5 Big Disadvantages of Going to College

There isn’t anyone from high school who is going to tell you that college is the wrong way to proceed in life. However, there are some major disadvantages of going to college. Moreover, these disadvantages may even offset if not overshadow the potential pros earning a degree. The main disadvantage of going to college is that there is a misconception that college leads to success, when at most, it typically may lead to a job that can help maintain one’s independence. Although this may not sound so bad, the result is you become average and spend your life working towards retirement until your 60’s only to find out, life has passed you by. Although this is one big disadvantage of going to college, unfortunately there are still more cons worth mentioning.

By no means will this post be able to speak for all those who have graduated college and can attest to the value which they have acquired. With that being said, the following information will be at least based on my experience having earned a Master’s Degree in Cybersecurity and what I’ve commonly seen by those who follow the college path.

1. The Value College Provides

When someone goes to college, they typically have the motivation to have a particular occupation and become successful in life. So, we go to college for two, four, six or even more years to attain a degree. Once you have a degree, you might be able to qualify for an entry level job. The reason you might qualify for an entry level job and it is not guaranteed is because, your job may not be hiring locally, you could have not scored well enough to qualify, it may also require a certification along with a degree.

Is it really worth four years of studying to possibly get a good job? In this post, I’d like to vote NO. This is because, you can get a good job without spending two to four years of your life stressing and studying. Unless, it’s your life’s passion to work in a particular profession, you will likely not value what you earned as a result of gaining a degree.

Degree vs. No Degree Example

For example, if you spent four years to become a pharmacist, and someone else spent about three months to become a cashier, who’s doing better? The pharmacists working 40 hour weeks or the cashier working 40 hour weeks? Personally, I like the cashier’s position because they could have stability in their life as a cashier and be investing their time or money into wealth building assets to earn more money. On the other hand, the pharmacists is going all in on their career path because so much time was invested in college. Now it’s time to WORK on getting the college benefits. Although the pharmacist can do what the cashier is doing, they will likely already be determined that working will solve their problems and they just need more time and experience with the job to reach their financial goals.

Time Value or Money Value

Another problem with the cashier vs pharmacists example is, they are both working 40 hours per week. That means, one is not better than the other because no matter how much you’re getting paid hourly, you’re not having more freedom in life than anyone else. You have limited vacation, working some holidays and missing events in your family and friends’ lives. If you’re flipping burgers, selling cars, remodeling or cleaning the city, a full-time job is still 40 hours a week and you’re at the mercy of that paycheck to keep working. If you didn’t know this already, you will learn that TIME is more valuable than MONEY. Unfortunately, this is something that even college does not teach.

2. The Price of College

This definitely will not be a surprise to anyone, but it’s easy to just say I can pay off my loan when I graduate. After all, that’s what I did. On the other hand, it’s once you have to start paying off the loan , it seems like it will never get paid off or it will just take several years to get out of debt. This is assuming you get a decent job with your degree of course. It is not uncommon for a student to be thousands of dollars in debt once they graduate college.

The Price of College Books

With college being so expensive, you would think that they would encourage and lean more towards teaching with eBooks as opposed to needing to read overpriced hardcover books. This would be much better than spending thousands of dollars on college books only need to be thrown away or collected as a badge of honor for wasting your time once you graduate.

Is the Price of College Worth It?

When it comes to the price of college and it’s worth, this can be determined by how long you stay and how much debt you accumulate. For example, if you only stay for the length of a certification which is what we recommend here, you may not have to deal with much debt and the benefits could offset the price. However, if you’re going for much more than a two year degree and you’re using a loan to pay for all expenses to include housing and tuition, it’s easy to dig a deep hole not making college worth the price. According to CNBC.com “the average amount of student loan debt was $26,900 back in 2017”. That doesn’t even include the interests you’re going to pay on top of the debt.

3. The Time College Takes

First off, when someone goes to college, they do not typically aim for the quickest degree they can earn. They will usually go for something that is at minimum, two years to acquire which is an associates degree. In my case, I ended up going for a Master’s Degree which is the equivalent of going to college for six years. No matter who you are, six years is not a short amount of time, especially as an adult.

A Lot of Time for No Guarantee

Now maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if you were guaranteed a position in the profession of your choice, however, you spend all this time just for a chance to qualify for a good job. You would probably think that after you paid a company thousands of dollars and years of commitment that they would nearly guarantee it was the perfect option for you to get a job opportunity. Especially, as a young adult because you’re still trying to find your purpose in this world and the right way to do things. Now, I do know that some colleges may have a program where they can probably guarantee an interview, however, this is not a standard for colleges and you’ll likely be on your own to find a job after you graduate.

The Time in College Amplifies the Issues

Not only is it just sad that you only have a chance at getting a decent job when you graduate and spend your average minimum of two years, the time also increases your risks. For example, the longer you stay in college, the more debt you build, the more non-practical information you learn, the further you are from getting real world work experience, and the later you realize how bad of a decision college can be.

4. The Lack of Financial Preparedness

Whether you realize it or not, you’re going to college really just to help qualify for a specialized job.  But it’s sad to say, with so many so called educated people in the environment, they do not teach you about getting rich or building wealth they teach you to be an employee. Which is ultimately what you yearn for once you start making money. At the very least, it would have been better if there were mathematical equations based on real world things that you would see as an adult like using numbers from rent, car notes, subscription services and utilities. But instead, you may learn, if there are five different colored marbles in a jar, what is the likely hood you will grab a blue one.

More Bills Less Solutions

With all the debt you accumulate in college, there should have at least been a class about managing bills and how to offset expenses with things like assets. For example, I believe there should have been a class that teaches people how to choose better liabilities. Instead of just automatically being expected to know, not to live an apartment your whole life, not to aim for an expensive car even if you qualify for it, don’t spend money you don’t have with credit, we learn how to measure the circumference of a bowl. Now for some people, it may be common sense to know not to get the most expensive car you qualify for but, I still think their should have been a core class that teaches good judgement when making large financial commitments. But instead, you may have been taught how to solve an equation with X to the second power.

No Options Besides a Job

If we were referring to college back in the 1980’s and earlier, it would be understandable for it to teach what it does now. However, in this day and age, college should be offering real world solutions to adult problems and more options for you if you don’t find a job or if you’re ready to quit your line of work.

For example, how about a class that teaches you how useful the internet is as a resource to solve problems and as a potential new source of income. For an institute to have a curriculum be hand picked by experts it should be on the cutting edge of best practices preparing someone for a good future. Wouldn’t it be nice to to be taught something like, how to make money from a mobile device? Instead, expect for them to reach out to you for donations, whether you’re still paying off your student loan or have a job that pays the bills.

5. The Lack of Real World Lessons

It’s without a doubt you’ve probably heard someone say, how am I going to use this in the real world? This is normally after you have some crazy math problem that only a very specialized field expert would need to use. And the problem is, this is a very legitimate issue with college. Many lessons that are taught will not help you with day to day or month to month issue as an adult.

No Credit Building Lesson

For example, managing credit should be a staple in any college and dare I say a requirement to graduate high school. That is because credit is so important in your adulthood and school does not prepare you for it. Credit is used to get a car, house, loan, apartment and many other things that anyone will likely need as they proceed through life.

Instead, we measure which coin will hit the bottom of the lake before the other if one is a quarter dropped three seconds after the nickel. As if this lesson is going to teach you anything in life or if you’re ever going to use this information in a practical way. It would be much more valuable for everyone  to learn the pros and cons of credit so you can have a better chance of reaching your goals. So unfortunately, if you do not learn from your parents or become smart enough to realize the importance of credit on your own, you just randomly find out as an adult about this thing called “credit” and your student loan can ruin it.

No Business Lessons

Next, with this world revolving around money, you would expect college to at least prepare you more for ways to earn it. However, unless you are a business major, you are not likely to learn anything about business. Unfortunately, I can’t speak for how business major’s prepare you for “Real World Business” however, I can say business, if anything could have been one of those classes that was required or offered more as an elective instead of unnecessary emphasis on the sciences. Don’t get me wrong, understanding how to dissect a frog, knowing plants use photosynthesis and that there are too many elements to memorize can help someone in a specialized field, but won’t help you after college when it’s time to pay off that debt and be independent.

What Would Have Been Nice

Instead, it would be more more valuable to say, if I can not find a job, I learned about business in school, how about I start my own business. Good thing I took that elective or  required course in college just to better prepare me for real LIFE issues! Not to mention, business is likely the best way to generate your second stream of income if you ever plan to stop working a job. But who would expect years of education to teach you something practical such as what to do when you do not get paid enough at work.

Conclusion

Despite the several disadvantages of going to college, you can attend in a way to benefit your life. To find out what we recommend for how long you should go to college click here. To get more tips like these, subscribe to our email list and gain more real world wisdom. Although we spoke about some of the issues with college and them not providing solutions, throughout this website, you will find some potential solutions to adult problems that you may face in the future.