MONEY MANGER "Dont go to College"

Formula Capital's James Altucher discussed his theory on why sending your kids to college is a bad idea. The segment proved to be one of Tech Ticker's most popular...and controversial of 2010. More recently, a report based on the book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses found that after two years of college, 45% of students learned little to nothing. After four years, 36% of students learned almost nothing. (See: Brain Drain: Most College Students Learn Next to Nothing, New Study Says.)

Meanwhile, the cost of college keeps rising -- 20 times the rate of inflation and much faster than say healthcare costs -- and student loan debt keeps growing. As of mid-2010, U.S. student loan debt totaled $850 billion vs. $828 billion for credit card debt, according to the Federal Reserve.

So with more people coming around to the idea that maybe Altucher is onto something (vs. being on something), the money manager and author is back with a follow-up: The 8 Alternatives to College:

-- Start a business.
-- Work for a charity.
-- Travel the world.
-- Create art.
-- Master a sport.
-- Master a game.
-- Write a book.
-- Make people laugh.

"Whenever I suggest 'don't send your kids to college' a lot of very smart people invariably come back with the response, ‘well what else should they do?'," Altucher writes on his blog. "So I figure I will help people out by coming up with a list and try to handle the criticisms that will certainly arise even before they arise. I can do this because I have a college degree. So I've learned how to think and engage in repartee with other intelligent people."

In the accompanying video, Altucher "repartees" with Henry and me about his alternatives to college and addresses the most powerful thing working on behalf of higher education: The huge gap in employment between those with and without college degrees.



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The first "news" story is totally misleading. The question isn't whether there is value in attending college, but why the cost of it has ballooned in recent years?

Furthermore, questioning the value of a college education at such a low point in our economic history is uncritical. Many Americans are suffering across the board with regard to employment opportunities, so it's easy to play the blame game using almost any variable imaginable.

While your degree may not attract a six-figure annual salary, it's unlikely that it is worthless like the commentators would have you believe.

For those of us, including myself, who don't conceptualize the value of education in terms of its market return, that argument doesn't hold water in the first place.

 

I totally agree with this. The only thing I would add is that if one does choose to go to college don't major in any liberl arts its a huge was of time. Take classes fine but don't major in dumb shit likw english and sociology.

 

But a simple cost benefit analysis yields that more often than not its not worth the money. Unless you go to a top tier school or go to school for a popular profession it doesn't seem worth it.

 

Mrfantastic said it best in short...long version is this .....

yes and no to all your arguments liberal arts (math) is a great field to go into but like philosophy is a bad idea. going to a top tier school , that depends on what degree you are going to get. If you are going to get a degree in elementary education then you are a plumb fool to go to yale because the starting pay in alabama or any state averages about 40000. the bang for your buck will not be there.

If you are going to get a business degree and only a BS then you can make an arguement suchas accounting...well you can go to athens state ( a school that no one knows outside huntsville alabama and here they are a well respected and you can spend about 20000 to 25000 in the total 4 years) and start off in business about 35000 to 41000 so thats a good turn in investment.

if you go to yale you would probably come to alabama and start off the same or you can go to a big firm and what not and do better. The best thing to do is go to athens state for your BS and get you MBA at yale to save money. your mba is what counts and no one will care where you went at your undergrad.

 

I would always recommend going to college to broaden your horizons and see how other people live. Not to mention the social contacts you may need later in life. Both of which helped to shape my adult life. That is actually what you're paying for, IMO. Academics for their own sake are cool, but very few people go into pure academics.

Without even *some* college, you'd probably end up one of these middlebrow people who never left their block where they grew up, provincial, small-minded, and not well-rounded at all (see: right-wing assholes always crying about "elites", criminal-minded ghetto people who hate those who talk "proper")

 

Well stated.

And for those who prefer to conceptualize the value of a college education in economic terms, some metrics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.




As of January 2011, the unemployment rate for college graduates is 4.2%; less than half the national average. Are many of them underemployed? Absolutely. Will they remain so? Unlikely.


http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm

 

Basically this. College increases your chances to flex your creativity and quality assurance. But I do see where MrFantastic and others are coming from in many respects. The growing demand for college educated people are high and the standards will get higher, which leads to the question as to whether when we'll wind up having to take more than four years to acquire a Ph.D to even get a healthy living comfortable lifestyle?

 

I don't equate having a degree with financial success. Many advanced degree-holders are living back home doing odd jobs.

(For the record I hold a BA)

But I do credit college with teaching one how to navigate the world, and how to make and maintain the social contacts necessary to play the game (aka the way white people do it)

When I started hanging out with my white friends in college, I began to see how they lived and what they took for granted. "To the manor born" as it were. I also saw how WW lived and how they treated people/their men as opposed to others whose ethnicity will remain nameless.

I was in college during the whole Different World/Public Enemy/School Daze era so it was was cool to be black and in college. Not like today where it's cool to go to jail.

Soon after graduation I got hired by a buddy of mine who had gone on to art direct projects at an ad agency. This is what I mean by social contacts in the real world, not just your hood.

Maybe white folks can afford not to go to college due their their innate privilege (white ex-cons hired more than black degree-holders for example) but not us.

 

Ah! That makes a lot of sense and I agree with you wholeheartedly!

 

Thanks and glad to see intelligent Black men on the same page.

 

I partially disagree. going to college is a great way to make contacts and yes a college degree doesnt guarantee a job but without one will guarntee that you will not get certain well paying jobs.

Years ago a BS would get you into the door to get a job now It might get your resume looked at. if you dont have a degree at all go to your local MCdonalds they are waiting for you.

Fareed zakaria had CEO's on his show and they discussed the future employer needs. they all were degreed jobs. the days of manufacturing are overseas. they are now looking for people with science, computer related, math , financial , and health care related degrees and the rest fall below suchas social work teaching ect..

so going without some type of degree is really taking a risk of not getting hired for anything. If you go to a tech school that give you science realted and tech training you will be good to go. the reason germany has a low unemployment rate is because they retrained the manufacturing worker into these type of positions.

 

I'll respond to this verbally. Direct yourself to the link below.

ATTN: Karmacoma

 

That is actually true. The standards will keep growing and continuously do so until you HAVE to have a masters or even a Ph.D in sciences to acquire even a healthy job with excellent pay.

 

When I said what I said about WW this was during my college days, not after graduation. Just to clarify.

 

Ah okay. But could you further elaborate on that comment though?

 

It's self-explanatory.

 

I see what your saying as far as building professional relationships which is a lot harder when your in the workforce but certain majors are bullshit. That's all I'm saying, students need to learn real world skills not the pretentious political writings of Thomas Hobbs or John Locke.
Making connections can be achieved through clubs and various afterschool activities.

 

well stated. couldnt have said any better in a succint manner

 

"Pretentious" writings (on any subject) teach people HOW TO THINK. Thinking outside your everyday prism. Only people who can't read down such texts.

Clubs and afterschool activities are cool for grade and high schoolers, but there's nothing like college to make friends and connections you'll have through your whole adult life. There is a whole gang of people from college I'm still in touch with via Facebook but maybe one or two people I've known since grade school, and maybe ONE from high school!

Something about the college experience bonds people differently.