Most Young Adults Don’t Want to Go to College

Most young adults simply don’t want to go to college.

For people who are middle aged like me, that may come as a surprise. I used to think that college was the golden ticket to a better life. But I realize now that most of my classes, which were required to get a teaching license, didn’t actually help me out.

Elon Musk pointed this out a few years ago. “You don’t need college to learn stuff.” That is true. 

I consider myself a handyman. I have finished two basements, I regularly do minor repairs around my house, and I am currently building a chicken coop. I learned everything to do with those tasks from YouTube, the internet, or a mentor. 

But the internet isn’t limited to minor repairs. There are over 450 courses from Ivy League universities free online. Sure, you don’t end up with the piece of paper at the end, but you get the valuable bits, the knowledge from the classes.

A recent survey conducted by Populace showed that parents ranked college preparation number forty-seven out of fifty-seven priorities for their children’s K-12 education. Items like demonstration of mastery (#7), unique support (#5), and courses based upon individual interests (#9) ranked far above college preparation. An individualized education is clearly more important to parents.

I don’t know about you, but my college experience wasn’t individualized. 

Some students simply aren’t enrolling because of the cost. Ken Coleman from Ramsey Solutions says that college can cost anywhere from $9,300 to $35,000 a year. Multiply that by four, and that equals a lot of money. 

Students, with their parents, need to decide if college is worth it. I’m in that same boat. We are discussing future plans with my seventeen-year-old. She isn’t interested in college, and that’s okay. She has plans to open her own business instead. Maybe your child needs something else too.