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THE COLLEGE MYTH
–– Author and entrepreneur James Altucher argues a bachelor’s degree isn’t the best choice for everyone, and he offers alternatives by James Altucher
I
give up. I can’t convince my kids not to go to college. I’ve tried all the usual statistics: • Student loan debt you’ll never be able to pay back. • For the first-time ever, greater than 50% of the unemployed have college degrees. So, that whole myth of “you can’t get a job without a degree” is over. • You don’t learn anything in college that you can’t learn on your own. • You can get a five-year head start on your peers if you give up on college.
––
None of that works. The myth is too strong. I had to fight harder. So, I wrote the book 40 Alternatives to College. I found out a lot of people who were criticizing me didn’t have calculators. A lot of people, for instance, said that “starting a business costs money” —one of my alternatives. But they didn’t compare it to the cost plus the opportunity cost of college. The last business I started required about $2,000. The last undergraduate degree I got cost almost $100,000. If readers pursue any of the alternatives listed here, they will no longer buy into the societal myth that you have to go to college to be happier and more successful. And it’s not about money. Meeting the challenges will make them healthier, more creative and wealthier. And none of the challenges require that much money. People have a huge attachment to the “fact” that college is a part of life, the same as birth, marriage, parenting and death. It’s not. It’s a relatively modern invention. Mainstream Americans have had that idea for about 50 years. Unfortunately, college administrators have abused this modern invention so much that the next generation of kids we gradu-
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Other Altucher Alternatives: DO ANYTHING YOU WANT FOR ONE YEAR MASTER A SPORT WRITE A SCRIPT FOR A MOVIE DIRECT A DOCUMENTARY AUDITION ON BROADWAY FOR A WHOLE YEAR VOLUNTEER TO GARDEN AROUND YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
ate will be mired in debt and won’t have the skills required for basic jobs. Let’s not forget that nobody learns how to be a doctor in college. That’s pre-med. They learn a little in one or two years of medical school, but then they really learn when they are residents in actual hospitals. And with the debt, insurance, and the burdens the government place on doctors, how will they ever pay down their debt? The system needs to change. What follows are viable, cheaper alternatives to college that provide an education and a path to fulfillment. They’re the seeds of opportunity.
Start a business
Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. I agree with that. Failure is a horrible thing. But we all face it in one form or another throughout our lives. There’s nothing wrong with an 18-year-old failing and learning from it. But being an entrepreneur teaches you how to form ideas and how to sell those ideas to investors, customers, and employees (if you have any). It teaches you a lot about managing limited resources, such as money and
labor. It also teaches you about negotiation execution and many other things not taught in college. This is the college of the streets. And when you have to eat what you kill, you learn quickly. Doesn’t it cost money to start a business? Yes. But it’s much less than the costs of college. Plus, the costs of starting a business are going down precisely when the costs of going to college are going up. I started my last business, Stockpickr, for $2,500, and I probably could’ve started it for less. I made my investment many times. And that was five years ago. It would be cheaper now because the internet has leveled the playing field.
Master a game
What’s your favorite game? Ping pong? Chess? Poker? Mastering a game builds discipline, and provides opportunities to socialize with people of all ages and backgrounds who share similar passions. It helps develop the instincts of a killer without having to kill anyone. Nice! Mastering one game teaches how to
Excerpted and edited for brevity with permission from James Altucher, 50 Alternatives to College.
7/21/22 2:11 PM
