Is college worth it?

[Cc Dietz]

I am 17 years old and just graduated from high school with a gpa of 2.3 and have been very frustrated on what path in life I should take. I grew up very poor living in hotel rooms and in bad areas for a lot of my childhood and this showed to me that I will never want to live this way. I have scholarships for track and field, and they are all partial (ranging from 3,000-8,000 dollars) and I have been accepted in a couple of D2 schools to run for them and go study business. Although I am very grateful for these scholarships and opportunities, I just don't know if college will be right for me. Not only do I not want to be in debt from college, but I am terrible in the classroom mostly because I see no reason to go in debt for a degree I will most likely barely use. My GPA in high school was so low because I saw no point in learning chemistry or pre calc when I will never need it in the real world. I have always wanted to pursue a career in real estate and now that I am done with high school (and track) it is basically all I think about. I have about 3 weeks left to commit to a school and have countless emails from track coaches who want me to run for them.  I spend most of my free time working my job, educating myself on strategies for investing/ wholesaling and reading books.  

Something I have recently been looking into is saving up enough for a down payment on a house with an FHA loan in the town of the college I attend (if I attend) and living in the unit for that year and renting a piece of it out to other college students, enough to cover the majority of my mortgage or even all of it. Pretty sure this is known as house hacking? But the issue with this is that I have to stay in the dorms for at least the first year of college.

I know there are very intelligent and successful people on here with lots of experience with this type of stuff so I figured asking for advice from investors that I aspire to be like one day would be a good idea. I would really appreciate it! :)

[Brian Perlman]

College is a lot like Adult Sleepaway Camp. To most people, it is a time to discover yourself and figure out (or at least throw a few darts against the wall) what you want to do for the rest of your life. I would definitely recommend the college route especially since your are getting a portion of your tuition paid for by running track. Then once you turn 18 years old, take the real estate course in your state and get your license. You might find that you can become a resource for people you meet in college. You can be a part-time realtor doing rentals to other college kids and then escalate to full time when the time is right. Either way, take this time to enjoy life!