Are We Really Going to Pretend College Is Still Worth It for Everyone?

For decades, Americans have been told the same thing:

Go to college. Get a degree. Get a good job. Build a career. Live happily ever after.

It was practically the American version of a fairy tale. Parents told their kids. Teachers told their students. 

Guidance counselors told teenagers who barely knew what they wanted for lunch that they needed to figure out what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives.

But here's the problem: The world has changed.

The cost of college has exploded. The job market has changed. What employers consider valuable has changed. Technology has eliminated or transformed entire categories of work. And plenty of young people are graduating with degrees, student loans and absolutely no idea why an employer wants three years of experience for an entry-level position.

Yet we're still telling everyone that college is the obvious path to success. Is it though?

College Can Be Worth It. That's Not the Question.

Let's get something out of the way first. College isn't useless. A college education can absolutely be worth the money.

If you want to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher, pharmacist or another professional whose career requires specialized education and credentials, college isn't exactly optional.

Nobody wants their surgeon saying: “I skipped medical school because YouTube had some pretty good tutorials.”

There are also careers where a degree can provide a significant financial advantage.

We've Confused "College" With "Success"

Somewhere along the way, we started treating college as though it were the finish line.

Get accepted. Graduate. Congratulations. You have successfully completed adulthood.

Except that's not how life works.

A degree is a tool. It isn't a guarantee. A person can graduate from college and still struggle to find a job. Someone can have a degree and work in a field completely unrelated to what they studied.

Someone else can graduate with $100,000 or more in student loans and discover that their starting salary isn't exactly screaming, “Financial freedom!”

Meanwhile, somebody who skipped college might be making six figures as a skilled tradesperson, technician, entrepreneur, salesperson or specialized professional.

That doesn't mean everyone should skip college. It means we should stop pretending there is only one legitimate road to success.

Here's the Part Nobody Likes Talking About

College is expensive. And the price isn't just tuition.

There are books, housing, transportation, food, fees, technology, and at least four years.

That last one is important because if you're spending four years in school, you're also spending four years that could have been used working, gaining experience, building a business, learning a trade or developing a specialized skill.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a cost.

And if we're going to tell young people that college is an investment, then we should be honest enough to ask the most basic investment question: What's the return?

A Degree Doesn't Guarantee a Career

Here's where the conversation gets uncomfortable.

We've created a system where some students are encouraged to choose majors based on passion while simultaneously being told that college is an investment.

Those two ideas don't always get along.

If you spend tens of thousands of dollars earning a degree in a field with limited employment opportunities, you can't simply pretend the debt doesn't exist because you “followed your passion.”

Passion is wonderful.

Bills are less emotionally supportive.

If someone wants to study philosophy, art history, sociology, communications or another field because they genuinely love it, that's their choice.

But they should also understand what they're buying.

College shouldn't be sold like a lottery ticket where every degree supposedly leads to a six-figure career.

It doesn't.

Meanwhile, Skilled Trades Keep Getting Ignored

Here's one of the strangest parts of the conversation. America constantly talks about labor shortages.

We need electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, welders, mechanics, and a whole collection of other skilled professionals.

Yet for years, we've treated vocational education as though it were the consolation prize for students who weren't “college material.”

That's backwards.

A teenager who graduates high school and enters an apprenticeship isn't failing at life. They're learning a skill people are willing to pay for.

And in many cases, they're earning money while someone else is borrowing money to sit in a lecture hall.

Think about how bizarre that is.

One person is collecting experience and a paycheck. The other may be collecting student-loan statements.

And we're still calling the first person unsuccessful because they don't have a bachelor's degree.

Make it make sense.

College Isn't the Only Form of Education

This is another mistake we've made. We've somehow allowed the word “education” to become almost synonymous with “college.” Education happens everywhere.

A person can learn through:

• Apprenticeships
• Trade schools
• Certifications
• Community colleges
• Professional training
• Military service
• Internships
• Entrepreneurship
• Online courses
• Mentorship
• On-the-job experience

A bachelor's degree is one form of education. It isn't the definition of education.

And Don't Get Me Started On The Student Loan Problem

The student loan issue has made the old college-for-everybody philosophy even harder to defend.

Borrowing money to invest in your future isn't automatically irresponsible.

The problem comes when young people are encouraged to borrow enormous amounts of money without understanding what they're buying.

A 17-year-old shouldn't have to understand compound interest, labor-market demand, salary projections and return on investment better than the adults advising them. You need a college degree for that (see what I did there?).

But somebody needs to explain it.

Because “You'll figure it out later” is not a financial strategy. It's how people end up discovering that adulthood comes with invoices.

What Should We Be Telling Young People Instead?

Maybe we should stop asking: “Are you going to college?”

And start asking: “What career are you trying to build, and what is the smartest path to get there?”

That's a completely different conversation.

If college is the best route? Go.

If a trade school is the best route? Go.

If an apprenticeship makes more financial sense? Do it.

If community college can accomplish the same thing for a fraction of the cost? Consider it.

Parents Need to Rethink This Too

Most parents aren't pushing college because they're trying to ruin their children's lives. They're trying to protect them. They remember what happened to people who didn't have educational opportunities.

They believe a degree creates options. And sometimes it does.

But parents also need to recognize that the economy their children are entering isn't necessarily the economy they entered.

The advice that worked in 1995 isn't automatically going to work today.

That's one of the hardest things about parenting. You have to prepare your child for a world that may not resemble the one that prepared you.

The Real Question Is ROI

Maybe we need to stop asking whether college is “worth it.”

That's too broad. Instead, ask: Is this particular degree, at this particular price, for this particular career, worth the investment?

That's a much better question.

Because a $20,000 education that leads to a $75,000 career looks very different from a $120,000 education that leads to a $50,000 career.

And that's the part of the conversation that often gets ignored.

College Should Be a Choice, Not a Requirement for Respect

There should be no shame in earning a degree. There should also be no shame in not earning one.

A person's intelligence, work ethic, character, or potential isn't determined by whether they attended college.

There are educated people who make terrible decisions (ex. Congress). There are people without bachelor's degrees who are exceptionally intelligent, successful and financially responsible.

The diploma tells you something about someone's educational path. It doesn't tell you everything about the person.

So, Is College Still Worth It?

Absolutely. For some people. Is college still worth it for everyone? Absolutely not.

And pretending otherwise doesn't help young people. It hurts them.

Maybe the goal shouldn't be creating a society where everybody has a bachelor's degree.

Maybe the goal should be creating a society where people have useful skills, sustainable careers, financial independence and the freedom to choose their path without being judged for it.

Because if the ultimate goal of education is to prepare people for life, then perhaps we should stop measuring success by whether everyone took the same four-year detour to get there.