EDUCATION - College Worth the Debt?

"Is a College Diploma Worth the Soaring Student Debt?"
PBS Newshour 5/27/2011

Excerpts from transcript

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): All right, and, Peter Thiel, you have raised a warning over what you call an education bubble, which is on the analogy, I guess, of the housing bubble or the tech bubble. Explain what you mean and what you're worried about.

PETER THIEL, The Thiel Foundation: Yes.

Well, we have a bubble in education. The costs have escalated by 300 percent, adjusted for inflation, since 1980. The quality has not gone up. So, we're paying more and more for the same product. And it is something that is a bubble because it's intensely believed.

It's taboo to question education and to ask whether people are really getting their money's worth. And it's very analogous to the housing bubble. People are told that you have to have an education, it's indispensable, it's always valuable. We have subprime education, like we had subprime housing. But it probably is a system that's gotten to be quite rotten all the way up.

I do not agree that -- I do not say that everyone should drop out of college or stop out, but I do not think that it is the right thing for everybody. I think there are people who are inventors. There are people who are entrepreneurs. And for them, it makes sense to start contributing to society whenever they come up with the great ideas that will change the world.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right.

PETER THIEL: And so I think we should respect the diversity that exists in our society and say that -- and realize that some people should go to college, even when it's overpriced, and others should choose a different path earlier.

There are some truths when it comes to college education:

• Not all professions require a college education, only technical training/education


• College education MAY get you higher pay, IF there is a job out there for you


• If jobs are scarce, putting off paying for a college education could be the way to go


• There is always the option to go the local 2yr college route AND get a part-time job for the pay and experience, then do graduate work later when it can be more affordable


• Finally, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for experience when it comes to a job, college education is NOT assurance of professional competency