Entrepreneurs - You Might Want To Drop Out Of College
In America, college is becoming the new high school. It’s no longer just a requirement to work towards your future, it’s also become one of the biggest costs we incur. Every student and their parent is trying to find ways to make college more affordable, but many can't afford it at all. Dropping out of college adds an extra $144,000 in financial cost in the first decade if you don't get paid while attending or $300k over 20 years with a salary equivalent. That’s on top of the things you’re already dropping out of - parties, friends, sports and a social life. Ouch. The rational economic decision is to go to college, get a degree and have a nice middle class life. It worked for my parents who never made more than $20k/year combined (including my dad’s VA disability), but had the benefit of attending college in their 20s in an era where tuition was cheap enough they could pay cash while they attended and graduated without any debt. But what are the alternatives? What are some options outside school that don’t involve taking on debt? Turns out there are tons of paths to success.
As a wise man said, “There’s an old joke in comedy. A man goes to a spiritualist and asks the medium to tell him his future. The medium says, “You’re going to be very famous, you’re going to be real rich, and you will marry a beautiful woman.” The man thinks about that for a moment, then says “That sounds about right.” He leaves, but on the way out he bumps into another guy who was also there for the reading. He says “I don’t want to tell you what I came for, but I think the medium got something wrong.”
Just like the man in the joke, if you’re looking for advice on your life and career from a spiritualist, you’re going to get a few things wrong. Especially if you’re looking in this article. The key thing that any successful person knows is that there is no such thing as one path to success. It's all about finding your own path, where you live it and make it work for you personally and financially. If you’re not comfortable with the idea of skipping college, that’s fine. Just because I’m not going doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Wait…what? Not going to college? How could I dare suggest something so preposterous? College is the only way to get a good job, and if you don’t go, you will languish in poverty! My parents would kill me! What do we pay all these taxes for if people don't get educated? Oh wait… that money goes to fund wars in the Middle East. What a waste.
There are a few things that get me about this line of thinking. First, my parents gave up a lot of their lives to provide for me and my brother (but not my sister). They didn’t have the opportunities I had growing up, but still managed to raise us well. We were lucky enough to grow up in a time and place where the pressure wasn’t nearly as high on parents as it is today. My advice? Don't let it get to you! Instead of being stressed out by the idea of going to college, do something productive with your time while being smart by investing in yourself based on real-world knowledge instead of following someone else's dreams. Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Here are a few options for you skipping college -
1. Get an internship with a company doing the kind of work you like and pay close attention so that when you do start in your career, you will be better prepared and your boss won't laugh when you ask questions.
2. Start a business on the side or as a full-time job (on nights and weekends) while working at another job - this is very common and if you're good at it, people will pay for it. One such example are all the successful tech founders who drop out of college to start their own companies.
3. There are tons of entrepreneurial programs now for college students who don't have the funds to start a business on their own. Learn more about these here .
4. Don’t go to college at all - this is a very viable option for those with the discipline to put themselves through it and the money needed to get started. There are many people doing this today, including Gary Vaynerchuk and Claire Shipman who aren't in school but make an incredible income without student debt or without having to postpone starting their careers. You can read more about them here or read Gary's book #AskGaryVee if you want to know more about him.
5. Work your way up the ladder without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a degree. Find a job in a company you would like to work for one day and stick with that company until they promote you or it makes sense to move on.
6. Attend school, but only pay for the bare minimum of what you need to complete your major (check with each school if they have an accelerated program that will help you get your degree faster). It’s also worth it to ask if there are scholarships, grants or other awards for people in specific majors. There are tons of scholarships but many students don’t apply because they don’t know about them or think they won’t qualify.
7. A few years back, Chase sent 30,000 low-income students to college with a $5,000 guarantee on the first year of tuition. The students were also given an additional $2,500 to get an education they could afford. This resulted in a 97% completion rate and students graduating within four years with the costs covered by federal aid.
8. Many people now learn how to code at their local libraries and even some schools (technically, these are not 'schools' as they don't offer degrees or diplomas). I personally learned how to code through some local classes at the Loveland Library and taught myself how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. There are tons of resources out there and learning this way is much easier than it seems.
Using the examples above, you will likely realize that no two paths to success will look the same. Find a path that works for you and as long as you are working hard, it doesn’t matter what type of path that is. If you're looking for more information on this topic, I highly recommend reading The End of College: Creating the Future for Education and Learning or The $100 Startup .
Conclusion
College can be a wonderful time in your life, but it’s something you do more for yourself than it is for others. This isn’t a call to not go to college at all. It’s just important to consider all of the options available now and consider which kind of lifestyle you want to live. Start by taking a hard look at what kind of person you would be and how that fits into the world around you. Does going to school make sense? Does your path align with what the world needs and will have value? If it doesn’t, don’t waste your money or stress producing nothing of value.