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$100,000 to drop out of college?

Andy Nguyen

Andy Nguyen

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Early Facebook investor, PayPal co-founder, and hedge-fund investor Peter Thiel is stirring up tech and education circles with a novel proposal for college students — he's offering them up to $100,000 to drop out of college. Thiel says he wants to encourage some of the nation's best young minds to focus on more than getting a degree and a job, so he is offering grants to 20 would-be entrepreneurs willing to leave school and put their ideas into action. Is Thiel being irresponsible by telling students that school might be holding them back, or is he doing them a favor by getting them to think big?

$100,000 to drop out of college? - The Week
 
$100k and what else?

It takes more than that to start a business. Besides, depending on the school, a good chunk of that money will go towards paying off your debts.
 
Eugene Krel said:
$100k and what else?

It takes more than that to start a business. Besides, depending on the school, a good chunk of that money will go towards paying off your debts.
Click to expand...

I am sure guidance from Peter Thiel is included in the package which would be worth quite a bit too I believe.

You're right about the debt part...and additional taxes too possibly. In addition to that, rent and other bills throughout the year. You're barely left with anything.
 
This is an interesting idea but 100k is not enough. It would need to be 2-10 million dollars. But, the idea is wrong. The problem is not education which is highly valuable. It is that it is not structured where the teachers understand that they work for the students. Nobody gives anyone an education. The student is the employer and the teacher should conform to the student expectations.

This is the problem. And the big idea is somewhat lost -- where the big idea is really self directed study with the top professors -- a rethinking of education.

Also, I will add there is no doubt the some of the brightest people are in the education but it needs to be applied. I will relay 2 of my experiences. My math teacher at the community college I went too was excellent. He was completely adroit with mathematics and would answer all problems. At university, my math teacher would not even answer my legitimate questions. I rushed to try to buy/find a tutor but couldn't set anything up in time. I also had a chemistry teacher in my community college who would not help the students but offered her "tutoring service" on the side.
 
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