College was set up to rip off the majority of the students. If you are intellectually driven, or if want to enter a field where education is truly necessary, such as engineering, medicine, law, etc., fine, go to college. But if I were a young person today, I'd seriously consider entering a trade rather than join the hoard of untalented people fighting to get on the first rung of the white collar ladder. But not just any trade. You want one (a) that you like. (b) that you can physically do for the long haul and (c) that you can readily turn into a business once you've done your time really learning the fundamentals. I personally would think twice about entering some of the very interesting trades such as machining, because they tie you to industries that you can't control and use technologies that are in flux. These overlap with trades where the jump from employee to business owner is capital intensive (e.g. mechanic.) Trades where you paycheck can only be cut by some huge corporation are dangerous, e.g. aircraft mechanic. The best bet are trades like carpentry, plumbing, and electrical. They pay ok even when you are learning; they are are never going to go away; they are essentially impossible to automate; they can easily be turned into businesses that make money from day one. You want to do it with a plan. There are very few trades you want to still be doing when you're fifty! They're all too hard on the joints! But seriously, there's a lot to be said for starting life with a shit paying, no-future job, and 100k in debt!