Intentionality With Your College Experience - Money and Meaning, And The Alternative
In episode 38 of the MentorZ podcast, the host of the Growth Mindset University podcast, Jordan Paris, talks about his college experience as a young entrepreneur that decided to attend 4 years.
"The answer's not to drop out and the answer is not to go entirely. I'd be lying if I said the past 4 years of my life were not life-changing in part, not wholly, but in part because of this environment of a college campus"
The debate on college has been on-going for the past 7 years or so, and it's been challenging for students to navigate the waters of what to do next in terms of their future.
We don't think about it much (or maybe we are stressing over it right now) but financials play a huge part in college! And well past it depending on the size of your debt. It's something that we need to heavily consider and take with a lot of precautions so that we don't find ourselves in trouble.
Jordan created a sensible mental-walkthrough of how much economic sense it makes to go to college.
"Let's think, you know if I pick this major, what kind of job can I get with that major? And how much money am I going to be making in that job? What's the average starting salary and how does it progress over time? Let's compare that with what I'm going to be paying in tuition. Am I going to be paying tuition or are my parents going to be helping me? Am I going to need to take out in student loans, if so how much? And how long am I going to be paying back these student loans? It probably involves about an hour, on like one night, you know one weeknight ... just before college to like ... figure this stuff out. sit down and figure it out. Do some estimates and think about this before going into it. [thoughts on debt] ... well its really hard to buy a home as a young person and have children when you owe, when you have that kind of debt. And this is JUST student loan debt. This is not like, credit card, this is not everything."
And further, down the line of intentionality, Jordan had a revelation his sophomore year
"Grades are an illusion"
This freeing thought allowed him to soar to new heights because he no longer saw the major purpose in getting good grades.
However, this does not mean that grades are important to everyone. For other young people, making sure you have straight A's is a part of a larger plan.
"The quest for an A. there has to be a higher purpose to it. it goes back to knowing what you want and why you want it. There's gotta be a higher purpose other than just getting the A if you know that getting that A is going to get you into medical school, that's going to propel you to your dream of becoming a doctor and saving lives then get that A. Cause you're going to need it to get into medical school. You're going to need it for that higher purpose of yours. If your intention is to become an entrepreneur, then study less and socialize more. Study less and experience more."
This brings Jordan to the great idea of the college alternative - apprenticeships!
"I'm a big fan of the apprenticeship model ... go figure out who's doing what you want to do and reach out to a bunch of people that are doing exactly what you want to do and go ask to work for them. Or better yet ... reach out to that person and tell them something specific that you could do"
The apprenticeship approach can be great for any young person who wants to get their career path started now and dislikes the traditional school model (while possibly making some money on the side!).
