A College Degree Is Worth as Much as the Trailer You Live In

I have been blessed with many amazing opportunities in my short, nineteen-year life: I get paid to go to college, I have an amazing group of readers, I was gifted with the ability to think critically (contrary to what my professors may argue), and my heart breaks when I see my peers leaving school with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.  For those of you who aren’t quite sure where I stand on the topic of modern education, enjoy.

Unlike most, I don’t believe that a college degree is worth the sacrifice of living in a trailer and driving a bicycle to work for the rest of your life.  I have been called many things – naïve, young, ignorant, etc. – but this doesn’t offend me.  You see, I live in the real world, where debt causes divorce and heart attacks; where student loans, even from Uncle Sam, are poisonous, terrible examples of our blind willingness to acquire unnecessary debt.

In the first edition of my book, I covered the ten steps necessary to improve one’s chances at acquiring scholarship money, and it works…when done correctly.  Parents, you must be on the same page with your child in their hunt for money.  That doesn’t mean you should write their essays, it doesn’t mean you should fill out their applications, and it certainly doesn’t mean to reward laziness with free money for college.  We aren’t ten-years-old anymore; we don’t need an allowance.  The entire college transition period is a chance to allow your child to become an independent individual, financially, emotionally, and socially.

I get emails and letters from people who read my book and saw great success.  On the other hand, I also regularly hear from folks who received no money for school and think that I’m an idiot.  Much like Dave Ramsey, I keep all of my mail.  I have no secrets, and I make no guarantees, but I do like to think that I have a healthy dose of common sense.

I would love to transfer some of that common sense to some of you while choosing college.  Well, all of you.  If you need education to do what you want to do with your life, then go to college.  If you desire to make $100 per hour as a plumber, skip school and do it.