Why A College Degree Won’t Make You Rich: Back in the day, bagging a college degree and getting good grades were the key to a promising future. That’s why you’ve probably heard your parents nag you all the time about your grades.
Getting good grades determined getting into a top school that would offer you the best education and ultimately a high-paying job that supposedly made you successful.
Now, things have changed, and school isn’t what it used to be anymore.
Good grades don’t necessarily make you rich anymore, and getting a college degree now isn’t an assurance that your efforts will get you a lucrative job or a job in general.
It’s those who have dared to go against the traditional path that are becoming rich, while the educated ones are living in financial mediocrity.
Some people haven’t yet accepted the reality, and that’s why we’re here to share with you “Why what you’ve been made to believe doesn’t apply anymore”.
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Today we’ll be sharing with you 7 Reasons Why A College Degree Won’t Make You Rich. So without any further ado, let’s dive in!
(7). YOUR DEGREE IS A PREREQUISITE FOR THE COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE
A few years ago, getting a job required you to have a degree in a specific thing the company was known for.
For example, if you wanted to work in a hotel as a receptionist, your education certificates would have had to read that you studied a course related to that.
Back then, it used to be paramount and special for someone to have a degree, but nowadays, it’s not that serious.
Though college graduates are working in jobs that require degrees, most of them are working in jobs that aren’t related to their majors.
They’re just working to meet their needs and not because they have a passion for the job – which invariably makes everything sad.
Your college degree in the era of today is likely nothing, but just a prerequisite for the competitive workforce!
(6). EXPERIENCE IS WHAT MATTERS
It may seem unfair, but the harsh truth is that the real world doesn’t care about your degree as much as your work ethic, experience, and attitude.
Your level of experience is what matters since in most cases, when you’re job hunting, they tend to look at how many years of experience you’ve acquired, in order to check if you’ll be an asset or not to the company.
That’s why whether the experience is related to the job or another job, it’s relevant, and it’s something many company interviewers tend to notice.
If you’re doing an undergraduate degree, then you should pursue different and interesting internships. For example, you could volunteer for things you’re passionate about.
Also, you could get involved in student organizations, as they will come in handy on your resumes.
You may not realize it at first, but they’re more powerful than your major, and employers will give you a chance to exercise your experience. It will prove to them that you’re motivated, passionate, and very much involved.
For example, who said you have to study English in order to become a writer? Just like you also don’t need to study business for you to be a consultant, neither do you have to study political science to get a position in the government.
Many politicians haven’t even studied it!
Research says that those who once majored in history and then changed to pursue careers in business, tend to end up earning as much as the business majors.
Also, those who dedicated their years to acquiring the degree in their field of choice don’t necessarily end up achieving greater success in that field.
As we said before, the real world tends not to care about that degree you took, but about other things that are way more important.
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(5). YOUR NETWORK MATTERS A LOT MORE THAN YOUR COLLEGE MAJOR
It’s not easy to find a major that ties to a high-paying cheque. You can be working as hard as possible to get the highest GPAs and straight A’s through a course, but without connection to the outside world, all this wouldn’t mean anything.
Like it or not, you must learn the skill of socializing with people.
The fact is that you never know who is sitting next to you.
If you can’t socialize, how else will you sell your skill if you don’t introduce yourself to people? How will they know you can code, write or offer any other services or skills you might have?
When it comes to the tech industry, people have made it big, without even having a college degree. For example, let’s take a look at the Facebook billionaire – Mark Zuckerberg, who made a socializing platform from his dorm room.
When he showed his work around campus, he found people who believed he could change the world with his app. Today, we stand to see his work – from WhatsApp, all the way down to Facebook (now known as Meta).
Mark Zuckerberg’s story inspires the young generation to focus on their passions and perfect them.
Once they’ve perfected themselves, they should focus on socializing, and this way, they can find themselves jobs or funds to start their businesses.
People go to school to learn how to connect with different people, but if you can do that perfectly without having gone to college, then you’re in a better place.
Come to think of it, what’s the need of having a college degree and not having the confidence of being able to sell yourself?
If you’re well connected and know a way of making money in the real world with connections, then you can escape this vicious debt trap. This will forever give you an upper hand in the outside world – something that college doesn’t teach you in the classrooms.
You will acquire generational wealth for yourself and your future generations.
In short, know people who know big people. You can never go wrong with networking yourself out of poverty.
(4). YOU’RE A BETTER PERFORMER WHEN YOU’RE ALIGNED WITH YOUR PURPOSE
In the line of work, many people have found themselves zapped by their jobs. This happens most of the time.
People end up doing jobs they were not even interested in at first. This is mostly caused by a lack of proper career coaching.
Some get to study things they don’t like, because of the pressure from their families, as most parents only want doctors and engineers in their families.
You may find it hard to believe but, some time back, this was the case. The good thing is that, as the years have gone by, people have discovered other things to do, and the opportunities are endless.
The only thing you have to be sure about is – what you like. When you’re purpose-driven, then you won’t at any point in your life find your job boring and get worn out. You’ll also realize maximum output as you enjoy what you’re doing.
A good example of a purpose-driven life is seen in great people like Elon Musk. This guy is a CEO at both Tesla and Space X, and let’s not forget other companies like Neuralink. All these companies are vital for the future of humanity.
There is no way he could do all this without having a purpose, which according to him is – advancing mankind to a better, greener, and more advanced future.
That’s why it’s not shocking that the man is currently the richest man in the world as of 2022 and he’s the first man in modern history to ever cross the $300 billion mark.
Don’t you think that the world could be a better place if everyone was purpose-driven, and didn’t care so much about the money (even though it’s one of the reasons why you have that business)?
Honestly, it seems that the system is making people slaves to money as they work from paycheck to paycheck.
It’s a sad state we’ve embraced as a society. We should remember that money is just a form of exchange that one acquires in their purpose-driven life, and it should be a slave to us and not the other way around.
(3). THERE ARE PLENTY OF JOBS THAT PAY SIX FIGURES WITHOUT A 4-YEAR DEGREE
Like we’ve said earlier, in this day and era, going to school is not the only way you can earn money. By this, we mean earning a six-figure digit legally. If you look around, especially for hobbies and talents, you’ll always find something to do.
Take Millenial Lauren Holiday of USA as an example, she was a college dropout who turned into a waitress. This was a good start for her, as it led her to teaching herself about full-stack marketing.
By acquiring these skills, she landed her dream job and within a short period of time, she was already earning six-figures.
Now, she’s teaching and helping others learn about marketing and everything she did to get to where she is.
As you can see in her case, she chose something she loved and it turned out perfectly for her. She’s now living comfortably, yet she was just a college dropout.
Going to college/university is just an added advantage, as you will acquire more knowledge and become literate. Some careers don’t even require degrees.
For instance, air traffic controllers – though they don’t require papers, they earn quite a lot. Not forgetting the real estate brokers and technical writers, they earn more than people who have degrees stocked in their houses.
If you opt to stick with your passion and self-acquired skills, then you definitely won’t be earning the same as your accountant friend. They pay off more than a 9-5 job.
(2). STUDENT DEBT CAN CRUSH YOUR DREAMS
These days, government tends to give students loans. These loans help the less privileged students or students pay school fees, university accommodations, and daily meals.
This may seem all nice during the year you’re in school, but after acquiring that degree, you will need to pay off that loan and let’s not forget that it will come with some interest too.
Usually, this is a challenge for many people as it’s never a guarantee that you’ll get a job immediately after university or college.
But let’s say that you do get that job, and it pays okay, you’ll have to budget and maximize every coin, considering there are expenses that have to be catered to.
Did you know that in the United States of America, student loan statistics indicate that over 44.2 million people are overwhelmed with student loan debt?
According to a research from Student Loan Hero, an average monthly student loan payment for borrowers between the age of 20-30 years is around $351 and the delinquency rate is 11.2%.
Hence, if you can’t afford to go to college, then it’s best to look for other skills.
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(1). YOUR DEGREE COULD BE USELESS BY THE TIME YOU GRADUATE
Let’s be clear, we’re not against going to college! We’re just letting you know that going to college is a risk.
Look at it like starting a business, chances are that your business may either be a success or not.
The same case goes for that degree. You’re putting a lot of money and time into getting that degree, that may or may not be useful by the time you’re ready to use it.
You’re forgetting that when it comes to technology and business, processes and trends age quickly, and if you don’t keep up with changing trends, you’ll find that you wasted four years behind your textbooks for nothing.
It will be a shame that you have a degree that you won’t be ready to use for the job, thus it’s useless.
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