Is College Worth it? Financially, for the vast majority of Americans it is NOT. Ever been scammed? College is one of the biggest “scams.” Only it is legal. I am going to have fun being raw and honest here in this article. I normally try not to get too negative on this blogging platform. But I am only human. And I am one of the probably thousands of Americans that has been harmed by the narrative that One needs to have a college degree to gain in financial wealth in life.
Work Hard, Stay Positive, Don’t be Bitter, No one likes a “Debbie Downer” Sound familiar?
I went to college with one major goal in mind. I was going to make more more money than I had growing up. Yes, there were “advantages” to leaving my home and heading to college. And it helped me in many ways. But NOT with what I really truly went for. I worked hard studying. And believe me, I did Study. While I could have maybe been out learning real life skills I was stuck in my dorm room room or apartment “studying.” I say this not because I am against studying or education. Quite the opposite, I am all for it.
But when all you have time for is to study, eat and sleep a little and nothing else, you lose. Yes, statistically many US citizen college students may spend more time “partying” then studying. But that wasn’t me. I read and studied and studied. I am extremely intelligent. But I can’t fix anything to save the life of me. Give me a scientific scholarly article full of professional “jargon” and I can figure out what it is saying with loads of research. And even paraphrase it into “laymen’s terms.” Perhaps that is the one good thing college did for me.
I learned to be a Good Student
I learned from our “traditional” American education system at a pretty young age how to be a “good” student. And for most of my life I have been a good student. Even into adulthood. I now realize that there is nothing wrong with being a good student. As long as that is NOT the only thing one is good at it. I never got paid to be a student. Until now that it is. Sure, there were times my classmates were like “We should get paid to be here at school.” And the teachers would respond with things like “You will be paid for this in the future, ect…..” Ok, yeah, when? I am still waiting for my 1st paycheck as a result of having had seven years of college education after that 13 years of k-12.
Sure, yeah okay to be fair, neither of the colleges I went to guaranteed any income claims or “job/career” opportunities after I would leave even after a graduation. And yes, I do have a Bachelor’s degree. And I have never been great at math. But so far, I have chosen not to go on for a Master’s because any time I now do the math, it just doesn’t add up. Hundreds of thousands of debt for that degree in order to gain less than a six figure income in today’s economy? Explain to me how that is feasible. I know, you can’t right?
My Advice to my Own Daughters and other Middle, High School Students, and Young Adults
Figure out your interests and skill sets before even applying to college. Also, do your research before Jumping into going to school beyond 12th grade. Now, please do not misunderstand me. I do want you to at least get a High School diploma. And we actually have a good solution for that in our modern world!
I am not really one to say “I am going to go back in the past and fix this mistake and that mistake…..” But I will say that I still have some “bitterness” about the fact that I gave up seven years of my adult life (and 3 plus of those years while I had young children at home.) to gaining and attempting to gain college degrees. The degrees were Never my end goal though. I always wanted to earn real money. But I was told you weren’t supposed to say that really at job interviews. I mean, come on, most of the people I grew up around their parents had 9-5 jobs. And so did my dad (ok, his was like 6 to 3 or 4 or something like that, but still a “day shift” job.). Not all of those adults had college degrees either. And many of them had “more than we did.”
My 3rd Year in I learned What I could Potentially Earn in my State with “said” Degree
It was very discouraging to find out that I would need 2 to 3 more years after that Bachelor’s to do what I thought I wanted, only to earn about what my dad made yearly while I was growing up. My dad is not stupid by any means, but his highest level of education was a High School Diploma. And you know what, the “careers” or “jobs” that I have had or tried in life that made me the happiest as well as earning me the best incomes have all been “jobs” or “careers” that required far less financial investing that college level classes.
So my Question is Why?
Thankfully I am already starting to see success here. But if I had found this years ago I would probably already be a millionaire. Maybe not? Who knows, but I am glad to be here now.
So yeah, there are never any guarantees in life. But why? Why do we tell our children they are more likely to succeed (at least in the finical realm) if they get a college degree when it isn’t true statistically? Why do people look at legitimate opportunities as “scams” if they ask for investing up front? But signing an agreement that you will pay back anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 plus loans after you graduate or leave a college is perfectly acceptable in our culture?
Why are banks and our government so willing to give out money for “student loans” they know many will NOT be able to pay back, but there are no really good opportunities to invest in good, legitimate business adventures that actually work better at bringing in income than college degrees? Yes, I know there are some who have been able to get those business loans, but very few of us qualify.
What No one Says to College Students
When I first starting here there were “naysayers” that are like “Well I believe that you will be making money with this when I see it.” Just out of curiosity, why did almost nobody say the same thing to me when I went to college either time? Sure, the second time around I was a little more realistic as I was getting into getting an elementary education degree. And we have all heard for years that teachers don’t earn their worth so I knew I wouldn’t become millionaire by becoming an elementary or middle school teacher. But I naively believed I would at least get a reasonable income after earning that degree and getting a teaching job in the school system.
Anyway, many say college is investing in yourself. I am here to say that it may not be. For me, it was over $100,000 in debt and now I will have to pay that debt off from my career here that did NOT require any college. And as for those “Naysayers, yeah when my family really starts having the income to travel in the next few years with what I do here that did NOT require years of my time or me to go into any debt what are you going to say then?
This is a real life solution and opportunity that can provide True Freedom for Less Than the cost of a “Cheap” Weekend Getaway!
Seriously, if you can have a “nice” but “cheap 2 to 3 night getaway in the US with less than one hundred dollars without dumpster diving and sleeping in your car, I am all “ears.” My 3 girls, our dog and I literally only needed to buy a few groceries and pay for one tank of gas to get to the camper my husband stays in for work. And that was over 100 US dollars spent to travel less than 200 miles. So yeah, I would say paying less than $100 to invest in yourself here is well more than worth it.
And did I also mention I do NOT pay one penny for my marketing? At first I didn’t realize what a big deal that is. But this year as some time and opportunities have allowed my husband and I have been investing in helping our daughter get into Acting. And let me tell you the cost of the marketing is NOT cheap. We were fortunate enough to find a program that wasn’t outrageous, but it was still more of a financial investment than I needed to get started right here with this adventure! And yet even that program for my daughter was WAY Less spendy than one Year of Collège. Now that is saying something.
We want to further help the world in positive ways here; not get already struggling families into even more drowning debts. So reach out and contact us to find out how we do this.
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