The model, the system, the time constraints, the energy suck, the consumption of four prime years of life, the bad habits that come of it, and the crippling debt. These things make a college education practically a useless venture for the majority of college graduates.
Imagine you graduate college at 23 years old and take $150,000 in debt with you (many even more than that!) and have dreams of buying a car, a home, getting married, and taking out a small business loan to getting a business rolling.
What bank will lend to you? And if a bank will lend you enough to start a business, what about buy-in a car or home? What is the quality of life like? So what if you get a great business loan if you’re condemned to live in a dump for 3-6 years while you try to get the business kicking into high gear?
That is also if the business is successful. Because if the business fails, you’re back to square one, but with even more debt.
That means there is an immense amount of pressure which makes failing even more likely.
You will spend a decade paying off student loan debt and hope to be married in your early to mid-thirties at which point you buy a couple of cars and a house and take out more loans. Those loans last over the next thirty years at which point you’re in your early sixties and ready to retire.
A life spent paying off debts and years spent depending on banks to lend you more to ensure a reasonable quality of life.
Was the college education (job training) worth it all?
Fifty years ago, it was a great bargain, but my parents could pay off their college fees by working a summer job each year.
College is no doubt too expensive and not worth what goes into it any longer for the vast majority of students.
P.S. I very much dislike the notion that going to college means you’re now part of the “educated” class. Some of the dumbest people I’ve ever met were “brilliant” degree holders of this or that sort. College does not equally “educated” any more than attending Driver’s Ed equals a fantastic car driver.