What to Do When You Realize College Was a Bad Investment
It’s not too late to take a new path
A true story
The Martine family tormented themselves about getting Jennifer into the right nursery school because one educational misstep could cost them her admission to a top-tier college.
By the time Jennifer was in middle school, she and her parents had checked all the boxes to get into a good high school. Sure, there were expenses for tutors and the ice skating lessons to assure she had a sport under her belt, but she was well-positioned for the next phase.
By 11th grade, Jennifer was a wreck. She was focused on assuring she never got less than an A-, doing the right extra-curricular activities to look well-rounded, and soliciting teachers for college recommendations.
The story has a bitter-sweet ending. Jennifer got into one of her top college choices. Great. Her parents took a second mortgage on the house, and she was also left with debt. Bad. She graduated with honors. Great. And she got a job in finance, which she hated with a passion.
College once made sense, but now it doesn’t
In the 1970s, it cost $5,000 a year for college. The acceptance rate to the top schools was 25–35%. The cost was reasonable, and the opportunity was there if you could afford it.
If you went to college, you knew you would get a good job and have a clear path to 25 years or more of earning a living.
Today it costs $60,000 a year, and because applications skyrocketed, the acceptance rates are half of what they were 30–40 years ago. Even if you can get into the college of your choice and are willing to go into debt to do it, there is no clear path to earning a living.
The world changed radically, but the path to success did not
People spend twelve stress-filled years doing everything possible to get into a good college. Their chances of getting into a top school are much smaller. Everyone ends up in debt with no guaranteed path to a livelihood.
The path Jennifer took led to a college, not to a life.
She chose a path with little thought to her own strengths and passions. She chose a path without regard to pursuing a work-life based on purpose.
Why is this route a dead end?
A college education is not about you.
College is a cookie-cutter solution to a unique problem. That problem is a life path.
If you’re going to go into debt to get educated, make sure your investment will take you to the right place.
Most college educations don’t offer you the skills you need to earn a living. They don’t prepare you for the future. They are designed for a 50-year-old past.
Today, few businesses last long enough for you to retire with a gold watch. And today’s employees are not willing to stick around for 25 years for a soul-crushing career, even if they could.
According to the SBA, about two-thirds of businesses with employees survive for two years, and about half survive five years.
The average lifespan of companies listed in Standard & Poor’s 500 was 61 years in 1958. Today, it is less than 18 years.
The timeline to becoming irrelevant is accelerating.
Here’s the formula for failure:
Ill-fitting career choice + inappropriate education + poor corporate leadership + changing business landscape =
The great resignation
We know that the business world is out of date. Let’s take two steps back first.
How did you get there in the first place?
Here’s what college doesn’t do
College doesn’t prepare people to be part of the creator economy.
College doesn’t prepare students to build a business.
College doesn’t teach people to be leaders.
College doesn’t teach the kind of language skills you need to need for business.
College doesn’t teach writing, copywriting, video editing, or most of the skills to thrive online.
College doesn’t prepare people to earn a living.
In fact, some of the basic skills you will need can be taught in a few half-hour classes, but college isn’t set up to function this way.
The idea that you should take four straight years out of your life to live in a campus bubble is outdated. It makes no sense to study what someone else thinks is important (with a little wriggle room for your major.)
Change happens too quickly, and by the time you’ve left the bubble, you’re behind.
We need a new educational plan
Education itself is a burgeoning business. Some of the most successful creators are doing better selling courses than they did doing the work they are teaching people to do.
These new educators teach people to find their niche, master creative skills and market themselves.
Thousands of courses are available directly from experts to students.
Why spend a quarter of a million dollars on college when you can spend a fraction of it on preparing yourself for the reality of work in the future?
Customize your own educational plan for the win
Ten ideas about how to invest your educational dollars
- Do you want to start a business?
Join an accelerator. Pay for an apprenticeship to a successful leader. Read The Lean Startup. Find a community of people to connect with and partner with. Or, just invest in your business idea, and you’ll learn plenty.
2. Do you want to be part of the creator economy?
Pay for classes to teach you the technology you may not know. Interview people who have made it or take a class if they are selling one. Hire an editor. Pay for an apprenticeship to an artist. Go to a blogging or podcasting conference.
3. Do you want to get paid to learn?
Get an entry-level job. Take an internship in an area you want to learn. You could learn analytics, project management, finance, or negotiation.
4. Do you want to learn a language?
Spend six months in another country learning another language. Language and cultural expertise can be valuable in many kinds of work.
5. Do you want to inspire others to do their best work for you?
Skip management classes. Take a coaching class, read The Coaching Habit, or get a coach. Take courses in leadership.
What about the liberal arts?
Why is an education in literature, philosophy, art, or history confined to 20 year-olds?
A worthwhile educational institution could offer these courses to students of all ages. They would be scheduled at times that include evenings and weekends. Popular professors could rent space to teach directly to students, adding a lower-priced option for students who want to zoom in. This makes more money for teachers and lowers the cost of education.
Why waste your one precious life taking a single path to a dead-end?
Life expectancy for people born in 1950 was about 65. Life expectancy for people born today is about 79. That’s the average. You could easily live to be 90 years old. If you’re smart, you’ll continue to learn.
Education should be a life-long process of experience and training. Let’s stop blindly spending money to get to a future that has little to do with our reality or the reality of the world.