Certainly, and that is a very important side of the argument. My point was that people with advanced degrees who have ascended to great success are probably the

Certainly, and that is a very important side of the argument. My point was that people with advanced degrees who have ascended to great success are probably the people least qualified to tell others that the expensive degrees they obtained were not worth it. Peter Thiel is a very smart man but he is not capable of assessing whether or not he would have been so successful without two degrees from Stanford. Let's be honest though, for most high-school graduates the choice isn't between attending Stanford and going for a startup. It's between taking on debt to go to college or taking a menial job (if they can find it).