Nick’s Note: According to financial services firm LendEDU, the total outstanding student loan debt in the United States is more than $1.5 trillion. The average college graduate carries about $17,126 in obligations.

At the Daily, we look for ways to help you make money. But starting off your career saddled with thousands of dollars in debt is an obstacle to that goal.

So I called a PBRG friend who is one of the country’s most well-known free-market proponents: Emmy Award-winning journalist John Stossel. Today, John tells us why college is a rip-off for many people, especially taxpayers…

By Nick Rokke, analyst, The Palm Beach Daily

Nick: John, you recently ran a segment on your YouTube channel about how college is a rip-off. Why is that?

John: First off, I want to say that it’s not a rip-off for everybody. It’s only a rip-off for about half the people who go to college.

College makes sense for high-achievers going into a highly skilled profession—like a doctor or a dentist. They have a lot of skills to learn so that they won’t endanger anyone. And they need to become certified by the medical board to practice.

Although, in my perfect libertarian world, that wouldn’t even be necessary.

I’d like to see a world where patients review their doctors… and you could read the reviews and make the decision on who to see. If you want to go to a doctor who went through 10 years of schooling… great. Or if you want to see a doctor who learned on his or her own… that’s fine, too.

But I’m getting off track. College makes sense for those who know what they want to do… and want to learn what they need to do the job well. But you have to be ready and able to learn.

For anyone who got “C’s” in high school, college probably doesn’t make any sense. You aren’t going to get into a good college… you’re not going to learn what’s needed to succeed… and you’re just going to incur a ton of debt.

And it’s hard for many graduates (or dropouts) to pay off student loan debt. I’ve heard from a lot of people who say that the degrees they earned didn’t help them get the job they wanted.

Nick: So what should those people do instead?

John: It’s different strokes for different folks. Some should just educate themselves. Some should go to vocational school.

I wish more people would work for a few years and then decide. When you’re 18, you don’t know what you want to do with your life. You shouldn’t just automatically go to college.

It’s just not a very practical purchase for most people… especially if you’re not sure what you’re going to do with a college education. You’re just going to incur a bunch of debt and gain nothing from it.

For me, college was OK. I knew I wanted to be a journalist and I learned a couple of things about how to be a journalist. But I only spent about 5% of my time in college learning. The rest of the time was spent hanging out with friends and goofing off.

I would have learned a lot more by getting out there and becoming a journalist instead of going to classes.

Nick: I agree… I use maybe 5% of what I learned in college in my job today. I could have been more efficient with my time studying on my own or getting an internship…

And I know a lot of people who aren’t even working in the field they majored in. They wasted even more time and money. So why do people keep going to college?

John: Because that’s what society tells them to do. Parents and friends push them into it. Or even worse, employers require a college education for jobs. They think it shows virtue because you studied the classics, like Aristotle.

These employers use college as a signaling device that you are willing to jump through some hoops to do what’s expected. And they think if you’re not willing to do that, then you’re not willing to do what’s expected at the job.

A college degree is essentially the new high school degree. It’s just a screening tool used for some of the “nicer,” higher-paying jobs.

Proponents of college say college graduates earn more than $1 million more over the course of their lives than non-college graduates, which is true. But they don’t tell you that these college graduates are smarter and more driven than those who didn’t graduate.

These kids would have made more money whether or not they went to college. It’s just how they are wired.

Driven people will work harder and create more value… and get paid more as a result.

Nick: You also said that college was a rip-off for the taxpayer, too. Can you explain that?

John: Many colleges—specifically state colleges—are heavily subsidized by the government. They couldn’t exist without federal and state grants. Taxpayers are footing the bill to perpetuate a broken system.

The system almost forces kids to go to college. Otherwise, they can’t get a decent job. As more people get college degrees, it diminishes the value of that degree. So we’re saddling young people with debt.

Like I said, the main purpose of a degree is to signal to an employer that you’re willing to jump through a few hoops. That’s not something the government should be subsidizing.

Nick: Very true…. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today, John. We appreciate your time.

John: You’re welcome.

Nick’s Note: John spent 28 years as an award-winning journalist for Fox News and ABC News, where he anchored the primetime news magazine 20/20. He’s won 19 Emmy Awards for his work.

So we’re pleased to announce that he’ll be joining us—and 15 legendary speakers—at our first-ever Legacy Investment Summit in Hamilton, Bermuda.

This is our biggest event of the year, and will include keynote speeches from some of the brightest minds in the financial world, including former hedge fund manager and world-renowned cryptocurrency expert Teeka Tiwari, PBRG co-founder Mark Ford, and many others.

Register now and receive a special, early-bird discount. Plus, you’ll get a $1,000 voucher to use toward any investment research service offered by us or our seven partner companies. Click here to register today…

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