The day after I wrote this post and started editing it, I found Ms. Career Girl’s post, “The Best Education is Self-Education,” and Matt Chevy’s “I’ll Never Go Back to School,” which are both great reads.  I want to dig a little deeper, ask some different questions, and think about it from another angle though.  Before I start with my thoughts on college degrees and questioning the value of them, please know that I believe ongoing education is one of the most important parts of life and can honestly say that Self-Education has taught me more than anything.  I also understand that Medical Doctors, Lawyers, and Bio-Molecular Engineering probably need years in a classroom.  This is more about the ‘other’ majors, and I find myself thinking about this subject a lot lately when I see my student loans every month and the career path I took is a completely different route than what I studied in college, Finance and Economics.  Sometimes you just have to wonder if you really needed that $60,000 piece of paper?  Lately, mainly because of the free information era we live in, I feel that I have learned more over the last year than the past 6 combined.  It is no longer about the resources available to us because we are only limited by our willingness to learn.  Everything is out there and the best part is that it’s free.  The bigger problem is knowing where to look.  Here are 5 questions that I sometimes wonder about…

1. Do College Degrees Follow the Law of Demand?

Investopedia states that,

…if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of a good, the less people will demand that good. In other words, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded.

But according to http://www.solutionsforourfuture.org,

The period from 2000 to 2015 will see the single largest growth in college enrollments in our nation’s history: nearly 20% growth overall while the average cost of college tuition has risen more than 65% over the past decade.

Those two statements contradict each other.  The price is rising but so is the quantity?  In my awesome squabart below I try to show what I believe does not make sense with the “Law of College.”  The first chart shows how the “Law of Demand” is supposed to work, while the second chart shows what is actually happening in the “college market.” Whenever you have an open market system with the powerful outside voices all pushing for the importance of following the system and almost making college sound as if it were needed, we should at least ask some questions.  It can almost be compared to our 401k system, but that’s another story.

2. Are Colleges a Business?

Remember that colleges need you so that they can stay in business.  Not much different from any other business right?  The problem is not about colleges acting like a business, it is about the system which most of us think we need to go through no matter what the cost.  If you run a business and know that the price is the least important part to your customers, would you raise your price?  To give colleges credit, they have a lot of people to pay plus the price of professors, which we all know is not cheap. But where is all this extra stream of money going? According to a study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers,

…more than half (52 percent) of the participants agree that colleges today are “more like businesses and mainly care about the bottom line.”  Further, more than 40 percent of respondents believe that “waste and mismanagement” are major factors driving up the cost of higher education.

It seems like college is forced down your throat from the day you start high school, and I just wonder if colleges know this and take advantage of the system that they know most of us will follow because it is what we are ’supposed’ to do.  If I don’t spend this money on college I won’t be successful, right?  Is that why I have 10 years left before I pay off my college debt? (thanks to great parents who help me out with that.)

3. When Degrees Increase, Does Value Decrease?

What do you mean the value of my degree decreases?  It is simply supply and demand again.  It seems pretty self-explanatory that the more degrees we have, the less value each degree holds.  Ultimately, we just have a lot more equal competition.  What I don’t understand is the cost compared to the value.  How does the price of a degree rise substantially over the past 20 years while the value and market has become saturated.  I sometimes think I would stand out more if I could prove my knowledge without having a degree and being able to tell the story of teaching myself. Nowadays, degrees are more like resumes just a lot more expensive.  20 years ago a degree was like the key to the door, nowadays it is more like a map without directions.   A man who questions the value of a degree is the founder of 37signals.com, Jason Fried, who recently made this statement about his book.

…I would hope the book would encourage you *not* to spend time getting a degree. Spend the time building things instead.

Another quote that we should always remember comes from Mark Twain.  He believes that,

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

I truly believe in learning and teaching yourself while also building something that can be of value down the road.  I think colleges should bridge the gap to the real world a little more so all of our value isn’t placed on a sheet of paper.  We just need to find some way to stand out from the Bachelor degree party we now live in.  I know, I know, we can get a masters or doctorate, but what else?  Is there a way to make my Bachelor’s degree stand out more than yours?

4. Holy Debt?

I’ll be honest.  When I was in college it was out of sight out of mind regarding my student loans.  I never even thought about it, ever.  I just had this cash flow, awesome spending money, and a debit card but then 6 months post-graduate….BAM! Hello Debt!  I think I about died when I saw that first statement and realized how much the past four years had cost me.  Did you know exactly how much your student loans were going to be over the course of your college career? For those of us who are out of college, do you find yourselves with a career that allows you to pay down your student loans comfortably or is it a struggle?  Do you have a job that you could only have because of your 4-year degree? Would love to hear your story in the comments. Donate to my college fund using Paypal at mac@mcsimov.net. Joke.

5. So, Was It Worth It?

Would I be where I am today had it not been for those four years of college?  I believe that the future of business and life is one where we learn from each other and your value is based on ones ambition, passion, and ability to learn from those who are willing to teach. I really can’t say in certain if it helped with my career or not, but I believe that life is built by the relationships we build and the paths we cross so I would have to say because of the people and professors I was able to meet in college that I wouldn’t change a thing.  You can’t put money on a true friendship and the value I have gained from them.  Also, realize that I am not saying I didn’t learn anything in college because that would be completely false.  I had great professors and was educated about business in general.  I am just questioning the cost versus the value of college and whether or not I could have actually learned more had I spent 4 years learning on my own.  It just sucks some days when I login to nelnet and I start thinking of the things I could do with a loan like that today. I would love to hear your thoughts on this and whether or not you think the value of degrees will continue to be the main ticket that allows us to play the game or if this new world of free information will spark an entirely new breed of student entrepreneurs who know they can teach themselves and will.  Was it your degree that opened the door for you to get an interview or was it actually the skills you learned in college that gave you a launch pad into your career?

Just remember that whether you went to college or not, continuing education is the key to get where you are going.  Whether it is Self-Education or not really doesn’t matter.

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This post was written by Shane Mac, founder of thesquab.com.  Read more about him, click here to follow him on twitter, or become a fan of the squab on facebook.

Photo Credit: Kevin Spencer