A short YouTube commentary by Codie Sanchez arguing that college has declined in value: tuition has risen dramatically while wages stagnate, contributing to ~$2 trillion in student debt and falling public confidence in higher education. Sanchez highlights that many graduates work in jobs not requiring degrees and promotes trades, apprenticeships, and “boring” small businesses (HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, car washes) as lower-cost paths to $60–70k/year straight out of high school. The speaker’s verdict: college is generally not worth it, based on economic trade-offs and recent polling data.
Chapters
Is college actually worth trying anymore? Or is it just an insanely expensive tradition we never stopped to question? Back in 1980, the story actually worked. You, like, get a degree, you get a job, you climb the ladder, you retire happy. But today, look at this. Wages have barely moved in 40 years, while tuition has exploded over 180%. Which might be why we're drowning in $2 trillion of student debt. But here's the thing. Almost 40% of grads work jobs that don't even require a degree. So you give up four years and six figures to end up in the same place as someone who skipped it entirely. That's why recent studies like this Gallup poll show a sharp decline in public confidence in the value of college degrees, which found only about 36% of Americans have any confidence in higher education being something worth it. From there, this is down from 57% a decade ago. And oh, by the way, this isn't even showing the number of people who are choosing college as their last path. So the question is college safe anymore? I don't know. Here's what nobody tells you. The trades, apprenticeships and the so called boring businesses. H Vac, plumbing, landscaping, car washes. Jobs people overlook. But that can put you at 60 to 70k a year straight out of high school with zero debt or almost no debt. By the time an MBA is still positioning resumes for people, you could already own the business they're applying to. So is college worth it? I think my answer is no. And that's what the math says too.
