Thoughts on college?

[Allan Foote]

As a young and eager investor I consider myself very blessed and fortunate to be where I am and have the people around me that I do. I currently live in San Antonio, but just finished my first year of College up in Utah. I have a mentor who has found tremendous success from flipping,renting and investing down here. My goal is to soak up as much information, from him and other sources, as possible before I start investing on my own. He has not only offered me a job to help me truly understand how things work in this field but has even offered to help finance my first investment when that time comes. This individual did not attend college because it didn’t really fit him and fortunately, like I mentioned, he has found a lot of success and wealth. Currently my plans are still to attend and finish up College, hopefully getting a degree in the field of real estate. I wish to make a full time living out of flipping and investing. The issue is I can’t help but wonder if college is really the “right” path. I have done a lot of thinking about the pros and the cons of both paths. The main pro of finishing College would be the coveted degree I could attain that would hopefully provide a safety net incase disaster struck, however, college is expensive and many will get a degree only to realize it isn’t doing them much good. I think the biggest Pros of not finishing college currently are the time and freedom I have (no obligations to family or spouse) along with the resources I have available, the biggest con is obviously the lack of a backup plan.

Sorry for the lengthy backstory but I am curious to hear from you guys about the paths you took and what you would recommend! Did you attend college? If so, were you happy that you did? If you didn’t, do you wish you would have? Thanks so much!

[Seth Teel]

Two degrees and well over a $100,000 paid in tuition...what can I say.

College isn't for everyone.  I don't even think it was for me.  I wanted to be a carpenter.  But folks gave me an ultimatum: Go to school or GTFO the house.  So I went to college.  I was too immature to take it seriously and had no clue what the hell I wanted to do.  I drank and partied so much it took me 5.5 years to get my bachelor's degree.  I did work full-time for the Campus Police the last year and half to pay for my tuition.  And another 2 years to pay for my Master's degree.  BA in Criminal Justice & MA in Urban Affairs (urban planning/ public policy).  Even working for the University I ended up with around $40K in student loans.  

Was it worth it?

Some of the best times of my life were during my college years, but very little of it had to do with schooling.  What I did learn was how to grow up, discipline, dedication to hard work, & time management. Did I need to take 8 years of my life and spend $100K+ to do it, nope!

Would I do it again?  

Maybe. Here's why:  The student loan system is a lie. It sets students up for immediate failure in their adult lives.  We have this mindset of "you can go to the best school you can get into and we'll pay for it with student loans."  Reality is the school you go to really doesn't matter unless you're going into a few specific professions (Doctors, Lawyers, etc.)  If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have stayed in town, gone to a state school and come out with little-to-no student loans, wouldn't have wasted a ton of my folk's money, and if at any point I wanted to quit or failed out, the financial consequences would've been much less severe.

Alternatively, pursuing a trade may be more beneficial.  Both cost of tuition and time it takes to graduate are much better than college. Additionally, you graduate with a marketable skill that no one can take from you.  This skill can be used to make money.  Often degrees are much more theoretical, you have knowledge, but takes years to become professional that field. It takes even longer to make decent money.  

I spent almost 8 years in the "corporate world."  The highest salary I achieved was $55K/year.  When I quit, I had $10K to my name, and owned two duplexes.  Moved back to San Antonio, got my real estate licensed, tripled that salary within a year.  Was I able to do this because I went to college, no.  Did it help, Yes!  Yes, for all the reasons I mentioned above: discipline, dedication to hard work, & time management.  Can these traits be learned elsewhere, yes.  

Ultimately you need to do what's best for you.  There is no negative to having a degree, especially if you can do it without student loans.  Knowing what I know now, I would gone to trade school and got into real estate full-time about 10 years before I did.  You're starting young, the world is your oyster.

Good luck!

@Allan Foote