Is College Worth It?
2012-08-21 · letter vlog · John · 3:51 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Everyday life (also: Economics) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore
Answering a Nerdfighter's question, John works out that a reasonably good accredited college is criminally overpriced but probably still worth it financially, then argues that college is less about maximizing income than about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Greeting; roxinpunch's Tumblr question whether college is worth it; university is free or cheap outside the US
- ★★ John takes up long-time Nerdfighter roxinpunch's Tumblr question whether college, with its overpriced degrees, is even worth it, as relevant to students and to people still repaying loans. — 00:00:02 · Tumblr
- ★★ John says outside the US university is free or very inexpensive, while US education is subsidized but much less so. — 00:00:17 · United States
00:00:29 — Cost-benefit calculation: tuition, loans, opportunity cost, inflation and the hourly break-even; studies say college is still worth it
- ★★ John says Indiana University costs about $10,000 for Indiana residents and about $30,000 a year for others. — 00:00:29 · Indiana
- ★★ In John's example, $100,000 of college including $60,000 in loans costs about $80,000 in loan repayments with interest, a total of $120,000. (hypothetical) — 00:00:37
- ★★ Adding the opportunity cost of studying instead of working and adjusting for inflation, John ballparks the example's college cost at about $140,000. (hypothetical) — 00:01:08
- ★★★ John calculates that over 50-ish working years college pays off if it adds $175,000 in earnings, about $1.75 an hour: e.g. $13 an hour on average instead of $11.25. (hypothetical) — 00:01:23
- ★★ John says most studies show that on average college is still very much worth it, though some for-profit universities and misleading vocational programs probably aren't. (hedged) — 00:01:49
- ★★★ For a reasonably good accredited university, John says two things are true: it is criminally overpriced, and it is probably still worth it. (hedged) — 00:01:59
00:02:07 — Life is not purely economic: John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job
- ★★★ John's objection: the calculation assumes human life is a purely economic phenomenon, which it isn't. — 00:02:07
- ★★ Long ago John worked the graveyard shift at Steak 'n Shake for about $14 an hour on average, a great job with good benefits and a stock program; he still owns 15 shares. — 00:02:14
- ★ About once a week in the small hours there was vomit in the urinal, and the staff played intense rock-paper-scissors over who would clean it. (playful) — 00:02:25
- ★★ After college John earned about $1 an hour less as an assistant at Booklist, but the job was better in every way: books, people who loved them, advancement, and in six years no vomit. — 00:02:45
00:03:00 — Passion and fulfillment over income; education gave perspective; college as a gift in a world of poverty; sign-off
- ★★★ In John's experience, maximizing income is far less important than maximizing passion and fulfillment, professionally and personally. — 00:03:00
- ★★ In college John feared adulthood would bring more existential dread than frat parties did; instead he now feels much less aimlessness and nihilism. — 00:03:09
- ★★★ John credits that partly to the job opportunities education gave him, but mostly to the perspective and context it gave him. — 00:03:22
- ★★★ Whether one studies electrical engineering or poetry, John says college is finally not about maximizing income but about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe, which for him leads to a more fulfilling life. — 00:03:28
- ★★ With about half of humans living on less than $2.50 a day, John calls the chance to study formally a gift, even if a very expensive one. — 00:03:38 · extreme poverty
Threads in this video
- callback · The Evil Baby Orphanage (2007) — John tags his Tuesday greeting 'evil baby Genghis Khan', a nod to the Evil Baby Orphanage. (00:00:00)
- restate · Is college worth it? — John: a reasonably good accredited college is criminally overpriced but probably still worth it, and in the end it is about becoming a better observer of the universe, not income. (00:01:59)
- told · John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job after college (2008) — John recalls his Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift at about $14 an hour, where staff played rock-paper-scissors over cleaning vomit from the urinal about once a week, versus his lower-paid but better Booklist job after college; college, he says, is about fulfilment, not income. (00:02:14)
- restate · What is work for, and how much should people work? — John: maximizing income matters far less than maximizing passion and fulfillment, professionally and personally. (00:03:00)
- restate · Is learning worthwhile for its own sake? — John: education's main gift was perspective and context; college is about becoming a better, more informed observer of the universe. (00:03:22)
Where the stories that moved here went next
- John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job after college (2008) — told 4×; last: retold, 2026-02-15
Mentioned
Central: higher education
Also: People: Genghis Khan · roxinpunch
Organizations: Booklist · Indiana University · Steak 'n Shake · Tumblr
Terms: Evil Baby Orphanage
Concepts: extreme poverty · opportunity cost
Places: Indiana · United States
Also centred on higher education: College Advice From an Expert · Why is College So Expensive? · Life is not a Job Training Program · Your Brain Gets Smart, but Your Head Gets Dumb · US College Students Need Help · An Announcement 3 Years in the Making
Later videos replying to this one
- 2012-09-04 · The Five Worst Places to Vomit (John) — refers (retell on John's Steak 'n Shake graveyard shift versus his lower-paid Booklist job after college (2008)) — John recalls telling in a recent video how at Steak 'n Shake he sometimes had to clean vomit out of urinals. (00:00:16)