In this episode and post below, We'll lay out some staggering stats and other ideas beyond simply getting a degree.

Listen to this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, YouTube, iHeartRadio or your RSS Feed  *Now also on the Pandora app and Radio.com!

• I am a 45-year old attorney (married with four children) working for a non-profit making $48,000/year. I owe more in student loans than I did when I graduated 11 years ago. Should I go back to work for a toxic employer because I need the money?
• My son has a 2 degrees, one in Communication Speech and one in Theater. He considers himself an actor and does short films in our state as a side which doesn’t pay. He has $83,000 in college debt and can’t see himself climbing out of the black hole anytime soon, if ever.

Go here to check out this podcast episode where Dan Miller addresses these questions and more. 

Massive, Massive College Debt

We are stuck in this trap that we need a degree more than we need to be able to pay for it. So we borrow money from someone else so we can have that life that someone else has. 

Nathan is a fan of this this Amish concept:

You build your business before your house.

More than 2.3 million people per year graduate college. 61% of Americans have at least some college education. (source: collegestats.org)

Nearly seven in 10 seniors (68%) who graduated from public and non-profit colleges in 2015 had student loan debt. Public Colleges: 66% of borrowers who graduated from public colleges have student loan debt.

Average college debt at public colleges is $25,550, which is 25% higher today than it was in 2008. (source: https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/)

Unsecured Debt

College Debt Statistics

Think outside the box of College

There Is More Than One Way To...

There are way more options in life than just one path. Not only that, there are seasons in life. What works at one point in your life, or what you are drawn to, may change. And that's okay. 

Yes, you need to plan ahead. And, well, it's critical to enjoy the moment as well. Life is fleeting, seasons change, and your circumstances will as well. As you grow and learn, you may discover something about yourself and your passions that opens up a whole new door of opportunity. Are you creating any space for serendipity in your life?

College is one path. And it can be an incredible. But look at your WHY. Why are you going? What do you hope to accomplish? How much ahead will you be - do you have college debt building up? Are you truly invested in the process of college? Do you want an ROI because of what it took to be there? 

College Debt = "free" ride?

When you go to college on loans, where is your "skin in the game" - how are you invested in the process? How often do we pave the road so perfectly for our children that we're at risk of becoming those "snow plow" parents that make everything so easy our kids don't have any opportunity to struggle?

When you don't "pay to play", your investment in the process tends to reflect the effort put into it. Too often college is coated in debt and can become more of an excuse to postpone adulthood than a stepping stone to it. 

Don't go to college for a slip of paper. Don't expect college to prove your worth, or guarantee your future employment. Go to learn. Go to be challenged. To stretch your thinking. Go to college with the mindset of every dollar spent being a coin drop in your mental knowledge bucket. 

What do you want your children to learn?

What is really critical for your child to know for adulthood? Let's go beyond biology or astronomy and look at basic life skills. How well do you know your child? Do you have a read on their unique personality style - how they are motivated, how they learn, and how they grow?

What about confidence? This can be an absolute game-changer in our society. Is your child unsure, or motivated? Do they have confidence in moving forward, being independent, and critical thinking?

When you leave college, you are graded in life not by "what did you learn?" but "What did you DO?"

If life skills are the most important component, and you're looking at what I listed above, college is only one way to achieve this. Maybe college grading and testing sends waves of inadequacy over your child. My brothers barely graduated high school - the traditional educational model was not for them. Yet they both lived abroad for years, gathering a perspective of the world much wider than their sheltered friends who had never left their hometown.

My 'Uneducated" brothers' podcasts:

How are you allowing your child to get "life experience"? Don't just throw college out, but don't view college as "life experience." It is "college experience." 

You have to have social skills. Connections. Relationships with others that get your foot in the door. Quite honestly...if you believe learning stops once you get your degree, you might as well not waste your money (or your college debt). Learning is life-long, and especially in today's landscape, that college degree in technology may be obsolete before you even complete the program! 

Grades and numbers aren't the only things that get you there. Letters behind your name mean nothing without the action and implementation...and struggle of getting out there and applying that knowledge you've acquired. In our 48 Days Coaching Mastery Program, we require 48+ hours of paid coaching before someone is ever certified. It's not just about saying you know how to coach, but the actual application of it that we're looking for. 

"Failure" is a valuable life lesson

One of the most important lessons we can allow our children to have is to let them "fail". Let them struggle. And I put "failure" in quotes because I only see it as true failure if they don't learn from it. Otherwise, it's a stepping stone in their life lessons that will help them grow. It may be a lesson learned in what works, or what they don't want - that can be a powerful process as well! Give grace to grow. Look at things as "learning opportunities". 

Do you have a growth mindset, or a fixed mindset?

Ask questions like:

• What does this make possible?
• Where can I go from here (maybe it's only up, but that's a start!)
• What can I learn from this?

When you instill a growth mindset in your children, the pressure isn't so high on what path they take after high school. They are going to learn regardless.

With Functional Education, there are no classroom walls around what you can learn. There are no grade levels telling you when you've learned "enough." And no matter where they are or what they do, they have an opportunity to learn something. 

After High School, You can...

• Go to college (with no college debt - check out all of the scholarships available!)
• Go overseas - immerse yourself in a different culture - for school or just for life!
• Apprentice/Shadow/Volunteer - test-drive your desired professions and learn about if it really IS a fit for you.
• Use your college money to create that first film, write that first book, etc - dive in and learn the same content as you are creating your first work vs. paying for the lessons before you apply it. Dive in and learn from your mistakes. Sometimes you need to BE the director to know you don't want to be the director! 
• Get a job - jump straight in and get some work experience to learn what you really thrive in (and whether a degree is even necessary). 
• Build your own business - start entrepreneurial endeavors and see what you can create.
• Travel - travel your state, your country, your world. Explore and observe - and learn what really resonates with you. 

Ashley Recommends:

What Does Your Child Need Most?

What are their desires? What are they passionate about. What life skills do they need to develop more? Maybe a "gap year" is critical for their growth...and everyone's budget!

Paying for your own phone, insurance, medical bills, car maintenance, rent...doing your own laundry, cooking your own meals, making decisions on what to invest in and what not to...these are all elements of adulthood your child will need to learn - where do they stand with these?