Harvard University announced that their school year, 2020-2021 will be given online, but tuition will remain the same at $49,653 and fees would be $4,314. No discount at all even though students will have a much inferior experience by studying online.

Keep in mind, that you can have the same education via other online sources, such as Coursera, for free, or hundreds of other less expensive universities.

At the same time, there is a growing number of employers (Google, Apple, IBM, Bank of America, etc…) who are announcing that they don’t require new employees to have a college degree.

In addition, The Trump administration signed an executive order revamping how the federal government does the hiring, President Donald Trump took aim at the necessity of having a college degree.

“The Federal government is ordering that the government move away from requiring applicants to have degrees,” Trump said he wants to make it easier for those without higher education to get federal jobs.

Is a degree even necessary for professional success?

Unfortunately, I went to college only to find out that my college education was useless. I was not able to find a job and I had to get started living as an entrepreneur, earning a living with a new set of skills that I had to learn on the go.

The return on investment is not there. We can achieve the same without a degree

In the U.S. student debt is more than $1.5 trillion. That means that after four years of college, students are behind those who didn’t go to college. In addition, they have spent four years in the library instead of being part of the workforce and starting their families.

But what if college was free?

It doesn’t matter. The main thing we learn in college is to take exams and to conform to the rules and regulations of employers. Most people are terrified at the idea of entrepreneurship, but that’s because we have been brainwashed to believe that a monthly salary the most sensible way to earn a living.

Much of college education can be learned on the job. Most employers say that the first thing they have to do when they get a batch of new students is to make them unlearn what they have learned in college and show them how things are done in the real world. There is a huge gap between academic theory and real life.

Every one if full of good intentions. The kids who want to go to school, the parents who are willing to sacrifice their retirement savings to send the kid to school. That’s what’s expected of everyone, that’s the set of beliefs that have been indoctrinated in us, by society at large. And we buy it, we believe it, and we do what we think is best for everyone. But it’s not the best.

We are facing a new reality

But we are waking up to a new reality.

• Debt is unbearable. Thousands of students are defaulting because they can no longer carry the burden. Some students have opted out by committing suicide
• Unemployment is at its highest level in history
• Salaries are rapidly decreasing
• Major corporations and the U.S. government are deemphasizing the importance of diplomas
• Internet skills (SEO, web developer, graphic designer, etc.) are becoming more relevant
• Online education is gaining momentum at an accelerated pace

The marketplace is sending us a message: We need more skills, not more diplomas. We need real practical knowledge.

Most college students don’t know what they want to study

Most kids don’t know what they want to study, and why should they? Many adults still don’t know what they want to do with their lives either. Most people end up working in fields that are not related to their studies. In fields they could not even imagine were possible.

I have been a janitor, a waiter, a dance teacher, a real estate investor, a stock market investor, a blogger, a podcaster, a photographer, a web developer, an SEO consultant. None of those things I studied in college. All my professions I learned on my own at a time that was of interest to me.

Parents, don’t give up your retirement money for your kids’ education

I strongly believe that parents shouldn’t raid their retirement funds in order to pay for their kids’ education.

If the parents are well off and they can afford it, that’s great. But if it comes to be a choice between their retirement or college tuition for the kids, keep your retirement money.

However, if you can afford to send your kid to college, and if they know what they want, go ahead, spend the money. We need accountants, attorneys, doctors, engineers, etc.

A college degree is NOT necessarily the road towards success

I bet that every Starbucks barista has a college degree yet, they could have become a barista with high school education. I am sure that being a barista was not their college dream.

The promise that was made to millennials, that if they went to college they would have a good job, that promise hasn’t materialized. Instead, millennials are facing one of the worse economic environment since the great depression.

On the other hand, many college drop-outs are becoming millionaires because they have a different mindset, a mindset of looking for market opportunities, and finding ways to fulfill those opportunities.

The road to success depends on:

• Finding out what good/service other people want and provide that good/service to as many people as possible
• Realizing that people’s income is directly related to amount of value delivered to the marketplace
• Financial success is directly related to the size of the problem solved.

The solution

We are on our own. The banks, the government, and the financial institutions, all they want is to enslave us, to keep us in debt for as long as they can, so that they can make reliable mathematical models and calculate how much money they can squeeze out of us.

The faster we realize it’s a trap, the faster we can look for alternative ways to learn the skill necessary to survive and to thrives.

I think online institutions such as Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare, and many others are great alternatives to going to college.

Also, YouTube and blogs are great teachers. Practically everything I know, I learned it from YouTube. I recently started a Web development and SEO service business, and YoutTube was my teacher.

Don’t stop learning. If possible, take one hour every day to learn a new skill. If one hour every day is too much, then do one hour per week (put it on your agenda)., Continue investing in yourself. This kind of learning has nothing to do with going to college for four years and becoming a slave of debt.

Once you have a new skill, put it into practice right away, and then learn another skill. Eventually, you will learn to see all the opportunities around you, and your only problem will be to decide which opportunity to reach out and grab and which one to let pass by.

I host the Alain Guillot podcast, and almost all of my 200 guests are self-made entrepreneurs. If they can do it, you can do it.

Related Posts

1. Financial monthly update for June 2020
2. I borrowed $10,000 to invest in the stock market
3. Financial update for April and May 2020

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