As you peeps have pointed out, 400k is ridiculous. I go to an expensive private college, and it's on the order of 120 for 4 years (though it's actually a 5-year school).
And if his kids are really entrepreneurial, as he claims, then they'll have the motivation to apply for scholarships like I did. I have received absolutely no financial help from my parents, and yet have accumulated very little debt.
I have learned most of my knowledge by teaching myself, and generally goof off during class if I even go (and no, that doesn't put me into the B group). But I've also been exposed to an incredible variety of people and built a huge network of friends and acquaintances in almost every industry.
Another point he seems to be missing is that to make a Facebook or Myspace app go viral, you need an initial network of users, typically your own friends. I hope his kids have fun trying to promote their app to all their high school friends who have gone off to college and lost contact.
I think what makes me most upset about this article, though, is that he's not using his views to make his own decisions, he's using them to make his kids' decisions. I feel really bad for his kids.
A) When you look at the high numbers you need to ignore scholarships as many don't qualify.
B) Its a 5 year school so 30 * 5 = 150k not 120k
C) You could be making a lot of money if you worked instead of spending all that time in school.
Finally, you could get significant returns if you invested your first years tuition by the end of 5 years.
The fifth year is quite possibly a year of work-study, like in my degree. Either that or adding a second degree/masters, which is going to increase earnings potential hugely.
I have seen statistics before about how having a degree positively influences your earnings potential, but I have yet to see anything but "feelings" from those claiming going to college has a negative effect.
If we're going on anecdotes, I seriously doubt I could have made that much going into work straight out of high school, and I seriously doubt there are many people that could.
I would bet there's a more people that could qualify for significant scholarships than could make significant money going straight into work.
I think there is value to looking at anecdotes because the average collage student is better connected and more intelligent than those who skip it. Most of my friends have collage degrees. Of those who don't one was making 120k/year before he died. One charges 100$+ per hour and is constantly booked. And the last guy is 29 and makes 140k / year at yahoo. IMO a large reason for the disparity in lifetime earnings between those with a collage degree and those without are the type of people who go to collage.
For most people staying in school is probably a good idea. But, when your options are to stay in school or drop out and make 70+k / year staying in school seems less useful. Would these people make more money in 5 years with a collage degree well possibly, but they are making good money now and investments compound with time so it would have to be a huge increase to be worth it.
PS: Doctors get paid a lot latter in life but on average they don’t retire younger than most people.
And if his kids are really entrepreneurial, as he claims, then they'll have the motivation to apply for scholarships like I did. I have received absolutely no financial help from my parents, and yet have accumulated very little debt.
I have learned most of my knowledge by teaching myself, and generally goof off during class if I even go (and no, that doesn't put me into the B group). But I've also been exposed to an incredible variety of people and built a huge network of friends and acquaintances in almost every industry.
Another point he seems to be missing is that to make a Facebook or Myspace app go viral, you need an initial network of users, typically your own friends. I hope his kids have fun trying to promote their app to all their high school friends who have gone off to college and lost contact.
I think what makes me most upset about this article, though, is that he's not using his views to make his own decisions, he's using them to make his kids' decisions. I feel really bad for his kids.