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In a world where attention is so valuable, yet so hard to acquire, business owners and influencers are constantly searching for means to reach more people and make more money. Social media has not only proven itself as a means to interact with the masses but also as a source of business for millions of entrepreneurs.
We've all seen certain influencers running ads on our feeds for Amazon FBA or Spotify stores. You might have even seen one of those dropshipping "gurus" trying to sell you a course. Every one of these influencers seems to preach the same story. "Why would you go to college when I can teach you how to make millions? After all, don't you want to make more money and retire early?" This may sound ideal and enticing, but can we take a step back to actually understand how indelibly dangerous this is?
Related: Benefits of a College Degree for Entrepreneurs
Why this message is harmful
As mentioned, millions of users can be reached through social media. Formally, anyone as young as 13 years of age is allowed on Instagram. A young, 13-year-old mind is able to look at all of these "rich and successful" influencers preaching about how college degrees are worthless. Does this have any effect on young, impressionable minds? We can imagine that it might, and actually, the data tell us that it does.
Below are links to two charts. The first has a chart that depicts the rise in social media usage over the last decade and is sourced from USA Today. The second is sourced from the Education Data Initiative. What do these charts tell us? Well, the usage of social media has more than tripled since 2010. There is also a positive correlation between the rise in social media usage and the decline in college enrollment. These events are not undeniably correlated, nor did I run a statistical analysis in order to determine the statistical significance. However, simply looking at the data and pairing this with what I see on a day-to-day basis on social media, has painted a story — a dangerous one.
Influencers on social media are teaching our youth that education is worthless. These same influencers flaunt their lavish lifestyles with multi-million dollar collections of jewelry, exotic cars, and other enticing incentives in order to lure in impressionable minds. Many of these influencers have the same goal: to make a sale. One way or another, these influencers want you to pay them for something they're offering. Whether that be a course or something else that is designed simply to make them more money and MAYBE help the person buying. Don't get me wrong, some of these mentors have valuable lessons to offer. However, I have seen time and time again some of these same influencers preach that "education is worthless, there is no point in a college degree." This is actually so statistically false that it pains me, so let's break this down.
Related: College or College Dropout? The Young Entrepreneur's Dilemma.
The truth
This Forbes article recently found that 84% of the top 400 wealthiest individuals in the world have, at a minimum, a bachelor's degree. In fact, 24%, almost one-fourth of this same group, have a bachelor's degree from an Ivy League school such as Harvard or Yale. Further, The National Study of Millionaires by Ramsey Solutions unveiled that 88% of millionaires have at least a bachelor's degree, and 52% of millionaires actually have a degree from a Ph.D. or doctoral program.
In summary, this tells us that almost 9 of 10 millionaires are college graduates, about 1 of 2 millionaires have earned a doctorate-level degree and that social media influencers claiming your degree is worthless are factually incorrect, and are statistically lying to you.
Let us even take this a step down and assume that you do not want to become a millionaire. This chart, which comes directly from a report by the Tax Foundation and was sourced from publicly available information from the Census, compares annual income brackets between those who have Bachelor's degrees and those who do not. The chart simply illustrates that 78% of individuals with an annual income of $200,000 have at least a Bachelor's degree, compared to only 9% of individuals who have attained that income level without formal education. Need I say more?
Related: Why the Myth of the College-Dropout Billionaire Is So Enticing
Our youth are quite literally being lied to by social media influencers on a day-to-day basis. They are being baited into thinking that formal education is not valuable and that it's easier to be rich without a degree. The truth of the matter is that income level is strongly correlated to an individual's education level. Not only that, but having a higher level of education is much more desirable in general. Formal education teaches us how to use our brains in order to innovate and problem-solve. This is part of the reason the majority of successful millionaires are all very well-educated. I believe that the value in education, to some degree, is not so much about what you learn, but about training your mind on how to function at a higher capacity.
Education is about learning skills and knowledge. It also means helping people to learn how to do things and support them to think about what they learn. It is also important for educators to teach ways to find and use information. Education needs research to find out how to make it better.
teaches us how to use our brains in order to innovate and problem-solve. This is part of the reason the majority of successful millionaires are all very well-educated.
There is a correlation between education level and financial success. Research shows that higher levels of education are associated with increased financial literacy and understanding, which in turn influences investment decision making and financial market participation.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), college graduates are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to have full-time jobs. In 2021, an estimated 85.3% of those with a bachelor's degree were employed, compared to 74.3% with a high school diploma.
Workers without a high school degree earn about $24,000 annually. Workers with a bachelor's degree get about $70,000. Wealthy kids are much more likely to graduate high school and college. What is more important for financial success: being educated or being smart?
It found that 88% of millionaires graduated from college, compared to 38% of the general population. In addition, 52% of millionaires had a master's or doctoral degree, compared to 13% of the general population. This isn't the only research to find a strong link between wealth and level of education.
In fact, education beyond high school is linked with an increase in pay at every level. Some studies have shown that bachelor's degree holders have median lifetime earnings of $2.8 million dollars, which is over $1 million more than those with a high school diploma alone.
Your education determines your self-worth. The more you learn, the more opportunities become available to you. It's crucial to remain to learn no matter what profession you're in, but only if it helps you add value to others and advance your career goals.
College graduates are half as likely to be unemployed as their peers who only have a high school degree. Typical earnings for bachelor's degree holders are $40,500 or 86 percent higher than those whose highest degree is a high school diploma. College graduates on average make $1.2 million more over their lifetime.
Thus, while the benefits of college still outweigh the costs on average, not all college degrees are an equally good investment. The economic benefits of a college degree can be thought of as the extra wages one can earn with a college degree relative to what one would earn without one.
Increased financial literacy: Personal finance education teaches students about basic financial concepts such as budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt. By developing a solid understanding of these concepts, students can make informed financial decisions and avoid costly mistakes.
Individuals with a bachelor's degree or higher made a median income of $118,300. Those with a college degree made nearly 250% more than those with less than a ninth-grade level of education and 130% more than those with just a high school diploma.
Households with higher levels of education tend to have more liquid assets to withstand financial storms, diversify their savings (investments), and maintain low levels of debt relative to assets. These financial behaviors are effective strategies for building income into wealth.
Two years later, he matriculated at Queen's University at Kingston in Canada. Musk later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and received bachelor's degrees in economics and physics.
The wealthiest person in the country to have made a fortune without attending college is oil tycoon Harold Hamm. The youngest of 13 children, Hamm grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, picking cotton as a child and working at a gas station as a teenager.
There is a strong relationship between money and education, as both can be seen as forms of human capital. Human capital is the stock of skills, knowledge, and experience that people have, which can be used to produce economic value.
Improved job prospects and earning potential: Education is often a prerequisite for many high-paying jobs, and individuals with higher levels of education generally earn more than those with lower levels of education.
Education is intrinsically linked to economic growth, influencing economic returns for both personal salaries as well as national gross domestic product (GDP).
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