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After 13 years of schooling I notice a pattern. School teaches us how to read, write, and calculate. That’s the most important part. After that, school teaches us how to defer present pleasure for the promise of even more pleasure in the future.

If you work hard in grade school, you’ll have the habits you need to succeed in high school. If you succeed in college, you’ll have the evidence you need to prove you are smart to colleges. If you succeed in college, you’ll have the evidence you need to prove that you are smart to employers. If you succeed at work, you’ll make money? I guess…

If you have another conclusion, please share it. But if our end goal is to make money then isn’t there a better investment of 120,000 than 4 years at college.

Lets follow two paths:

Esra does not go to college, but Ezra does.

If Esra invests that $120,000 in a conservative mutual fund (which yields around 8% per year) then after four years you would have around $163,000.

If Ezra spends $120,000 over four years on an economics degree then he will leave college with $120,000 lost and a $50,000 starting salary (the average for econ majors.)

Over the next 10 years, Esra who would have just continued his landscaping business that neted $660 per week and invested the $120,000 would be worth ($279,000 in investments + $330,000 in wage earnings) so 609,000 total.

Over the next 10 years, Ezra who would have been promoted three times would have earned $50,000 for 3 years, then $75,000 for three years, then $100,000 for found years. So 675,000 – the 120,000 Ezra spent of tuition. A total of $575,000.

In effect, Esra is financially better off by $34,000. This is also assuming Esra never earns more than $31,000 per year which is very unrealistic. It also assumes Ezra gets a 100% increase to his earnings in just 6 years which is very generous.

Of course, as time goes on the college earner will surpass the high school graduate. But 10 years is a long time. There has to be a better method to maximize earnings.

If the goal is not to maximize earnings. If the goal of college is to  make life long friends and discover your passion, then 120,000 is the most expensive way to do that.

Making life long friends is hard to quantify. Friends are made everywhere. However, the one entity that attaches a price tag to social belonging is Greek life. The best approximation that I have is around $1,000 per semester in fraternity and sorority dues. That’s only 1/30th of the average college tuition per semester.  Now you may be asking, how can you join a fraternity without attending school? Well it has been done before. You just need to rush the local fraternity or sorority around you and lie about your major unitl you’re close enough with these new friends that you can all have a good laugh about your lack of a major.

As far as self-discovery: I would allocate $50,000 to travel the entire world comfortably. With this money you could pay for a cruse that takes you to every continent over a few months. You could also pay for flights, boarding, and food in a world tour that lasts about 3 months. On average $17,000 per month.

Discovering your passion is the cheapest. Most public libraries are free. Unlimited sources of knowledge like you tube, khan academy, and every media outlet, encyclopedia, or documentary that is relevant in 2018 is available and most often free to access with a smart phone and wifi

However, you still won’t have a degree. But, for only 4,000 per semester you can earn a bachelors degree at a community college.

So that alternative route gets you just as far and costs $50,000 + ($1,000 x 4) + (4,000 x 4) + $25 in late fees to your local library. A total of $70,025. Or savings of $50,000.

That’s also not including the fact that you can work all 4 years and earn money along the way.

Personally, I don’t think I or anyone reading this blog is making the wrong choice. I do think, however, that many college students that only want to have a social out let, a travel experience, a degree, and the ability to discover their passion are wasting a lot of money.

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