Penned by Alexandra Lefebvre. A graduate of James Madison University, Alexandra is one of our travel division’s stellar interns.
Courtesy of WalletPop.com
What would you do if someone offered you $100,000 to skip college?
That’s right, a scholarship to lure you away from higher education. Peter Thiel, co-founder of Pay-Pal, is offering 20 high school students a hefty six-figure sum, also known as the Thiel Fellowship, to start a business in lieu of attending college.
Recently, there has been a trend in the media to cast college in a less than appealing light. The New York Times reported that this year student loan debt will climb higher than credit card debt at a trillion dollars. To put that in perspective, a trillion dollars could buy you and 23 generations of your children a $3 latte everyday for life. Starbucks anyone?
Thiel needs to recognize that a college degree’s ROI is dependent on career choice. According to the New York Times, for public relations job seekers, interns accumulate more job offers, and higher salaries. So for a public relations student, their ROI for attending college would be high. The key to getting your foot in the PR door is internships (lots of them) and most public relations internships require at least a bachelor’s degree. So while a degree does not necessarily lead you to a communications career, it does lead to a significant and necessary stepping stone to get there.
During my time as an intern with Quinn & Co. Public Relations I have worked on tasks that will help me transition from a college graduate to an entry-level job candidate. Media lists, client research, and pitching journalists became my world for 11 weeks.
What I would like to know is if Thiel’s Fellowship is a success and his 20 prodigies begin wildly successful businesses, will they be hiring high school graduates? No, probably not. They will be searching for the brightest college graduates they can find. So Thiel is not bursting the proclaimed ‘education bubble’ He would only be increasing it.
Although I think Thiel should save himself $2,000,000, I am going to root for the students opting to start their own business. Why? Businesses need public relations. So to the future CEOs of corporate America, give me a call, I know some excellent PR professionals who could help you out. By the way, I hope you don’t mind, they are all college graduates.
Scholarship: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter
Thiel Fellowship: http://nymag.com/news/features/college-education-2011-5/
Student Loan Debt: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/education/12college.html?_r=4&hp
Trillion Dollars: http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/visualizing-one-trillion-dollars/
Interns: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/jobs/27searches.html?_r=1
Wonderfully written and so very true – it seems almost impossible to land a job in this economy without having an internship or multiple internships. Employers want employees with experience, but recent college grads have to start somewhere!
What’s 100K to start a business? The Starbucks franchise AL speaks of is $378K just for the start up rights. My mother choked when she heard my car cost more than her first house and let’s face it; there was a time that the $25,000 on the $25,000 Pyramid game show actually meant something. The $100K “offered” is seed money for a lawnmower, weed-whacker, edger and a pick-up so that the kid could start up a cut-business (after he delivers the morning papers) and he is STILL living at mommy and daddy’s. I am not a college graduate. I am the walking epitome that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good but I insist that my (four) children get a college education, do the internships (my oldest is doing his third) and learn not only is the sheep-skin important but also fetching coffee for the Boss comes along with that 4.0 GPA. It’s called a “process”; and in order to succeed at the top you have to put your foot on each ladder rail. The ROI is what you make it.