How the Rich are Secretly Handling College

[Anonymous]

So...I am wealthy. Reside in West Coast. Very new money, and also highly educated. I made $$$ with a start-up. I have two children, under 10.

We discuss education with other people. I have noticed that people who are not highly educated, even if wealthy, will enroll their children in very expensive private schools. They generally obsess about "which school are your LO's attending?" The same for highly educated, but of modest means.

However.

The very rich, who are also very, very educated (I am talking Ivy/Ivy-equivalent undergrad, with same advanced multiple degrees) are now secretly espousing the view that education, whether public or private, is a has-been. Information is readily available, and they see it as not worth the money.

What they are discussing doing, is giving their children unconventional educations and experiences from early childhood, and pushing them to create--companies, non-profits, whatever, at an early age. College is a fallback, if other ventures fail. And certainly something to drop very quickly if other ventures flourish. Depending on their location, they may still go private, but some surprising don't. Most do, due to security concerns. But college as in institution is something that this group really despises.

By the time my children are college-age, the truly elite may have moved on to other circles for post-secondary education...and colleges will be another version of public schools. The wealthy/smart money are fleeing institutional education.

I know this because I am part of this circle. And I am posting this because this is an anonymous forum and I think it's something worthy of discussion, depending on what you are seeking for your children.

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Lol. New money. Bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

Why do they despise college as an institution?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol. New money. Bless your heart.

New money has always ruled this country after forcefully grabbing the reins from Old Money--which gracefully gave it up. Time and time again. Money came to me even though I did not chase it, I was chasing something else. I quit and hit financial rock bottom while I was working the start-up. I am grateful for how things turned out.

I do not hate Old Money. You must be neither. The dirty secret is that Old Money and New Money secretly are fascinated by the other. Always has. You should see the eyes they make at each other at charity balls.

Can you at least address my initial post?

[Anonymous]

I get the gist of what you're saying. Not sure about the discussion you've anticipated however.

Entrepreneurship and vocational training may very well rise somewhat in step with tuition costs. I'm more interested in what the middle class will do as college gets out of reach for many.

The 1% can fund a small business for their children, perhaps in lieu of tuition. I won't be surprised to others putting whatever support they can offer behind a young person's effort to create something for themselves independent of a college degree.

I wonder about liberal arts. I have already noticed that my liberal arts college (Sarah Lawrence) has moved towards social entrepreneurship, providing a context for learning while encouraging innovation. Not necessarily the middle class there, but I feel like I've caught a glimpse of the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do they despise college as an institution?

The information is readily and cheaply available now, due to the digital revolution. You do not have to pay $$$ to stick your child in some stone building and gave him/her a ID card which has access to the Great Libraries...that information can be bought and downloaded/read on your laptop, everywhere.

There is a lot of grumbling that the education itself is stale. What schools are teaching are not helpful in the digital age.

As for mixing with the Right People, colleges have proliferated and being a "college graduate" just does not have the cache it once did. By Right People, I by no means mean race or anything of the sort. It's children that my children can meet and together create wonderful things for this world. A school full of lemmings is not that.

Life is short. Spending four precious years of it drinking and pissing around and being able to vaguely recite a line or two of Hamlet after $500,000 is not what we want for our kids and not how we want to spend our money.

The digital age is a light-speed revolution, and schools are moving too slow.

We just see it as a waste. Basically, if our kids don't get into an Ivy, don't bother. And feel free to drop out of Ivy for the right reasons, Mom/Dad won't be mad. Of course, if they are interested/talented in the arts, that's a whole another story...

[Anonymous]

OP, I see this happening. College is becoming more expensive than it's worth. Parents need to encourage entrepreneurship. I also see many bailing on public school In favor of homeschooling.

[Anonymous]

You assume going to college is all about passing along certain information. A liberal arts education emphasized skills like creativity and critical thinking, necessary in any field and walk of life.

[Anonymous]

It worked for the family that started Five Guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You assume going to college is all about passing along certain information. A liberal arts education emphasized skills like creativity and critical thinking, necessary in any field and walk of life.

No. That is what I am telling you. The titans of creativity and critical thinking by any measure are all questioning their college education. Some never completed it, and while in college, attended precious few classes. That's just Kool-Aid talk spouted by the Admissions Office. They were creative and thought critically by the time they stepped foot in college, and it's largely by the enrichment their received outside of school classes.

They used to squawk the same way when classical education was under attack. Whatever happened to that??? Gone, gone, gone...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. New money. Bless your heart.

New money has always ruled this country after forcefully grabbing the reins from Old Money--which gracefully gave it up. Time and time again. Money came to me even though I did not chase it, I was chasing something else. I quit and hit financial rock bottom while I was working the start-up. I am grateful for how things turned out.

I do not hate Old Money. You must be neither. The dirty secret is that Old Money and New Money secretly are fascinated by the other. Always has. You should see the eyes they make at each other at charity balls.

Can you at least address my initial post?

Oh honey. Many of us here have been to countless charity balls, grew up going. Old Money is much less fascinated by the nouveau riche than you would think. If you only knew how we talk at the country club when you arent around...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It worked for the family that started Five Guys.

I don't know them. Tell me about that.

[Anonymous]

OP, i agree with you. I'm hoping college will be optional for my two children = - or, if they go, it will be for fun. - signed, Exeter and Ivy + advanced degree grad.

[Anonymous]

Basically what you're saying is that as higher education is more available to the masses yet jobs are getting scarcer - nothing new, Europe has been going through this phase for decades already - those families with means and influence can carve out a more original path for their children which will get them to stand out.

Honestly, it depends on what the kids want to do. I have a son who couldn't dream of anything other than research and academia. For the foreseeable future, that does require at least one PhD.

Your higher being persona enlightening the masses is amusing, but understandable given your very new accession to wealth and status. A few more generations, if your wealth isn't the flash in the pan it probably is, and you'll learn to be gracious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. New money. Bless your heart.

New money has always ruled this country after forcefully grabbing the reins from Old Money--which gracefully gave it up. Time and time again. Money came to me even though I did not chase it, I was chasing something else. I quit and hit financial rock bottom while I was working the start-up. I am grateful for how things turned out.

I do not hate Old Money. You must be neither. The dirty secret is that Old Money and New Money secretly are fascinated by the other. Always has. You should see the eyes they make at each other at charity balls.

Can you at least address my initial post?

Oh honey. Many of us here have been to countless charity balls, grew up going. Old Money is much less fascinated by the nouveau riche than you would think. If you only knew how we talk at the country club when you arent around...

I guess that explains why they are screwing each other all the time and having affairs together.