In today’s hyper competitive job market, the value of a college degree is under intense scrutiny.
Especially with rising tuition costs and uncertain economic landscape, many are questioning whether a four-year degree is a sound investment.
This article delves into the complexities of this issue, examining both the tangible and intangible benefits of higher education, as well as its drawbacks.
The Current Perspective
Here’s what most people think about college and it’s value:
Rising Costs
One of the primary concerns about the value of a college education is its cost. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, only 22% of U.S. adults believe that the cost of obtaining a four-year degree is worth it.[1]
This escalation of prices is not going to go away. Especially considering political actions like cancellation of student debt, we can safely assume that college is going to get more expensive.
Earnings Potential
Historically, having a bachelor’s degree has been associated with higher earnings. However, this is changing…
The same Pew Research Center study found that young U.S. workers (ages 25 to 34) without a bachelor’s degree have seen their earnings increase over the past decade.[2] This trend suggests that alternative career paths may now offer competitive salaries – which did not exist a few decades ago.
“College Does Not Guarantee a Job”
While a college degree can open doors to certain careers, its importance is diminishing in many fields – or at least that is the mainstream perception. Only one-in-four U.S. adults now say it is extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree to secure a well-paying job.[3]
Current Facts
Here’s what’s really going on.
College Degrees Still Earn More
As of 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), professionals with a bachelor’s degree earn $1,432 per week (median wage), while those with a high school diploma earned only $853.
In other words, college degrees are associated with a 68% increase in earnings.
Corporate Jobs Can Be Had Without A College Degree
Historically, exceptional professionals have always been able to secure corporate jobs without a college degree. However, it is now becoming more accepted. According to Payscale’s latest compensation best practices report, 1 in 3 companies no longer list educational requirements on their salaried job postings. [4]
Top Jobs Require College Degree
About half of the occupations analyzed by the BLS typically require some type of college degree.[5] Moreover, the higher up you go in the corporate hierarchy, the more likely it is that a college degree will be required.
Is College Actually Worth It?
Considering both the facts and the perspectives identified above, let’s analyze whether or not college is worth it in a more holistic manner…
Value of Education
Education is in and of itself valuable… When it is real education.
Here, the distinction between real education and college is an important concept.
Much of what passes as education in the current banking model of education in the West, if we are being uncharitable, can be interpreted as a bait and switch operation perpetrated on gullible and vulnerable students as well as their parents.
Remember: Many people go to college so that they can get a good job, rather than for the sake of education for its own sake. In practice, many people are lured into institutions with the promises of social mobility against the backdrop of guaranteed government loans.
Reality of the college experience, however, is quite different. Instead of being taught the skills that make them highly employable, or the traditional disciplines of science and academic rigor, most students are given a mere introduction to what might be considered theoretically useful.
What’s worse is that: that barely useful learning also comes with a heavy dose of indoctrination.
Yes, of course, students still take courses, do homework, pass exams, read books, and study academic subjects. And yes, they still DO learn. But the ratio of learning to indoctrination, as well as the ratio of tuition to future income, are looking worse with each passing day.
Yet… All that being said… We still think a college education is quite valuable.
When you attend college, you are not given a guaranteed career. Neither are you given education on a plate. Instead, you are given the possibility to learn. And by that, we mean you not only learn various subjects, but you also learn how to learn.
Keep in mind, most people are not capable of learning on their own. In fact, most young people are even incapable of detecting propaganda! [6] How do you think that fares for them learning on their own?!?
In other words, simply going through the motions of a college experience and completing the program is a form of skill development. It is, despite its limitations, hefty price, and indoctrination; still valuable education.
Moreover, the current education system, not just in the West but across the globe, is still the MOST valuable investment an individual can make in their future. And if you need to be reminded of this fact, we encourage you to watch the following video and familiarize yourself with the sacrifices many people across the globe have to make in order to simply get the opportunity to be educated.
Value of Credentials as Gatekeeper Bait
Of course, a college degree has much more value than the education it provides…
Yes, we have worked with a number of highly paid executives who never attended college. And, of course, in their honest moments over a few drinks, they confided in us the fact that they had to work extra hard to prove themselves every step of the way. Moreover, pretty much every single one of them admitted that if they had the ability to go back in time and attend college, they would have.
Mind you, that’s not because they needed to be educated. These were highly competent individuals who were perfectly capable of learning on their own. They simply needed the stamp of approval, and the few letters like BS, MS, or PhD added in front of their name to prevent incompetent people from judging, harassing, and disqualifying them.
The world of HR is filled with all sorts of people ranging from grossly incompetent “professionals” to arrogant hacks, and everything in between. Some use this power responsibly and try to get the best candidates possible for the corporations they serve. Others throw away anyone who doesn’t have the same overpaid liberal arts degree as they do. After all, they suffered through it and had to get into tens of thousands of dollars in debt for those few letters they get to put on their Twitter profiles. And so, they will make damned sure that you suffer through the same ordeals they did before they let you pass!
Never underestimate the emotional and petty nature of human beings, especially in the professional world. In this context, a college degree is an extremely useful shield against the useless and vindictive people that you will have to deal with. And you WILL have to deal with them.
This credential shield is especially true if you can manage to get an Ivy League degree; those in our network with Ivy League degrees get disproportionately high returns. We also know that leaders with Ivy League education get disproportionately compensated for their credentials.[7] And as far as gatekeepers are concerned, if you can demonstrate that you are categorically superior to them in credentials, they cower back into submission and let you go along your way.
Work Experience is More Valuable
It is fun learning about linear algebra, quantum mechanics, fluid dynamics, molecular chemistry, brain anatomy, the history of science, or English literature. Academia is actually fun, and theory is both useful in developing a well-rounded mind and applicable to work.
That being said, pretty much everything that you get paid to do – you will learn on the job.
Yes, school might teach us how to solve a differential equation or do a cost-benefit analysis, but the skills we actually use on the job to solve day-to-day problems, we learn through the mentorship of more experienced professionals, as well as through trial and error.
This is the nature of the professional world and the rift between academia and the market.
Academia is fundamentally concerned with making knowledge. The market is concerned with making money. With these two divergent goals, the activities and methodologies also diverge.
Yes, for some jobs your boss might actually care that you know how to do a proper sales projection, draw up a PERT chart, or understand how the brain interprets advertisements. But for the VAST majority of jobs, especially early career jobs, such a priori knowledge is neither required nor sought after. Instead, what your boss will care about is that you can plug all the numbers into Excel and run a pivot table, or set up and track ad campaigns on a dozen different self-serve platforms.
Or it may even all boil down to crafting wise AI prompts…
Ultimately, chances are, whatever it is you’re asked to do, you’ll have to learn the specific way your boss does it or likes it done. Make no mistake, there are a million different ways to analyze costs or set up and track ad campaigns or give prompts to AI. But every “king” of every little hill wants it done in their specific way – which you have to learn on the job. And until you learn that, they don’t consider your knowledge or skills of much use. (Note: Yes, this is petty and it infects every profession because it’s human nature. For instance, in the engineering world this is known as the “not invented here syndrome.”)
Yet again, with all that being said – college is STILL valuable. And that is because, while you may be able to perform the little tasks your boss wants done by simply following instructions and memorizing routines, unless you have the solid foundation of a useful (the keyword here is useful) degree, you won’t actually understand what you’re doing at a deep level.
You won’t be able to innovate without that foundation simply by learning your job on the job. You won’t be able to understand the implications of your actions, make valuable suggestions, or develop sufficient value so that you can move up. You won’t understand what that AI prompt actually does.
Ultimately, if you want to have a successful career, you will have to pick up on that foundation one way or another. College or not…
And if you don’t pick it up in a structured, linear fashion where new knowledge builds on top of prior knowledge in an efficient way, you will have gaps in your understanding that will make you vulnerable.
In other words, while on the surface it looks like you don’t need a degree to do a particular job – which is true – you DO need to learn the foundations a degree proposes to teach you in order to do a job well.
And as we always say, pay close attention to the words we use: We’re not saying you need the degree itself. That’s just a piece of paper. It’s the rubber stamp of approval coming from an institution that is proving itself more and more morally bankrupt with every passing day.
What we’re actually saying is that you need the knowledge that the degree is supposed to teach you.
A degree is valuable to the degree that it represents your knowledge as well as your aptitude.
It’s not the degree that’s valuable, it’s your knowledge and aptitude.
College is Still Valuable But Not Enough
Of course, even if you have all the knowledge and all the aptitude in the world, you still need to develop the appropriate career skills that get you the job you want and get you ahead.
You see… It’s not enough to have a degree. You have to let the right people know you have the degree in a way that makes them treat you with respect and attention, rather than ignoring you like a pest.
It’s not enough to be able to do the job. You have to prove to the right people that you are the best person to do the job and make them feel that not working with you is a financial loss.
It’s not enough to write a resume and send in an application. You have to write the kind of resume they have to pay attention to, they have to read, and have to respond to – using clever advertising and communication techniques.
It’s not enough to go to an interview and answer questions in a respectful manner. You have to know how to use that interview to get your way – be it getting the job and getting paid the entire budget for the job, or negotiating a better title for yourself.
Colleges and universities are notoriously deficient in teaching you these types of career skills. After all, their job is making knowledge, not making your career.
Which is why we’ve created a number of publications, events and programs to fill in this gap, and help you create the career you want.
Whether you are self-taught or fully credentialed, you still need to master the art of beating the job market in its own game. This is true if you simply want a good job, but it’s especially true if you want to have a high-value, growth oriented career.
I suggest you start playing the career game, because, after all, your competition is already playing it…