Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]

Spoiler. Been there, done that. Unless you're at an Ivy, if you're majoring in philosophy, you'll not think it was worth it in five years. My sin was Classics, but similar outcome.

Assuming you're on HN because you're teaching yourself programming, the sting will be somewhat lessened (that's the route I took), since you'll at least be able to get a job.

But it'll still sting to make those massive loan payments knowing that nothing you learned is helping you with your professional life, and that things like philosophy, mathematics, and languages (and computer science!) can be learned just as easily with discipline, YouTube, and a few good textbooks.

It's very easy to delay the pain of loan payments when you're in school, but they'll be there waiting for you, inevitably, through sickness and health, marriage and divorce.

If you have endless curiosity, college is even less worth it. Instead, being loan-free gives you the freedom to work in areas that truly intrigue you, and to work in very low-paying internships while you're learning.

But I know I won't convince you. Likely no one could have convinced me at the time (although only one person tried, once).

Edit: if this were the 1970s or earlier, when you could pay for college classes from waiting tables or a $10,000 loan (inflation adjusted!), I'd absolutely say go for it. But taking out even $50,000 in debt at age 18 for anything less than a guaranteed job with a good income (physician assistant, nursing, accounting) is mortgaging your future. Taking out $200,000, which is the going rate for most [edit: should read "many, private", and is probably closer to $100,000] liberal arts 4-year-degrees, is insanity, but between culture BS about degrees and "academic counselors", I know it may not seem that way to you right now.

That's why, for people interested in technology, software development is an incredible blessing. If you're clever about it, and plan ahead in HS, you can easily skip college and come out making $100,000/yr within 3-4 years, even in small markets.

I've never taken a single computer science class, make well over $100,000 in a highly-challenging software development job, and no one has ever asked me about a college degree (with the exception of one job that I regretted accepted and which I quit in 8 months).

There are other similar routes available to people without college degrees. Several wealthy people my parents know started out in construction, but rapidly moved into flipping houses and real estate, and made a fortune. Their physical labor was over by their late 20s.

There are many paths that skip college and don't end up working physical labor after a decade or two. But you have to be clever and proactive (if you're on HN, I'm going to assume you're at least the former).

You took your degree in a country with far lower inequality and better inward education investment, and then jumped over to work in a country that doesn't tax people enough to support USA students.

I'd imagine that is pretty good value.

Everything else, you just work hard at your first job and nobody gives a shit. I went to a big SUNY school and was a mediocre student. We all made out fine.