Well, in my experience with my CS degree: * a minuscule portion of the population signs up for the first year of CS * the vast majority drop out because they l

Well, in my experience with my CS degree: * a minuscule portion of the population signs up for the first year of CS * the vast majority drop out because they lack the fundamentals in maths and physics and lack the patience and persistence to learn them * half of the remaining bunch drop out on second and third year where highly technical topics such as metaheuristics and OS internals are introduced, which assume that the student has complete and utter dedication to their studies (which is many times not the case since they have to support themselves financially) * The remaining straggle for a while, most end up going straight to the private sector. Out of the graduates, a third go into the academia gauntlet, where half can expect to not get grants or funding or be forever thrown into shitty unpaid roles Yes, at some point dropping out is not that big a deal and alternative paths emerge, but the idea of doing a business based on a fundamental piece of research becomes unrealistic too, which is where some of the best opportunities lie. In the cases I've identified, almost all the people that go into academia, even in this public uni, come from professional families of homeowners who don't have issues supporting their children well into the mid-twenties.