#2 REASON COLLEGE IS A SCAM

Degrees are no longer rare. The effectiveness of having a college degree vanishes once everyone else has one. Ever since you were young someone has been telling you to get good grades in school so that you can get into a good college, get a good-paying job, and live a good life. People say it so often and in such uniform fashion that it almost seems like they're reading it from a script. It has gotten to the point where people just say college leads to a good life without actually believing it. It's more like saying something just to say it instead of it being a factual statement. There is in fact an issue of supply and demand when it comes to college graduates finding well-paying jobs. There is an oversupply of college graduates and not enough demand for them in the job market. 

I've worked in restaurants and when I first started in the field I noticed a strange phenomenon. Even though I had been to culinary arts school I couldn't get my foot in the door of a restaurant. I would interview for jobs and not get them. A guy would walk in after me with no formal education but 15 years of restaurant experience and get the job. That's a real-life example of bringing more to the table than a degree. Bring hustle to the table.

What is hustle? Hustle is hard work. Hustle is experience. Hustle is anything that makes you stand out from the crowd. Hustle is more than burying your face in a book and hoping that will lead to the good life. Most people have no hustle.

In the 1940s to 1950s only around 5-10% of the population went to college. Today around 65-75% of all high school graduates go to some kind of school after graduating.

There are 328 million people in the United States(2021). 99.5 million of those people have earned a bachelor's degree or higher. SOURCE That amounts to about a third of the population. A third of the US population has a college degree??? How can any logical adult think that's a good thing? If a third of the population has a degree will they all be able to get high-wage jobs? Of course not. Life doesn't work that way:

Average American salary

$31,133 (2019)

That number includes college graduates as well as non-college graduates. Sure, one could argue that the non-college graduates are bringing down the average but that may just be wishful thinking on behalf of a person who isn't willing to see the truth.

Every college graduate that I know works a regular job making regular wages. Nothing spectacular. Nothing to write home about.

The fact is the simple concept of supply and demand can be applied to college. There is a surplus of college graduates while demand for those graduates is dwindling by the day. Plain and simple.

Imagine for a second that the year is 1942 and you walk up to a complete stranger on the street and tell them that you are a college graduate. That person would be impressed because in 1942 you didn't meet college graduates every day. Fast forward to the present and say the same thing to a stranger. They would look at you with the most vacuous look they could possibly muster. Why? Because most people go to college these days. Most people do something after high school. With all these people furthering their education it was inevitable that the job market would get flooded with college graduates who thought they were set for life just because they went to college. Life doesn't work that way. In this day and age, you're going to have to bring more to the table than just a degree because like I just said, everyone gets some kind of education after high school. That's why college graduates are now being forced to take jobs that they could have easily gotten straight out of high school. In other words, they're working jobs that never required a degree.

Nobody wants to be regular

America used to be a country full of regular people who were content with working their factory job and providing for a family. Most people didn't have aspirations of being the CEO of the company. Today that has changed. Nobody wants to work at McDonald's but everybody wants to own a Mcdonald's. Parents, society, and the government all started this push to get more kids into college but people ignored the fact that somebody still has to work a regular job. Everybody wants to go to college and make six figures but nobody wants to be a janitor. Life doesn't work that way. It is laughable that even adults don't understand this concept. Too many people go to college and that is the reason you have college graduates working at Starbucks for example.

The idea that a college degree equals success is a formula. Formulas for making money never work forever. Once everyone has accepted and adopted one way of making money that method stops working.

Example: There is a little side road near my house that I had used as a shortcut for years. The shortcut would bypass the traffic and make life really easy. Over time this shortcut became known to other drivers and before I knew it the "shortcut" was jam-packed with drivers. So much for that... A good idea had been watered down until it didn't work at all.

• When Everyone Has a Bachelor’s, No One Has a Bachelor’s
• Why free bachelors degrees are dangerous for our future

The story of Frank

I once had a conversation with a guy named Frank who had two bachelor's degrees. Frank was 23 years old and working as a bartender and told me he had been having trouble finding a job in his field because every time he would interview for a job that actually related to his degree the company would offer him around $12.50/hr. Frank told me that he graduated with ZERO student loan debt. That's a nice relief but it's still a hollow victory because he couldn't find a well-paying job. That is the sad reality of the world we live in. Frank told me he didn't expect to be working in a bar after graduating college. He had much loftier expectations for his life. Granted, he was only 23 years old at the time but I have met college-educated bartenders well into their 40s. Even though that story focuses on one person you still have to realize that there are tens of millions of Americas in the same predicament. This situation was inevitable and avoidable. College was bound to become overly exploited and done to death. Too many people have degrees which of course waters down the value and benefit of having one. If you had told Frank before he graduated that he would be in that predicament after college he would have laughed at you and called you a crazy liar.

"According to the  Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 27 percent of Americans need college degrees for their jobs. Yet, 47 percent of the workforce currently has a college degree. This 14.9 percentage point difference equates to 21 million overqualified degreed workers in a workforce of 140 million; or the size of the 2013 fall postsecondary enrollment." SOURCE

Why college graduates get offered so little pay

There is an abundance of candidates to choose from.

If you owned a company and were looking to hire one new person you'd put an ad online or and wherever and require that candidates must have a bachelors degree in whatever subject. Your inbox would be flooded within hours with one hundred candidates. Knowing that you have that many candidates to choose from would play a HUGE part in determining how much to pay the person you eventually hire. 

• Jenny walks in for an interview and you suggest that you would pay her $100K /year if hired. Jenny is overjoyed. You tell Jenny you will let her know.
• Jared walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay her $90K /year if hired. Jared is ecstatic. You tell Jared you will let him know.
• Tom walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay him $80K /year if hired. Tom is jumping for joy. You tell Tom you will let him know.
• Sarah walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay her $70K /year if hired. Sarah is happy. You tell Sarah you will let her know.
• Ken walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay him $60K /year if hired. Ken is pleased. You tell Ken you will let him know.
• Edward walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay him $50K /year if hired. Edward is glad to be offered an ok salary. You tell Edward you will let him know.
• Erika walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay her $40K /year if hired. Erika was looking for a bit more but she still accepts the suggested salary. You tell Erika you will let her know.
• Harold walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay him $30K /year if hired. Harold isn't pleased with that amount but still accepts the suggested salary. You tell Harold you will let him know.
• Mya walks in next for an interview and you suggest that you would pay her $20K /year if hired. Mya is pissed the hell off and storms out of the interview.  
• You call Harold back and give him the job because he accepted the next to the lowest salary without complaining.

That's how business works. Its all about the the bottom line. Companies will look for the person who will work for the least amount of money with the same qualifications as all the other candidates. Don't be naive, gullible, or foolish.

Free college

Over the past 20 years or so, one of the biggest topics of discussion when it comes to college is whether or not it should be made free to all students. I say no because that would only exacerbate the problem we already have on our hands. Going to college used to be for a priveleged few but now everyone goes and gets a degree so making it free would just pour gasoline on a small campfire until you have a raging inferno. People with simple minds are usually the ones pushing for free college because they can't see the big picture. 

Read: 19 Should College be Free Pros and Cons

Read: Why Free College Is A Bad Idea

Read: FREE HIGHER EDUCATION? BAD IDEA UNLESS YOU WANT GOVERNMENT TO RESTRICT ACCESS

Read: Don’t Ruin College by Making It Free

Read: Five Reasons Why Free College Doesn't Make The Grade

Read: Free college for all is a bad idea

Read: Why College Should Be Free: Pros and Cons

Read: Why 'Free College' Is a Terrible Idea