I generally agree that you should think about what you're doing even if you're told to do so.

That said, for someone 18 years old without a lot of life experience, when you're being told to go to college, that you need a college degree to succeed by just about everyone, and being bombarded from all sides with that message...might be a little difficult to really think otherwise.

I'm fortunate that I went into a good field and didn't come out with too much debt, but I don't even want to think of what my family would have said if I questioned the need for college my senior year of high school.

>The takeaway here is, in part: don't do something just because you're told to.

Perhaps children shouldn't go to school at all then, seeing as how the mantra of the classroom is sit down, shut up, and do what you're told or else you are likely to be labeled with a mental disorder and drugged with amphetamines.

Agreed, though if the incentives weren't so misaligned it wouldn't doom you to 20-30 years of struggle if/when you didn't think for yourself.

For example, if the loans weren't backed by Uncle Sam there would be some threshold at which the loan providers would say "OK people studying this aren't getting jobs." Or if the universities that were promising careers had their feet held to the fire somehow before it had to reach ITT Tech billions of dollars.

I've been thinking a lot about a model in which education is extended as credit. If students paid back a percentage of income how would that change colleges? I don't have all of the answers, and bootstrapping that kind of thing is rough, but I'm trying a few experiments along those lines that could be very interesting at scale.

Didn't people try placing the blame on that during the last housing bubble?

"You're throwing money away renting, buy a house! The value will only go up!"

How is someone 18 years old supposed to figure out what to do? At that age I had no idea how the workplace works or how to get a career, don't event talk about a career I like. Some people have parents with insight or they just have luck but without guidance what do you do?

Growing up on the farm, I had more than a decade of workplace experience, marketable skills, and exposure to life lessons like learning how to learn by the age of 18. In fact, I started my current career when I was 17. To just start thinking about those things after the age of 18 is difficult to imagine.

What I wonder is why we find it acceptable – desirable even – to shield children under the age of 18 from the reality they will face after that age? How did we reach a point where 18 year olds find themselves in your position? Historically, my experience would have been common. I think it is a travesty so many miss out in modern times. Learning about life has proven to not be a suitable replacement for engaging in life, in my opinion.

I think they shouldn't be sheltered from learning but we also shouldn't rub it in when they make a mistake. With the high cost of college I would argue making mistakes has become much more expensive than it used to be.

I agree, but it is funny you say that because I (and I imagine many others who didn't go to college) received my fair share of having people drive home the point that I was going to be a failure in life. How I was making the mistake. I knew better, but still, having to listen to it constantly through my younger years was not exactly a pleasant experience. I distinctly remember a few well intentioned lectures about how I needed a degree to get a good job, even though I was making a six figure income while they were telling me that! In hindsight it is kind of funny, but being flat out told you did it wrong, as you point out here, is still not a nice feeling no matter how you slice it.

> With the high cost of college I would argue making mistakes has become much more expensive than it used to be.

I don't know. The biggest cost of college is still, far and away, the time cost. I don't think that is getting any more expensive in the average case. A degree still roughly takes about the same amount of time as it always has. Other associated costs have definitely risen, but are a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost.

"I don't know. The biggest cost of college is still, far and away, the time cost. I don't think that is getting any more expensive in the average case. A degree still roughly takes about the same amount of time as it always has. Other associated costs have definitely risen, but are a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost."

From what I hear from my young coworkers they often owe 40k after two years of college. If you realize then that you took the wrong major switching is difficult with that debt load. That is, unless you have a rich dad...

Exactly. The lack of full time income for two years is a sizeable expense. Instead of being $40k in the hole after two years, they could have had $40k in the bank. At an average 5% rate of return, that is almost $300,000 after 40 years. That is loss of about $7,500 per year until retirement simply by spending time in school instead of at work for two years. You don't even need to get into tuition and other costs.

It was once promised that getting a degree would increase your job income by more than that $7,500 (or whatever number fits the situation). But incomes have been stagnant for 40+ years, with no sign of that changing. Without rising incomes, incomes simply aren't rising to compensate for the growing postsecondary educated populace.

I think that 18 year-olds today are quite a lot more sophisticated than I was at 18.

But yeah, it's tough; you need to survey multiple sources.

With all the sources telling you different things?