The College Contrarian Viewpoint

Want to save even more money on your college expenses? How about just not go to college? This is probably the only financial aid website that will give you this advice, but it could save you tens of thousands of dollars, and many years of debt repayment.

Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind by Gerald Graff

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If you have your heart set on being a doctor, or a lawyer, and your have gotten good enough grades to get into the schools that teach these subjects, then you may have no choice but to go to a college or university. If your chosen profession is one that requires a certain kind of licensing, with certain academic prerequisites, then you'll probably have no choice but to meet their requirements.

You can read my story about how I went to a University before I discovered a better way.

Many Successful Individuals Say College Is Not For Everyone

Many successful individuals advice is to avoid colleges and universities, and instead concentrate that time on learning how to be an entrepeneur. Someone who knows how to create their own business will be able to survive in any economic client, unlike their neighbor who is unemployed and looking for someone to "give him a job." They have the chance to learn how to leverage their own efforts by training people to work for them. They can create the jobs that drive our economy.

Who are some of these individuals who promote alternatives to an expensive college education?

Wayne Green is a very successful individual who claims the need for college is vastly overrated. Who is Wayne Green, and why should you consider his viewpoint?

• Wayne Green is the founder of 73 Magazine, Byte, CD Review, Cold Fusion and dozens of other magazines.
• Wayne is an international speaker as well as being a guest speaker on popular radio shows including Art Bell's late night program. Wayne speaks about amateur (ham) radio, health, nutrition, wealth, world travel, politics, cold fusion, submarines, education, new/future technologies, unusual books, ET's, and most any other topic a listener wants to discuss.
• piloted a nuclear attack submarine 800 feet under the Pacific ocean.
• piloted an Air Force C5B (it's bigger than a 747).
• climbed the Great Wall of China
• visited the Chinese terra cotta army in Xian.
• operated a ham station from the famed American Embassy in Tehran.
• operated from the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
• operated for two weeks from King's Hussein's palace in Amman, Jordan.
• visited the lost city of Petra in Jordan.
• scuba dived in the Red Sea.
• visited 133 countries (so far).
• helped new technologies such as cellular telephones. personal computers, and compact discs to grow into major industries.
• represented the US at an international communications conference.
• represented New Hampshire for Governor Sununu at a governor's conference in Halifax.
• served as a founder and first secretary of American Mensa.
• a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurial Science.
• lectured on entrepreneurialism at Yale, Boston University, Case Western, Babson College, RPL and many other colleges.

Some things Wayne says about our education system:

• "I'm particularly proud of our medical schools, which teach virtually nothing about disease prevention. "
• "I'm proud that our children are forced to go to school by law and our government's long history of making home-schooling so difficult. "
• "I'm proud of our American colleges and universities for being able to continue to keep millions of youngsters out of the job market and busy memorizing quickly forgotten trivia of no long-term value for exams. "
• "The fact is that though you've been brainwashed by your family, your teachers, and the media, a college "education" is a ghastly waste of time and money. That's for suckers. The beauty of brainwashing is that the washee (you) doesn't know it happened. It's like post-hypnotic suggestion. 95% of high school is a waste of time, which is why I'm so enthusiastic about the Sudbury Valley School and the few others like it."

  "If you have worked for others for more than five years in your life you're a sucker. If you are commuting more than 10 minutes to work you're a sucker. If you aren't making enough money to travel around the world once or twice a year you're a sucker. If you are saving to put your kids through college your whole family are suckers."

  "I'm sure you'll get mad at me rather than finding out that I'm telling the truth. Hey, I was a sucker too. I did the college grind because there was no one out there to wise me up. As far as I know, and I've read an awful lot of books and listened to more talks than any human should, no one else I've ever found has wised up and is spilling the beans."