College Degree vs. Wealth Building: Does a 4-Year Degree Pay Off? | 096

Do You Really Need a College Degree to Build Wealth? (REISSUE) | 096

This one keeps coming up in the comments, the inbox, and at meetups. So we're bringing it back.

The college debate is louder than ever, and for good reason. Student loan debt just crossed $1.8 trillion in the U.S. Over 42 million Americans are carrying federal student loans, with the average borrower owing close to $39,000. And a growing number of people are asking a question that used to feel taboo: was it actually worth it?

In this re-issue of one of our most talked-about episodes, we get into the real math, the real data, and one very real career story that did not follow the traditional path.

What We Cover in This Episode

A trip to a local high school career day sparked a question that turned into this whole conversation: do you have to go to college?

The answer is more complicated than a yes or a no. Here's what we dig into:

• The earnings gap is real but so is the debt that often comes with closing it. We break down current BLS data on weekly earnings by education level so you can see the actual numbers.
• The student debt crisis has gotten worse since we first recorded this. $1.8 trillion. 42 million borrowers. Those are not small numbers and they deserve to be part of the conversation.
• One career story, no four-year degree. From a graphic arts certificate at Saint Paul College to an enterprise systems engineer role at a major tech company, including a 753% salary increase along the way.
• Continuous learning as a career strategy. Not as a motivational tagline, but as a literal, practical approach that compounded over decades.
• Vocational programs, certifications, and self-directed education as legit alternatives to the traditional four-year path.
• The earning side of financial independence. You cannot save your way to freedom if your income has a ceiling. At some point, investing in yourself is the most important financial move you can make.

Key Takeaways

• A bachelor's degree holder currently earns a median of around $1,533 per week compared to about $946 per week for a high school graduate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That gap is real and worth acknowledging.
• Total U.S. student loan debt has now surpassed $1.8 trillion. The average federal borrower carries nearly $39,000 in debt. Delinquency rates are rising.
• A two-year certificate program launched a career that grew by 753% in salary without ever requiring a four-year degree.
• Employer-sponsored training, industry certifications, self-study, and continuing education are all legitimate paths to growing your earning potential.
• Asking whether college is right for you or your kid is not the same as saying education doesn't matter. It absolutely does. The question is which kind, at what cost, and for what purpose.

Contact Chris:

https://heavymetal.money

https://www.facebook.com/MoneyHeavyMetal

https://x.com/MoneyHeavyMetal

https://www.instagram.com/chrisluger

https://www.tiktok.com/@heavymetalmoney

email: chris at heavymetal.money

Resources and Links:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Education Pays Data: bls.gov/careeroutlook
• Federal Student Aid Portfolio Summary: studentaid.gov
• Saint Paul College (formerly Saint Paul Technical College):

Contact Chris:
https://heavymetal.money

https://www.instagram.com/heavy_metal_money/

https://www.youtube.com/@heavymetalmoney

https://www.facebook.com/chrisluger

email: chris at heavymetal.money

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Do you or your kids need to go to college on this episode of Heavy Metal Money? Hey, so recently I had the privilege and the opportunity to go speak at my local high school on a career exploration day. I had a bunch of high school kids in the class and I got to tell them what it's like to be an enterprise systems engineer for a big tech company. It was super fun and I loved interacting with all the kids. But the question did come up did you go to college? Do you have to go to college? And this is something that uh I was kind of well, let me tell you a story. So when I first started this current role that I'm in, um several years ago, I was with a colleague and they had asked me, so where did you get your undergrad? And I was feeling a bit self-conscious, a little embarrassed, and I simply replied, I don't have a degree. I don't I don't have a degree in anything. And I know a lot of people talk about the importance of going to college, continuing education. Uh, absolutely, but the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Statistics state that with a bachelor's degree, the average salary per year is about$55,000. And for those that just have a high school diploma, you're at about$35,000 a year. That's$59 higher if you have a college degree. Now, another study broke it down like this. If you uh have a bachelor's degree, um, you'll earn about$1,300 a week, whereas a high school graduate earns about$750 a week. And if you have an advanced degree, you uh you bump up to about$1,600 a week. Now, I you know, I am absolutely like an advocate of continuing education, going to school, getting an education. Um, you know, I you got to be a member of society that contributes, right? You want to be an active member that is contributing to society. But I also don't think that you know people should you know have go to school and then finish with 40,000, 60,000,$100,000 in debt, right? This is crazy. We have a wicked problem with with this this ever-growing student debt crisis, and I'm gonna say crisis, it absolutely is. Forbes reported that in the US, student debt is at about one and a half trillion dollars. Over 44.2 million people owe education debt. Isn't that crazy? And the average individual student debt is about$38,000. It just makes me sick. I mean, how are people again trying to get ahead with this debt? Now, if we just jump back back to my story, is do we really need to go to school? So I had been an average student throughout school. Um, you know, I wasn't too bad at art and graphic communications. Um, I loved those classes and I did pretty well. And but if you're looking for like any sort of like, you know, required standard classes, solid B or C student. I mean, I really didn't apply myself all that hard either. I mean, let's let's be real here for a minute. Back then, typical 80s and 90s kid, all I wanted to do was play guitar and play Nintendo. Um, I knew I was not an academic type of student. I knew going to a four-year college wasn't for me. And so, you know, I I then started looking at places where I could be more hands-on. I needed to be hands-on, I wanted to accelerate my skills um for whatever that was. And, you know, I really also didn't want to have a job that I hated. You know, my dad wasn't happy with his gig. Growing up, you know, he busted his ass to provide for me as a single dad. And he often mentioned how he didn't like his job. He would come home tired, he was exhausted, and I witnessed the toll it took on him, and I knew that is not what I wanted for myself. So before attending uh a two-year program at St. Paul Technical College, it's now called St. Paul College, you know, I did take all of the graphic arts programs offered in high school. And I worked also as a school service aide. This is where I didn't receive school credit, but I did go to the graphic arts department and I helped out. Um, I absolutely loved it. I would stay after school to work on projects just because it was fun. And for my senior year, I would actually leave school after the first two hours. So I would go to high school for the first two hours, then I would leave school, drive over to uh 916 Vocational School for the graphic arts program at their campus, now part of Century College here in the Twin Cities. And, you know, while looking at the vocational school programs for graphic arts, I explored ones locally here based in the Twin Cities, but I also looked at uh some other ones too. I entertained going to University of Wisconsin Stout, but uh I ended up staying home because I was absolutely terrified of moving away from home. I was one of those kids, man. I just I was terrified of moving away and uh you know living on my own. But I did complete a graphic communications uh certificate program in about 18 months, and then I entered the workforce. And like I said, this was a certificate of completion, it was not a degree. Now, my first employer was a pretty large tour operator or travel company where I was employed as a graphic coordinator. My first job uh was making$7.50 an hour. Now, this was a huge bump from the$5 an hour I was making while working retail through high school and college. Now, this is where things get really interesting. I never stopped learning. I dove in deep and I loved it. I worked long, hard, and built systems and processes that this employer had never seen before. I continued to read and soak up any knowledge I could. I would read on design, art, technology. And, you know, keep in mind the internet really wasn't a thing yet. And so I would use every AOL free minute CD ROM that we got in the mail. I would use every single one I could. And I would get my hands on them, I would, you know, go into chat rooms and continue to learn all I could. And this really was also led me to be kind of the office IT guy. And I built some crazy workflows within the organization that really proved productive. I remember one thing I did, leveraging the PC that I had in the office and some software, I would design and then automatically send out faxes overnight to advertise cruises and travel offerings to hundreds of different resellers in the travel industry. So think of this as spam, but to fax machines. Like, can you believe it? That was a thing. But that single thing increased bookings and revenue within weeks. So it was something that I regularly did, and uh it was it was pretty fantastic. But the main message here was I wanted to share is that if it interests you and you dig it, never stop learning. Look for the training offered by organizations in the industry, vendors, hardware, and software publishers. I continued in my professional career to take classes, courses, exams. I got more certifications, I intended symposiums and seminars, and any other classes that the employer would allow and a few that they didn't. If they didn't, I would attend them anyway. I would take them on my own time, take vacation, and I would pay for it out of my own pocket because I felt it had value and I wanted to continue to grow. Now, each time I completed a training or seminar, I would really try to apply what I've learned. Uh, you know, sometimes unsuccessfully, but we continued to learn and grow with every time that we failed as well. We always attempt to save what we earn and invest what we save. And we want to be as frugal as we possibly can, right? We want to save as much as we can. That is what we do in this personal finance community. But however, there comes a point where you are unable to squeeze any more blood from the turnip. This is what I'm saying. You can't save your way to financial freedom. There has to be a time when you really focus on earning more as well. You know, I believe that there is no limit on what you can earn. I really do believe that. You can continue to earn more. And so let's take a look at some of the things that I've done. Now, some of these did lead to certification. Sometimes, you know, exams were too expensive or they just weren't offered. Um, and this really isn't to focus on like, you know, my accomplishments, but really it's to inspire others that have felt kind of overwhelmed or wondering where to go in your current role. You absolutely can continue to expand your earning potential by getting some additional training, whether it's an individual course or a class, to really help you build your skill set. Now, one thing I also wanted to mention is that if you look at how this has impacted my earning over the years, it was dramatic. So you can see here in this list, this is a list of all the jobs that I've had since leaving high school. And you'll notice that every new job has a significant salary bump from the job before it, all the way up until my most current role that I started in 2018 as my current enterprise systems engineer, where it was a 23% increase over my previous role. So if you think about it and break this down, I've had a 753% salary increase from when I graduated high school until my current role. Now, it does take hustle and grind and can the continuing desire to learn and grow professionally and grow as a person. So what I wanted to do is just mention that I'm proof, and this is proof that you can make a living, you can continue to grow, you can get married, you can raise a family, you can do that all without getting a college degree. As long as you have a plan and work hard. Thanks again. I want to hear from you. Do you have a college degree? Are you using your college degree in your current role? Do you think that it's necessary for people to go to college? I want to hear below. Like, subscribe, and post those comments. We'll see you next time on Heavy Metal Money.