3 Good Reasons to Ditch College

And what to do instead.

I’ve never been able to bring up this topic without hearing some harsh criticism.

I get it. A four-year degree opens up doors that wouldn’t be available otherwise. It’s something you will always be glad you have. It shows employers that you have a work ethic. It’s the best four years of your life. I’ve heard it all before, and so have you.

For a big chunk of western history, universities have had a near-monopoly on elevating your status in life. It was the ultimate indicator of whether or not you we’re a have or a have-not.

In the past 20 years, we’ve seen all that change. Thank god. Mainly thanks to Google and the tech that came before that made the search engines possible. Amazon’s revolution of the book publishing industry has played a pretty big role too.

Information and education, the product of universities, has never been more accessible. The supply has reached an all-time high.

Usually, when the supply of a product or service sky-rockets, the price goes down. But that’s not happening with school. At least here in America. The price is going up at an incredible rate.

Is it still worth it? Is it worth getting price gouged for something available to you for free? For no other reason than the fact that they know they can?

I don’t think so. And before I go any further, it’s important to note that my opinion is likely a confirmation bias. Maybe because I didn’t go to college, I’m trying to validate my position.

Either way. Here are the reasons I’m still deciding not to go to college. If you’re in the same position as me, you should consider these points.

College costs a ton of money.

Older people who advise you to go to college seem to forget this. It didn’t cost them their soul as it does for us. 15 years older than me, my brother paid half of what I did for courses at the same community college.

Do you know why student loans are unforgivable? Why going bankrupt won’t get rid of them? It’s because creditors know we are going to struggle to pay these loans. They are hedging their bet by making sure you will have this loan until you pay it off or die.

Don’t believe me? Would you be surprised to hear that as of Q4 2019, 12% of all student loans are in default? Or that barley half of the people who took out student loans are currently repaying them?

Most people who use student loans for all of their education will end up with a $500 monthly loan payment. That’s if you go to state-funded universities in your state of residence. If you catch yourself with $100,000 in student loan debt, your payment will be double that.

That might not seem like a lot, but that’s really an absurd amount of money. That’s the difference between you being able to save up enough to buy a house or not.

The argument is that you will make that money back by getting a higher paying job, but that might not be true in this job market.

You’d probably be better off getting into the workforce four years earlier. (more on this later)

You can learn anything for free.

It doesn’t cost anything to learn.

Millions of professionals and companies have entire departments dedicated to creating educational content. Mostly for free.

You can get in touch with thousands of potential mentors within a couple of clicks.

You can buy used books on Amazon for a few dollars. You could buy a couple of thousand brand new books and still pay a fraction of some college’s tuition.

Not only is all of this available to you, but it’s also arguably better than the education you’ll get from a professor who’s not actually practicing in the industry you hope to be in. Of course, this depends on what content you find.

The dynamic is different for sure. It’s not the same as being in a classroom with the guidance of a teacher. You have to find your own learning materials and then have the discipline to sit down and teach yourself.

If you’re the type of person who feels like they need the classroom environment to learn, and I know a lot of these types, you need to change.

I know that’s blunt. But the work landscape is changing fast. If you cant become completely self-sufficient in educating yourself, you’re going to be left behind.

You can get a four-year head-start in the job market.

If you were a hiring manager deciding between these two candidates, who would you pick?

Person 1: I just graduated from college with a degree in business admin and a minor in marketing. I worked through college but no office job experience. Was in a frat or sorority—good personal and communication skills.

Person 2: Right after high-school became a real estate agent and worked as the brokerage marketing manager he worked for. From there started as an intern at a digital marketing agency, and in the span of a year, received two promotions. Has experience, and steller reviews, working directly with clients and managing their marketing campaigns.

Person 1 is most of my friends when they graduated from college. Person 2 was me, at the same time that my friends graduated.

(I totally recognize how arbitrary this example is. Obviously, it’s going to be on a case by case basis.)

It’s worth noting that many employers won’t even look at my resume because I don’t have a degree. That’s fine. Plenty will. Plenty did. And I was quickly able to stack up 4 years of marketing and sales experience that none of my peers can say they had.

The best part is, employers can pay me less than my degree having peers. Someone with a four-year degree has to make $500 a month (or more) more than me to take home the same amount of money. Thanks to student loans. Making me even more attractive to employers.

What do you do if you don’t go to college?

Now comes the bigger question. If not college, then what?

I hate to give a non-answer, but it’s hard to say. What I can say is that this is an opportunity to carve out your own path.

For me, it started by making very little money. I took the jobs I took to learn first and foremost. Eventually, my second internship turned into a decent paid position that gave me a lot of experience.

For the most part, you will have to answer this question for yourself. But here is a short list of things that have helped me and will help you.

Find jobs that offer opportunities to learn valuable skills that will be worth more down the road. Don’t bother looking for a high-paying job. Look for high-learning jobs.
Study and learn on your own, more than you would in college. Take your education into your own hands and go absolutely crazy. Learn everything you want to learn. It’s all available.
Read a ton of books. Books will give you an amazing education. They will also give you a window into the industry you want to go in and make you well rounded.
Optimize your life around being alive and get rid of dead time. You can waste all day, or you can get ahead. Choose wisely.
Read Mastery.

In Conclusion

Slowly, college is becoming less and less of a good deal. It continues to become more expensive, and the benefits are becoming smaller.

Many companies like Apple and Google are deciding to hire non-grads in favor of people who go to trade-like schools for things like coding.

Google is even coming out with their own educational program to weigh as much as a college degree in their hiring process.

The writing is on the wall. It’s time to start looking at all the other options.