4 Myths About College Education That Make You Think You Need It

There is a life without a college degree

Full disclosure: I hold a college degree, and I work in an industry where it’s tough, if not impossible, to get hired without one.

But that’s exactly why I rebel against it.

Like many of you, I went to college because ever since I was young, I have been repeatedly told that this is the only path to success. I learned almost nothing practical there, except for being conventional, check the boxes, and pass tests. People around me celebrate my college degree as if it’s this big accomplishment to be bragged about, but this degree has been framed on my wall for the past 5 years, and my personal view is that this is the only thing it’s good for. Other than virtue-signaling, of course.

I won’t go as far as to call it a complete waste of time — there are some benefits to it, but it certainly shouldn’t be a requirement for most people pursuing careers and professional fulfillment out there, especially given the price tag.

The real reason why people go to college is to get an endorsement in the form of a diploma. Because nobody will hire them if they don’t have it — or so they have been told.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with going to college — obviously, I did. If you can afford it and want the experience, by all means, you should go for it. It can certainly be fun, and many people truly enjoy the academic experience, forge life-long friendships, as well as partake in meaningful on-campus engagements. Besides, I do believe there are certain occupations where advanced training is required.

However, the truth is that many people don’t want to be scientists, doctors, or lawyers, and most people can’t afford the hefty price tag. On top of that, if you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy schooling, it’s at least 4 years of your life, which would make you miserable and otherwise could be spent doing something that’s interesting and meaningful to you.

The bottom line is: I am not anti-college; I am pro-education.

And there are a lot more options to get educated and obtain the skills you need for a fulfilling professional career than going to college. Society wants you to believe otherwise, but that’s only because colleges can’t afford to see their enrollment drop; these bloated monsters, their expansion fueled dramatically by the unlimited availability of government-backed student loans, need students to keep coming to survive.

College is no longer about learning. College is a business.

If more people were courageous enough to shed the stereotypical image of college as the only tool of social mobility, and more parents encouraged their children to pursue their real passions instead of forcing the narrative of the higher education as the only path to success upon them, maybe social awareness would spread faster than it does now.

Here are 4 myths reinforced in society today that make you think you have to go to college to be successful.

1. College prepares you for work

I hate to break it to you, but college is not very helpful from a practical standpoint. I majored in Economics, and 90% of my classes were theoretical and had little to do with reality. And that’s only the major classes — don’t even get me started on general ed. I get it, the point of those is to make students well-rounded, but anyone nowadays can learn anything of interest to them online for free. Forcing people to take a bunch of arbitrary courses for the sake of fulfilling a bureaucratic requirement, in my view, has only one name: ripoff.

And if you don’t want to take it from me, take it directly from employers.

According to a survey of 600 HR leaders conducted by Learning House, 47% of employers think college is not preparing students for the working world. A third of respondents said the schools they recruit from do not have a pipeline of talent with the right skills to fill current and future roles.

Furthermore, yet another survey has found that 3 out of 4 employees think that college graduates are lacking soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and interpersonal communication, that are paramount for strong performance.

Finally, a 2019 study found that 75% of employers believe there is a skill shortage among job candidates. 51% say the education system has done nothing to address it.

With this context in mind, it’s no longer surprising to see work experience requirements for entry-level jobs. And the reality is, it doesn’t matter how prestigious your university is — if you don’t have at least some work experience throughout your academic career, such as an internship or a part-time job while in school, it will be very challenging to get recruited after graduation.

2. College pays off

It really depends on your socio-economic background and your professional field of interest.

Sure, if you take out a student loan to cover your law school or medical school tuition, it might just work out.

However, if you take out $100K worth of debt for a degree in social work — I’ve got bad news for you.

On average, a college student is expected to graduate with $33,000 worth of debt and get an entry-level job with a starting annual salary of $51,000. In 2020, student loan debt reached a record $1.6 trillion. 11% of student loans are delinquent.

Since the 1980s, the cost of attending college roughly doubled, even after inflation, representing a 2.6% average annual growth rate. However, the annual average growth in wages was only 0.3% over the same period. Indeed, the price of college attendance increased eight times faster than wages did.

$51,000 a year, which results in roughly $3,400 a month after taxes, may be a lot or a little, depending on where you live. In Indianapolis, where the average rent is just $900, it might not be so bad. In Los Angeles, where the average rent is $2,500, it’s almost immaterial.

Add to that a monthly student loan payment, which, depending on your loan term and including interest, can range from $300 to over $700 (this is based on the average amount of $33,000, but obviously, it can be even larger than that). Just google a student loan calculator and play around with inputs to see what I’m talking about.

Feeling stressed out yet? To drive my point home, here’s just one more data point for you.

Cengage conducted a survey where they polled upcoming graduates on how fast they expected to pay off their student loans. Respondents, on average, believed it would take them about 6 years. Meanwhile, the Department of Education reports that the typical repayment period is 20 years, with another study finding that the average length of repayment for student debt borrowers is 21.1 years.

3. College is about learning

No, college is about lifestyle. Your tuition is not just funding professors’ salaries. It’s funding this peculiar social phenomenon known as the college experience.

Easy access to government-backed student loans made college attendance possible for many people, which emboldened universities to expand to accommodate enrollment for more students and be competitive against other institutions.

This expansion, however, eventually went above and beyond what could be considered reasonable, because colleges got greedy. Not only they injected massive capital investments into the construction of new buildings, but a disproportionate amount of money went into building recreational facilities and various amenities meant to make the college experience more memorable and fun and thus attract a greater student population. Apparently, at some schools, you can soak in a huge 45-person hot tub or take a zip line over the swirling pool of water 36 feet in diameter.

Here’s a quote from the New York Times article on the topic (the article is from 2014, so the student loan debt number is dated — but hey, we beat a new record in just 6 years!):

With college costs climbing and outstanding student loan debt at a record $1.2 trillion, schools justify these facilities as important for recruitment and retention. Classrooms can look alike, but pools are a memorable tour stop for prospective students, especially, say, at the University of Missouri, where guides show off the indoor beach club’s palm trees, lazy river and waterfall, and coyly announce that the grotto was modeled after the one at the Playboy Mansion, something the firm that designed it, Counsilman-Hunsaker, confirmed.

In 2015, universities spent $11.5 billion on construction, which was an all-time high at the time. This building spree has resulted in maintenance expenditures reaching its peak over the past couple of years.

In case you wondered how exactly colleges fund these extravagances, let me tell you: they raise tuition and they borrow. In 2016, the public-university and community-college debt sat at $151 billion in debt, while private universities had $95 billion worth of debt.

So if you haven’t picked up on it yet, there exists this neverending, vicious cycle. Students mindlessly take out massive amounts of money to go to college, which, economically speaking, essentially creates an uncapped demand for higher education. This fuels supply expansion and incentivizes colleges to keep up supply by over-investing in construction to attract more students. Naturally, colleges overdo it, which causes them to get into debt to continue funding their growth, which leads to them having to introduce tuition hikes. This means larger student loans for students to take out. That, among other reasons, entails fewer students choosing to attend college. Lower enrollment means trouble for colleges, so they continue to develop tricks to entice people to attend, continue to rack up debt, and continue to increase tuition, which leads to more student loan debt.

It’s a downward spiral.

The college experience has little to do with learning or preparing you for a fulfilling career. It has everything to do with advertising a carefree, FOMO-like lifestyle, but this image is deeply misleading. A recent survey has found that 70% of full-time students are working. Because they can’t afford the college experience and because if they don’t, they will struggle with getting a job upon graduation (see my point #1 above).

4. If you don’t go to college, nobody will hire you

This myth is probably the most pervasive. And it is somewhat justified.

Will you be locked out of some companies/jobs without a degree? Absolutely. To be clear, I am not disillusioned about it. I work in investment management, an industry where you won’t even get hired as an office assistant if you don’t have a college degree.

I don’t know about you, but I find it ridiculous and unfair. I have a firm belief that society as a whole should be moving towards a more open stance with regards to hiring people without college degrees — and it already is.

Thus, the Learning House survey found that 9 out of 10 employers report being ready to accept candidates without a college degree. In its place, 66% of employers say they are open to considering alternative credentials, such as a recognized professional certification.

Furthermore, some companies openly stated they no longer require college degrees. Their progressive ranks include Google, Costco, Whole Foods, Apple, Starbucks, IBM, and Bank of America, to name a few.

Granted, some skeptics might argue that all of these surveys are a bit dated and were conducted pre-COVID during tight labor markets and near-zero unemployment rates, which caused employers to widen their potential hiring pools. While this is partly true, I still think that the trend to place less value on college degrees has been growing and has a strong potential to intensify for years to come, especially in the post-COVID world. With most schools closed for in-person instruction, many people are starting to re-assess the value proposition of college education.

The thing that so many people don’t realize is that in many cases, you don’t need to have a college degree unless you are an obsessed type A personality that is trying to prove to himself and the world you’re worth something by breaking into bulge bracket investment banks on Wall Street or Big 4 consulting firms. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but I speak from personal experience. And to be clear, some people truly enjoy that lifestyle, and there’s nothing wrong with it. I recently underwent a profound transformation of values and life outlook and came to realize that it’s just not my cup of tea — and probably not most people’s.

We live in a brand new economy now — the online economy, and it’s time more people realize the abundance of opportunities available to them. You don’t have to stick to the traditional path anymore. You don’t have to go to college.

So if not college, then what?

What you need to understand is, college is not a path to social mobility; education is.

And college is no longer a viable option for most people to obtain an education. However, contrary to popular belief, it is also not the only option.

Here’s a list of alternative sources of education that don’t break the bank:

1. Community college. While I bash traditional 4-year institutions, I am favorable towards community colleges. They often get stigmatized by the stuck-up snobs of this world for not being “prestigious,” but as someone who attended a community college before transferring to a 4-year school, I can tell you that this a great option for someone who wants to learn and pick up a new skill set. Community colleges offer certifications and vocational programs that allow you to gain the knowledge you need at your own pace and a fraction of a 4-year school’s tuition.
2. University extensions (aka Continuing Education). Similar to community colleges, universities often set up institutions for continuing education, with rolling enrollment periods and various practical programs and certifications to choose from. The great thing about them is that you don’t necessarily have to complete the entire program, but rather can cherry-pick the courses to tailor the academic experience to your specific needs and save on costs. Most of these courses are offered in the evenings, to accommodate the working folks, which is great if you are trying to pivot into a new career without quitting your day job.
3. Udemy, Coursera. Nowadays, you can learn pretty much anything, from marketing to software engineering to finance to art history to blogging, online. And platforms like Udemy and Coursera made it that much easier. You can browse any topics you are interested in, be it purely out of curiosity or to build up and monetize a new skill. Upon finishing the course, you can even get a digital certification as proof of completion.
4. Free Online Ivy League Courses. You can access almost 500 courses offered by Ivy Leagues from the comfort of your home. Courses are free, but you can pay a small fee and get a digital certificate as proof of completion.
5. Coding boot camps. There are boot camps such as Galvanize Hack Reactor and Lambda School, which offer intensive full-time software engineering and data science programs that only take several months to complete. The cost is around $18K, which is substantial, but they offer income share plans, where you pay it back as a fixed percentage of your monthly paycheck and only when you’re employed. Essentially, you gain the skill set comparable to that of a Computer Science graduate, except in a much more compressed time frame and for a fraction of the cost of a traditional college degree.
6. Various software engineering and data science certifications. Pretty much every big tech firm now offers training programs that you can complete at your own pace. Upon completing the course, you take a series of exams and receive a certification that allows you to get hired. The list of the companies goes on: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Apple, IBM. There’s probably many more — google it.
7. Network, Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure certifications. CompTIA offers four IT certification series for all levels from beginner to advanced. IT education is critical in this day and age, and these certification programs can help you join the ever-growing ranks of IT professionals.
8. HubSpot Sales & Marketing Certifications. HubSpot Academy is a great way to learn about marketing, content strategy, and sales. And they are completely free. It can be helpful if you are trying to upgrade an existing skill set or develop a brand new one and is especially useful for someone trying to build an online presence, promote their business, or start a blog.
9. Finance certifications from the CFA Institute. The CFA Institute offers certification programs in finance and investment management that are recognized and valued by employers worldwide. 2 of the 3 certifications they offer have no prerequisites to enroll. Their flagship certification, the CFA Program, has a prerequisite of either having a bachelor’s degree or 48 months of full-time work experience. If you are interested in finance, you could start with their Investment Foundations Program, which is a great place to start for a beginner.
10. Teaching English as a Second Language. This is a somewhat unconventional tip, but if you have a passion for teaching and enjoy learning about different cultures, you could teach English as a second language. You don’t necessarily have to be a native speaker; you only need to be proficient in English. The most widely recognized teaching qualification globally is CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). You could teach in the US at language schools, but this can also be a great option for someone who wants to travel the world. I personally know some people who live and travel globally while teaching English.

This list is by no means exhaustive. There is a plethora of information online that’s only a click away — you just have to be diligent and do research.

Real education should not be about checking the boxes, passing tests, and going bankrupt for a piece of paper to hang on the wall. It should be about curiosity, ingenuity, and a passion for making an impact — in your own life and the lives of others.

Stop being complacent. Start learning.