Concerns about the rising cost of tuition and university campus culture are driving a significant number of Americans away from higher education, and entrepreneurs who skipped out on a four-year degree are urging others to follow suit.
Guitar Chalk editor Bobby Kittleberger told Fox News Digital he actively encourages his kids not to attend college.
“I like to put it this way: You never see a dude pull up in a Ferrari and think, ‘Oh, I bet he has a college degree!’ So, I tell my kids, why would you walk a path that by design does not lead to wealth and prosperity?” he said.
Kittleberger, who also works as a web designer and SEO consultant, has several reasons for pushing his kids away from a traditional university path. Although he graduated with a computer science degree, one of the highest-paying majors right out of college, Kittleberger said his diploma has been “completely irrelevant” to his real-world work and career path.
In his opinion, the price of a degree has a terrible return on investment. The recent costs of higher education have led many of his friends to work jobs they could have achieved with a high school degree, such as real estate, trading and insurance.
According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of attendance for a student living on campus at a public in-state institution is $108,583 over four years. Out-of-state students will pay an average of $182,832 in the same time frame.
