Your high school guidance counselor was wrong. They said if you don’t want to be a loser, you go to college. Well, you’ll show them. You know so many people who didn’t go to college and were massively successful. End of story. They went to college and became a high school guidance counselor, so what do they know? Why should you pay thousands of dollars to go to college when you know so many people who have gotten rich online? You can just join their program for a little bit of money per month and make a 1000% return and retire by 30. You’ve seen so many people on YouTube and Instagram saying all the same things. Well before you write off the college experience completely, ask yourself this: Have you ever met anyone who got rich this way? Hell, have you ever met anyone that’s actually made any money this way.
I’m not going to sit here (as a college dropout who owns his own business at the time of this writing) and tell you that going to college is a guarantee of success. However, according to the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities the annual median earnings for college graduates aged 22-27 compared to non-college graduates of the same age differs by $22,000. As I was writing this blog I came up with an idea to try and shed some light on that question. I’m looked at the top 10 richest people in the world and saw if they went to college and, if so, what their degree is according to Investopedia:
- Bernard Arnault – Ecole Polytechnique (Engineering)
- Elon Musk – Upenn (BA in Physics) & Wharton School (BS in Economics)
- Gautam Adani – No degree (attended Gujarat University but dropped out)
- Bill Gates – No degree (attended Harvard but dropped out)
- Jeff Bezos – Princeton (BSE in electrical engineering & computer science)
- Warren Buffet – University of Nebraska (BS in business administration) & Columbia University (MS in economics)
- Larry Ellison – No degree (Attended University of Illinois and University of Chicago
- Mukesh Ambani – No degree (Attended Stanford University)
- Steve Ballmer – Harvard (BA in applied mathematics & economics)
- Larry Page – University of Michigan (BS in computer engineering) and Stanford University (MS in computer engineering
For a guy who sucks at math, I like numbers. Numbers are concrete and extremely difficult to refute. Out of these top 10 richest people, 6 have at least one degree. That means 4 don’t have any degree. But those 4 people who didn’t end up getting a degree all attended college for some length of time. So, one can factually say that out of the 10 richest people in the world today, all of them went to college.
Want some more numbers? Dave Ramsey’s company did the largest original research study of millionaires in the USA and the findings are incredible. Pertaining to college, the Ramsey Solutions National Study of Millionaires found that of the 10,000+ millionaires surveyed, 88% of them have at least a bachelor’s degree. 52% of the same millionaires have a doctorate of some kind. Speaking of Dave Ramsey, there is one hugely important variable when deciding whether college is right for you and virtually no one talks about. Can you afford it?
College has left a bad taste in many peoples’ mouths simply because they went into debt to get (or in many cases to try and get) a degree that just didn’t have the earning potential they were sold on. Hell, I’m one of them. Just because you don’t go to college right out of high school doesn’t mean college isn’t the right path for you. More than likely it just means you don’t know what path you want to take yet. And that’s totally ok. It’s much better than going to debt for the rest of your life. Especially if you’re a young person reading this, no doubt everyone in your life is telling you to fill out your FAFSA so you can get your college paid for. Newsflash: YOU ARE STILL GOING TO PAY FOR IT. Only with interest. It is imperative that you think long and hard about whether the degree you want to pursue will yield a high-earning salary and if it won’t, is it worth it to be a slave to a lender for the bulk of your adult life to get it?
One way you can prevent (or at least lessen) going into debt is by embracing junior or community college. This may not be the same where you live, but where I’m from you can attend most community colleges and transfer all those credits to in-state public universities. Sometimes you even get the same faculty and can do dual-enrollment so all your credits go towards your 4-year degree, but you can save a ton by taking classes at the junior college. This is one of those things you should research on your own. It’s highly advisable to not go into debt for college.
In closing, you may be even more frustrated because you thought this article was going to give you justification for not going to college. Maybe college just isn’t for you. Maybe it is. It just depends on what you want to do with your career. Maybe college isn’t for you, just don’t forget those figures above because numbers don’t lie. Ultimately, those decisions lie with you. Just make sure they’re your decisions and any influence comes from people who have your best interests in mind. If, however, you’re dead set on failing at life… Don’t go to college.
