Tons of Cash To Not Go to College

Cash for NOT going to college?!  Looks as if that is the way Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal,will pay to 24 young adults to work on making money for two years and not go to college.  One of the young scholars made an interesting quote "Entrepreneurship and college isn't necessarily something that can be mixed".  Interesting. 


This has fueled the debate about the academic impact of a college education.  There are lots of merits to this, but when it comes down to the actual value, it depends on everything.  Some students need time to mature and explore many different options.  Others need time to gain knowledge and skills, some need the social aspect to develop networks of talented people. 


Mr. Thiel majored in philosophy and then went to law school.  He ended up being the co-founder of PayPal.  No PayPal was not a logical thing like opening a new bank, or introducing pictured checks to entice people to send more money on checks.  This was a very calculated risk betting on the upstart .com businesses.  Starting u PayPal took a whole lot of thinking.


There is no doubt that in Thiel's philosophy class they were weighing the reality of creating a new banking system for online buying.  Nor in his law courses discussing the legal complexities of building an online currency exchange outside of any government regulations.  Probably on weekend beer fest  Thiel and his college buddies didn't envision a new way of safely securing their future purchases of beer on line.


However his college education gave him the skills to think critically and be a visionary.  Good thought but his college education was probably much different from what is happening today. For one, it was cheaper.  For two there was more flexibility in what a student could study, types of courses one could take, and some argue, the intellectual atmosphere to be creative and innovative.