I agree that life experience has much higher dollar value. But I think the bit that in some cases you might be missing is that college can further boost the va

I agree that life experience has much higher dollar value. But I think the bit that in some cases you might be missing is that college can further boost the value of the life experience. Push to the extreme a little bit to see what I mean. What is more valuable: grade school, or life experience? You (hopefully) wouldn't say, "What a waste of time grade school is! Life experience is much more valuable!" You should be able to see how the two interrelate and feed one another. The suggestion that life experience has more "value" than school is almost nonsensical. Assuming ideal grade school. I went to college from 1990 to 1997. Somehow I managed to get a BS/MS in computer science and came out of school only $2000 in debt and full time job waiting. (Thank you, HP, for the opportunity to work as an intern, and telecommute during the school year, no less!! What a gift!) It was totally worth it...for me! All this being said, it is different today than it was then, and tuition is huge. I've always been a big fan of paying for school for people who can't afford it--they generally make us more in tax revenue later than those who don't attend college. If you just look at the federal grants I got for college, you're looking at about a 10,000% ROI for the feds in tax right now. Sure, they'd have made money off me anyway, but the point is they got their measly investment back with ease. If I had my way, the college system (and grade school system for that matter) would be hugely reworked, and in a way I'm guessing you'd approve of based on your complaints. I still haven't figured out how to mesh it with the existing accreditation infrastructure (which is a helluva thing in itself). The status quo is pretty well entrenched.