College or no?
Property Manager · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2022 · 269 posts · 135 votes
I've been seeing this question often from those in high school, especially those interested in Real Estate. Do I go to college? I think it's situational and depends on what you want to get out of college. What are everyone else's thoughts?
@Tommy Parker the question should NOT be college or no college, it should be WHAT FOR with college.
Too many go to college/university for a piece of paper. THAT is the problem, 100% of the problem.
A person who goes to college/university for the learning, skills, capabilities, that's a whole different story. But as I said above, most go for some piece of paper thinking that paper will somehow assure a certain life, it does NOT. It's only an authorization to pursue something, that is it and all. That paper alone does diddly-squat.
I myself have been to college/university 3 times, and I have 0 "papers". Business, Engineering, Psychology, Sociology. I went to LEARN, to gain knowledge and skills. Once I had them, I lost all interest in the other worthless BS. I realized this when I was taking a required class of Boolean Logic and our primary assignment was to google search stuff, I no joke started laughing so much from back of class at what a joke it all was I had to remove myself into hallway to stop disrupting the lecture. In that hall I decided I was going to keep to what mattered, getting the 411 I came for and skip the rest.
I did learn a lot, meet many interesting people I wouldn't have, it held a ton of value BUT I knew that paper did squat.
Being an Entrepreneur is NOT for everyone. yes, anyone "can" cook, but not everyone should. Same for business, anyone "can" but not all should, and not everyone can be great at it. A person has to be real with themself and find out what they can and can't be good at, and if there willing to earn it.
I am not capable of being a regular W2 employee, I am not, I go stir crazy, I suck at it. I need freedom to do-things, to make things happen, for me entrepreneurship is my natural state. Not everyone has that, few, very few i have found do. For most, it's best as a side hustle, which is A-OK. A world of Musk's would be insanity, right.
So, to thy own self be true.
For college/university, do it or don't do it for the SUBSTANCE, the purpose, NOT the paper.
I am in my late 40s and have BS and MS degrees. I would say don't go to college UNLESS you have a clear idea of what you want to do AND a degree is a requirement for doing it AND the career will allow you to earn enough to easily pay back the debt.
My education has served me well, but things have changed a lot. It's so much more expensive now and there is a lot more BS (pun intended) in college than actual learning these days.
I have two kids, one is going to college and the other may not due to their specific goals.
If your goal is financial independence or wealth, don't go to school to 'find yourself' and go heavily in debt that will hold you back the rest of your life. Instead, get a job and get some real world experience and read 'Set for Life'. If you decide that you want to do something very specific that requires a specific college degree at an expense that is justified by that career, then great. I just don't think going $120,000 in debt to earn a degree in art history and being poor forever is a wise choice.
@Tommy Parker great post and question I work with a lot of first-time home buyers and always wonder how many of my clients still have student loans to pay in their 40th and work in totally different fields than they studied. I like Sylvester Stallone's quat on college: The whole point of a college degree. Is to show a potential employer. that you showed up someplace 4 years in a row, completed a series of ...
I've been seeing this question often from those in high school, especially those interested in Real Estate. Do I go to college? I think it's situational and depends on what you want to get out of college. What are everyone else's thoughts?
Really good question! I graduated about a year ago and think about it sometimes. If you treat college as an experience, which it is turning into, and try to learn different skills rather than textbook information it could be very beneficial. College is a lot of learning about how to manage a schedule, be on time, and socialize along with school and getting a degree.
If you manage those things really well, work part time, or find a way to bring in income you'll have real skills to put on a resume rather than saying you have a degree and no skills to show for it. You can also get started in real estate early with buying a house and renting to other students (House Hacking) while in college and learn property management and other necessary skills in real estate. I learned about real estate in my last year of school so I wasn't able to do this but if I had known earlier I would have.
However, in high school jumping straight to working could be beneficial if you know exactly what you want to do and studied real estate. But either way, reading and educating yourself, learning property management, learning what a deal is, and learning different investing strategies will always help you.
With that being said, I believe college could be a big benefit to learning real estate along with having a college experience. And on the other side, if you know what you want to do and have been educating yourself through high school and have the resources then go for it!
College has many benefits. A great experience among other things, and simply having a degree will open a lot of doors for you. My advice would be if you're having these thoughts, don't get caught up in the college country club experience. Go to a school that isn't too expensive, be it one you get a scholarship from or perhaps doing community college and then transferring. Don't get caught up in others' opinions- do what's best for you, and only you can decide that.