
Don't Send Your Kids to College - jaltucher
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2010/02/dont-send-your-kids-to-college/
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unignorant
Over-generalizations like this are as predictable as they are annoying.

Sure, it makes sense for some people to skip college. And maybe someone could
even make the case that most people would be better off abstaining from higher
education.

But what if you want to be a researcher? A scientist? Someone working on the
outer boundaries of knowledge in some particular discipline? Self-study is all
very well and good, but for most of the empirical sciences, to make an impact
you are going to need experiences and credentials that can only be acquired in
a university setting.

Money isn't everything.

~~~
Supermighty
If you need a professional certificate to practice, such as law, or medicine,
then of course college is the only route.

But there are many degrees out there that I see as not very necessary to get.
English, Art, History? If you want to be a teacher sure you need these, but
you can get by on your self learned skill and knowledge alone.

People just need to make sure they're going to college for the right reasons.
Because it will further their career not just delay them from it.

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jgoewert
The flaw in his logic that I see is that somehow the $104,000 that was
supposed to pay for going to college will somehow magically appear the first
year that the kid will not go to college so that they can start a business.
This is instead of how it normally appears with select education loans. I
highly doubt lenders are itching to lend $104,000 to multitudes of fresh 18
year olds that dream about owning their own business but don't want to "waste
time" in college.

~~~
Andred
Agreed 100%. You either go to school and use that money to gain knowledge,
friends and life experience or you never see the money in the first place. At
age 29 I STILL don't have that kind of money sitting around to invest. How
would an 18 year old kid get access to it?

Also, that $10,000 for living expenses is a static cost whether you go to
school or not. So the number is really somewhere closer to $64k.

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BoppreH
Isn't anyone else tired of articles that are completely useless to anyone
outside the US?

I'm fine with political insights, drug/weapons/abortion/religion debates or US
breakthroughs, but articles about ways around student loans and rankings of
cellphone carriers just go WHOOSH over me.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I wish there was an [US] tag for this type of
content.

~~~
nir
Why is this completely useless outside the US? Going to college is the common
course in many countries, it usually requires 3-4 years of your life and more
money than you independently have at 18.

(Yeah, very cheap/free in some parts of Europe. Though those lacking Norway-
style natural resources might see this change in the near future.)

~~~
BoppreH
I'm currently a college student. The university I attend is completely free
and is one of the best available.

What about people who don't pass the entrance exam? They go to private
colleges, paying a value between 0.7 and 2 times the minimum wage. And there
are cheaper alternatives.

Additionally, most people in college have part time jobs, making the payment
even less problematic.

And this is 3rd world South America.

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sambeau
For many, college is a place to safely transition from childhood into
adulthood surrounded by peers doing the same thing: making the same mistakes
and sharing advice.

It is also where many make the core of their life-long friends. The serious
ones - the ones who come to births, marriages and funerals. It is also where
many of us met our partners.

Starting a business will not provide all this.

I would suggest doing both. Start with college. This way you will have many of
the support structures you will need to get you through the tough times and
should it all go wrong you will have people to help you get back on your feet.

College is also a good place to find intelligent, like-minded founders.

~~~
yock
Not to over-simplify, but I don't think one's social circle is enough of a
justification for the astronomical cost of higher education. One can just as
easily get involved in their community doing public service, attending shows,
even just frequenting local businesses can provide opportunities to meet new
and interesting people.

$60,000 to build my social club? No thanks.

~~~
wigren
"One can just as easily get involved in their community doing public service,
attending shows..."

This route gets harder when all of your smart friends are gone to college.

~~~
yock
The point to which I replied indicated that you meet your smart friends at
college, generally leaving behind most of your high school relationships. If
you just happen to go off to school with one or two of those "smart friends"
then likely you too are a reasonable candidate for college. You didn't go to
college to build a social circle, you just happened to do so whilst you
learned.

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atgm
There's more to college than spending and making money, I think.

~~~
gawker
Everything is mostly always measured by money. And it seems like the author of
the post reckons it's really easy for everyone to become entrepreneurs. I
would say let the kids do what they want with their life - provide some
guidelines but don't stop them if they want to go to college.

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sasvari
every time I read about the high tuition fees at US universities and
extraordinary costs of higher education in the US, I wonder why only a small
number of students are going to study in _old_ Europe: no tuition fees in a
lot of countries; good universities all around; no necessity to master the
local language perfectly as there are a lot of programs with English as the
language of instruction; many locations with relatively low costs of living
(you can easily master your life with $800-$1000 a month in many areas/cities
in Europe with very good universities); a thriving student life

~~~
mechanical_fish
_no tuition fees in a lot of countries_

As a foreign national? As, say, a US citizen without a work visa? Does that
really work?

The idea that a foreign country would subsidize one's college education is
pretty alien to a US citizen. Just going to a state university in a _different
state_ costs extra money in the USA.

Or are you just asking: Why would people who are already lucky enough to have
some kind of "old European" citizenship ever want to study in the USA instead?
I'll let those folks answer that question, since I don't really know.

~~~
sasvari
_As a foreign national? As, say, a US citizen without a work visa? Does that
really work?_

yes, it does. I don't know about _every_ european country, but at least (at
state universities) in Germany and Finland there are no tuition fees for non-
europeans as well.

~~~
bobo99
As far as I know, only the courses tought in the local language are free.

~~~
sasvari
the _language of instruction_ has nothing to do with tuition fees (in both
those countries, at least).

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angdis
I don't know where this "college is a bad idea" MEME started from but it is
very bad advice that seems to be entirely based on ridiculous financial
considerations.

The folks that I know who didn't go to college ended up struggling much harder
and much longer to get to the same places as those who went to college-- and
these are the LUCKY ONES.

There's also the "education" component that followers of this meme tend to
ignore. Education is more than simple job-preparation. It is not merely an an
advanced vo-tech program.

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alexsherrick
This article is practically pointless; congratulations on parroting Peter
Thiel on this matter.

To be honest, my college experience was pretty easy for me, but I did learn
something that I would have never learned by starting a business. That is
communication. College is the best place to learn about yourself and become
comfortable with talking in social settings.

Also, through college, I met some of the smartest people I know, and I hope
that in the future we can build a business. Without school, I would have never
had the opportunity to engage with such minds.

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robryan
So much college discussion is based off the money you could make extra with a
degree vs the amount of head start you can get joining the workforce at 18.

Past providing for my basic needs these minor differences matter very little
to me, I was perfectly happy studying and getting by with low income just as I
am now doing a startup on low income. Sure I could end up in a job a few years
down the track and be x amount of dollars behind the theoretical person who
started at 18 and worked their way up but it doesn't worry me one bit.

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phamilton
I go to a university (BYU) with annual tuition of 5k. My wife also attends and
is on full-tuition scholarship. I work part time, get Pell Grants, and will
graduate in 4 years with zero debt. Total monthly cost of living (for both of
us) is $1200-$1500.

It's not MIT or Stanford, but it's a good school with plenty of opportunities.

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kia
I wonder if the guy who wrote this went to college himself...

~~~
jwn
I don't see how to permalink to comments on his page, but he does reply with
the following:

"I ultimately paid for every penny of college through loans I was lucky enough
to pay back. I also worked about 40 hours a week in jobs to pay my living
expenses and took 6 courses a semester plus summer so I could skip a year and
avoid an extra year's tuition."

