College is a scam. 

While it’s marketed to be the best four years of your life, the time you’re in college is actually not that great. You’re usually stressed beyond belief due to rigorous coursework, balancing friend groups to have a social life, and clocking into a potential job just to afford your daily life. You have little to no spending money, and you could have a terrible case of homesickness that lasts for months. 

I graduated from the University of Georgia, an illustrious 4-year public university, and received a couple of major grants to pay for tuition for the entirety of my schooling. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a Sports Management minor since I thought I wanted to be sport’s journalist for ESPN one day. By the grace of God, I graduated with less than $9,000 of student loans to repay. While it was still a significant amount, I’m grateful it wasn’t anything egregious like $50,000 or more. 

Keeping a pulse on the cost of college is so important. When you’re 18 years old, it’s easy to forget that college is supposed to set you up with the skills and certifications needed to get a job. A lot of people get side tracked by picking the wrong major, attending an out of state institution, and going after advanced degrees while chasing fancy job titles. 

I’m here to tell you that college shouldn’t be the route everyone takes. And that’s truly okay. Not everyone is meant to endure the rigor and nonstop marathon known as an academic course load. Not everyone has the dedication and discipline to write pages upon pages of research papers, study for tests, and complete assignments to receive satisfactory grades. 

I think it’s important to start normalizing people choosing paths other than a traditional four year college education. Right now, there’s often a negative connotation around anyone who chooses to hold off on enrolling into college. In actuality, that’s usually the correct choice that most people should take. Not only does it help a person identify if college is even beneficial or makes sense for their situation, but it gives additional time to save up enough money to fully pay for it without having to take out an unnecessary number of loans. 

School also distracts you from what truly matters so you can progress in life sometimes. For example, there are these two YouTube content creators named Ana and Lexie who have built a following, but are choosing to put their audience, business, and money on the backburner to solely focus on school. Instead of uploading every week, we’re lucky to get a video from them every two to three weeks. With that massive drop off, it’s surprising that they aren’t getting shadow banned from the platform. 

While I’m all for young people going after the goals they set for themselves, it’s also important to strike while the iron is hot and not squander a platform that is paying your bills. That’s just hustling backwards. As a content creator, sometimes you have to suck it up and create so money continues rolling in and you can continue living the lavish, free, and flexible lifestyle content creators are notorious for. 

There are very specific situations under which college makes sense. The pros and cons must be carefully analyzed to ensure all the effort on assignments and money on tuition is actually worth it in the long run. Certain majors like communication studies, psychology, history, art, social work and others of the like are useless degrees that won’t really recoup an investment. Unfortunately, these degrees either lead to jobs that pay less than $60,000 per year or require additional schooling to really get into the field to make more money. 

Careers in the legal, healthcare, or even technology fields are good examples of majors that can actually make the salaries to justify going through all of that schooling and potentially racking up thousands of dollars in student loans. It’s also easy to get hung up on prestigious names of advanced programs instead of going the route that keeps the most money in your pocket. 

If done correctly, college can introduce you to your lifelong friends, help secure your employment, and create memories that you’ll cherish forever. However, if done incorrectly, college can lead to crippling debt that can stick with you for the rest of your life. 

If you enjoyed this episode, let me know by giving this video a thumbs up, leaving a comment, and subscribing to my channel. I’ll see you in the next episode! 

Signed, 

Jessica Marie