the same time. That way one can design and build one's own spec houses. After so many of these, one has a track record that prospective clients can check out. With this approach you can start your own business from scratch making money at first from selling spec houses that gain you a reputation as an architect and later from clients who are impressed by the legacy of the houses you've designed and built. Another example of concomitant serendipity is a journalist who writes books on the side such as Bob Woodward, an editor of the Washington Post who has written 12 best-selling non-fiction books. Look for professions that allow you to do other perhaps more satisfying and lucrative work as a by-product.

Comments

[Sam]

Hi John, thank you for writing such an enlightening article with wonderful references. I have been struggling with whether or not to return to school. I haven't yet put my all into pursuing my Pilates business and this has given me some hope and some things to consider.
Thanks,
Sam

[Benjamin]

Great list! I work as a janitor at the University of Nebraska, and I once found out that student enrollment has increased so much that they have had to force incoming freshman to sleep in STUDENT LOUNGES. Why? Because former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee attended UNL for a REALITY SHOW. All the more reason to not attend college!

[Bob]

Everything that was said there was exactly what I've been telling people. I went to college and have had nothing but debt that I can't afford to pay off now. Fortunately I did get a degree in a field I can turn into a business but didn't really get the idea to do that till just a couple years ago when I turned 34. Starting a business or finding a better way to invest that money that would go into a college education, granted that it's money you already have access to with out student loans, would definitely be a smarter thing to do and the term education, I believe, should be re-defined in peoples minds. It's not something you have to go to school to get. Being educated is nothing more than someone that has taken the time to gather knowledge in something. I say don't let people buffalo you into paying big money for an education that will barely get you out of debt in 10-20 years when you will probably end up un-employed in that time anyway and unable to get another job in that field again making what ever money you would be or should be making and forced to come up with and settle for something lesser anyway later on like a lot of the middle aged to elderly baggers and cashiers at the grocery stores I see here in Florida all the time. I haven't done the math yet but with as much as it costs today to get a degree worth anything, aside from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, I almost am willing to bet someone being better off just working a simple video store job or flippin burgers and saving money like mad and taking any spare time to educate them selves in some practical field like lawn care or some craft and opening a lawn care business with your truck or a craft shop out of your own house. Sell bead jewelry or something. Don't get caught up in the lie with college education. This list really should be more public. I wish there was a way to get this truth out to more people.

[Clayton]

You have turned about four valid points into ten. All valid points can be thoroughly debated and contradicted. I would take my time to debate but I am anti-debate because it is merely a battle over who has more will to do more research as well as who has more knowledge over the subject; I also have to study for my college classes. A for effort!!!

[Andrew]

This is true of Business Majors, but for the people in sciences and those who want to themselves teach, college is a necessity.

[Beth Jordan]

I do not agree with this theory at all. A heart and soul of a college education has nothing to do with money...spending or earning. The truest value in a college education is becoming a well-rounded and well-adjusted adult. It's a personal journey that you cannot put a price tag on. Real Estate and business development are great and profitable experiences too, but you have your whole life pursue those things. Take my advice and get an education. It's the best thing anyone can do for themselves.

[Kaitlyn]

I couldn't agree more with this post! These are things that I've been saying for a while now (I'm 19 and have never been to college, by the way.) I think I finally made the decision a little more than a year ago, when I finally stopped stressing and depressing myself over not knowing what I would do for college. I started disliking the current school system while in third grade, and ever since then I've only been counting the reasons to abandon it entirely. Throughout my four years of high school I only learned three things from teachers- Spanish, French, and that teachers love to misinform students. I learned so much ever since elementary school though- because I've always been a bookworm and I'm constantly finding myself distracted by a new, good read (such as this blog where I find myself tonight, at nearly 5am.) I brought my own books to school to read, because either the teacher was too daft to notice, the class too easy to pass, or I simply felt like reading my own thing. It's actually quite amazing at the amount of things I learned in school- by teaching myself.

A couple years ago I stumbled upon something called "Unschooling." What it basically is is a sort of homeschooling where everything is led by the student. The student learns what they want to learn, at their own pace and when they feel like it. I couldn't believe how much the description was reading my mind. Finally! Someone else out there understands! But it was too late for me. With only a couple years left of high school, it was best to just get it over with. I spent my entire senior year only doing enough work to pass. I knew already that college didn't sound like something for me- drinking, partying, studying, exams... paying thousands of dollars that I could have been earning at a job instead. But the problem was, there was nobody out there who agreed with me. Not a single soul. Even my boyfriend, the one who understands every motive of mine, didn't know why I chose this way (he does now, though. And he agrees.) Every one and every place I encountered seemed to praise college kids and grads, while looking down on those who chose the working path. I knew I was all alone in the decision, but hell, it's MY life. I got a good job with no experience required, a very lovely starting wage, benefits, and opportunities to advance. I didn't go to college the next Autumn, instead merrily continuing on with my job.

Since not much time has passed, I've still got that job, I still don't go to school, I study what I want- when I want... and I couldn't be happier about this decision. Since leaving school I've learned all about optometry, as well as two Japanese writing systems and much about its grammar. There's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I could have learned so much in this short period of time, had I been stuck in a classroom. I've also expanded my social circle both through work and online, in ways that I've never connected before.

But you know what tops off the cake?

Finding this blog.

Until now, I still had yet to find a single person that shares my opinion right off the bat. Finding this... I can't even explain the loneliness that's been lifted off me. I thought that everyone in the world was against me. Thank you so incredibly much for showing me that I'm not alone here, that others have seen through the lies of the modern schooling system... As well as that I'm not the only one who thinks the word "education" should be redefined. I'm so used to explaining all of my views to people. Finally, I know there are people out there that I don't have to explain this one too.

-Kaitlyn

PS. Sorry for the whole life story thing. I was getting into it because I was so happy.

[John Lawrence]

Thank you, Kaitlyn, for this nice comment. I'm glad you found that this blog entry reinforces your own feelings on the subject. Good luck to you!

[robellie]

You have a very detailed with solid reasoning. I like it. I just wrote a piece on this from a different angle at: http://macnwin.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/to-college-or-not-to-college/

[Sphere56]

This is great! I have seen a few other posts on the web regarding this issue. I too felt it was great seeing what I have been saying to my family, friends, and college brainwashed individuals for years. It is very hard to tell someone with a degree that it is not worth more than a ticket to compete, or a filter to separate you from the other person with a degree. All this puts you in a position where you have no controll and can only pray you will get the job.

However on the upside I have in fact been so sucessful that the administrators are either surprised that I don't have a degree or are curious why I do not have my own buisiness. Some of these, presidents from large state schools are some of them.

The most profound comment I have read was "Until now, I still had yet to find a single person that shares my opinion right off the bat. Finding this... I can't even explain the loneliness that's been lifted off me. I thought that everyone in the world was against me. Thank you so incredibly much for showing me that I'm not alone here, that others have seen through the lies of the modern schooling system... As well as that I'm not the only one who thinks the word "education" should be redefined. I'm so used to explaining all of my views to people." from Kaitlyn.

Currently I am in college, this was a decision that was somewhat spontanious due to being declined by three job offers in which I was clearly the right choice if I had a degree. So inspite of this, I chose to go back and find myself in the same situation I have been in before regarding college.

It is personally frusterating to be so sucessful with what I am passionate about and not in college. It is a really big let down to know that I have put a large investent of time and money into college. However I have no student debt. Interestingly, I did not go to college to get a degree, rather to use the university for my benefit by using them as a tool for my reputation. By estabilishing yourself with a university you just may get the respect that you may not otherwise obtain by other methods. This could have been done 100% free if I would have known what I know now.

I especially LOVE the section you wrote involving the financial investment being used to start a buisiness with a trade you love to do. This is becuase that is EXACTLY what I am doing.

You have done a great service writing this article. By the way, it would be great to spread this to the people who need to hear it. There is strangely not much at all regarding this topic.

Thank you,
Jonathan

[Lydia]

I think these are all great points, but impractical at best for the majority of people.

- The majority of kids going into college aren't sure what they want to do with their lives, and for them a large part of the college experience is learning who they are and what their passions are.

- The majority of people are not self-motivated independent risk takers. It takes a certain attitude and personality to work for yourself and start your own business. Not to mention, the world wouldn't function if everyone worked for themselves. A group of people or a company can achieve much greater results than an individual generally.

- The college experience is about much more than accumulating knowledge. For most people it is also about expanding your social network, learning to work with other people, being exposed to new ideas, and having an opportunity to focus on learning instead of the daily grind.

One of the main themes of your article is fear of losing your job and not being able to keep up with the competition after investing decades with the same company. While this may be true for baby boomers, what I see in my generation (I'm 24) is very different. People don't expect or want to work for the same company for a long period of time. People feel that they deserve to be doing something they are passionate about. People will change careers many times and hopefully have a variety of skills to better support themselves as industries and technology change. This is a good article about what future generations are facing: http://commongroundmag.com/2007/07/millennials0707.html

Personally, I am a self-taught web designer who decided to go to college to study subjects I was interested in learning more about. While I was in school I worked 3 days a week at an ad agency which is where my real career education came in. Since I went to a local state school and got in and out in 4 years my debt is really quite low. I count myself lucky though, because I knew what I wanted and how to get it. Most 18 year olds have no clue, and that's why college is important.

[Someone]

After all those years of wasting life working as a corporate cog (paper-pusher), what is your job now? Retired?

I'm sorry you had to go through "the path"--go to school, get a "useful" degree so that you can become a corporate cog working for bosses who have different goals in life than you do...

and thank you that you are telling others why you shouldn't waste life in college.

[John]

Someone:

I have been a window cleaner for 32 years. I love my work, and I'm self-employed so I have no one to answer to but myself. There's no other way to live as far as I'm concerned.

John

[someone]

I would like to become a window cleaner too. I like manual jobs. How do I go about it?

[Online College Consulting - Applywise]

You have a great point in your 10 reasons on why certain student must not go into college. But me myself still believe in the power of education. Education is the key for success and.

[Bob]

Lydia Wrote:

“I think these are all great points, but impractical at best for the majority of people.”

“- The majority of kids going into college aren't sure what they want to do with their lives, and for them a large part of the college experience is learning who they are and what their passions are.”

Bob Writes:

How many classes do they have to pay for before they discover what their passions are? Going to college is quite an investment for people who don’t know what they want to do with their lives. I don’t think kids should be spending 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of dollars that they may never pay off in their life times to MAYBE find them selves. If one goes to college these days they should know Exactly what they want to do before going as it’s nothing like it was in the 60’s when it was far cheaper and more affordable.

Lydia Wrote:

“- The majority of people are not self-motivated independent risk takers. It takes a certain attitude and personality to work for yourself and start your own business. Not to mention, the world wouldn't function if everyone worked for themselves. A group of people or a company can achieve much greater results than an individual generally.”

Bob Writes:

If people are not Self-Motivated then college is not for them and if those people are not Risk Takers then college is Definitely not for them. It is Guaranteed today that most college grads are going to struggle making their student loan payments or not make them at all. Student loans are much bigger risks than Mortgages and today college costs about as much as buying a home. At least you can sell a home.

Lydia Wrote:

“- The college experience is about much more than accumulating knowledge. For most people it is also about expanding your social network, learning to work with other people, being exposed to new ideas, and having an opportunity to focus on learning instead of the daily grind.”

Bob Writes:

Expanding your Social Network, Learning to Work with other People, being Exposed to New Ideas; You’ve just described a JOB and many jobs you can get without a degree. Many employers prefer that you not have a degree these days. And having an opportunity to focus on learning instead of the daily grind, those things can be done at your local library for free or the book store for much cheaper than any college.

Lydia Wrote:

“People don't expect or want to work for the same company for a long period of time. People feel that they deserve to be doing something they are passionate about. People will change careers many times and hopefully have a variety of skills to better support themselves as industries and technology change.”

Bob Writes:

When you jump from job to job and company to company does your last pay check jump with you? If so then good for you but many people do not get to experience that luxury. This is a new trend with companies as they don’t have to pay good steady employees good wages any more and barely give out raises, people don’t get to work for a company long enough to experience a raise. Companies don’t even have to commit to a retirement plan for employees any more. This issue has nothing to do with baby boomers this has to do with young people around 24 yrs of age not understanding that by the time they are 34 or so like me (I'm in the OR SO range) they will be making the same as they were or close to it when they began their first job hunt out of college. That is if there are any jobs in their futures. This is not a trend you should be getting excited about. And how bout those people that go to college for 4 years or more to get a degree in a technological field and get out to find a job in what they learned only to find out that what they learned is already obsolete by the time they get their first interview. Don't even bring up Placement Programs. Been there, Done that. A Big Fat Joke.

Also people who like to do what they are passionate about generally don't like to change. They usually want to do that one thing for the rest of their lives.