Provocative argument in the New York Times today by Arthur C. Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, and a former professor at Syracuse University, on the way he completed a bachelor’s degree on the cheap. He makes a strong, moral case for the so-called “10K-B.A.” The conclusion:
The 10K-B.A. is exactly the kind of innovation we would expect in an industry that is showing every indication of a bubble that is about to burst, as Thomas K. Lindsay of the Texas Public Policy Foundation shows in a new report titled, “Anatomy of a Revolution? The Rise of the $10,000 Bachelor’s Degree.” When tuition skyrockets and returns on education stagnate, we can expect a flight to value, especially by people who can least afford to ride the bubble, and who have no choice but to make a cost-effective college investment.In the end, however, the case for the 10K-B.A. is primarily moral, not financial. The entrepreneurs who see a way for millions to go to college affordably are the ones who understand the American dream. That dream is the opportunity to build a life through earned success. That starts with education.
Read the rest.
One potential drawback I see is that the average student probably lacks the maturity, intelligence, and drive that Brooks had when he completed his degrees as a thirty-something married man. Could the average 18 year old follow Brooks’ higher education path?
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Would an average 18 year old have the maturity to do this? It’s a good question, and not one that I have a definitive answer to.
But – I started the same process at 15, and finished my degree (debt-free) just 2 weeks before I turned 19. Now at 21, I’m 4 years into the work world, and recently placed in the 93rd percentile on the LSAT, opening up a path to a debt free law degree if I choose to pursue law school.
For a little over a year, I worked as an academic coach helping other students through this same degree process, and I worked with ~50 guys between 15 and 24. Not all of them were amazingly successful at this college method, but most of them were.
I definitely think this is a legitimate college option with the flexibility to do in a quicker timeframe, as well as a way to make a debt-free degree really achievable.
Great work, Jason. Thanks for sharing your experience.