Why I Said College Was a Scam (and Still Do)
College is the most expensive bad decision most people make: debt, wasted years, and a false sense of “preparation” for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.
The first time I said this—in 2007—I got a death threat.
Now? It barely raises an eyebrow.
For years, the problem was obvious. The alternative wasn’t.
Now we have one.
It’s called The Preparation.
Not theory. A test case. A book my friend Matt Smith wrote with Doug Casey.
Matt’s son, Maxim, didn’t sit in classrooms. He lived through cycles: EMT work, wildfire fighting, building houses, ranching, starting businesses, traveling with purpose.
I just had an hour long conversation with Matt on my podcast about the book. If you have kids—or know anyone with them—it’s mandatory listening (and reading).
This conversation hit home for me.
Because I’ve been shouting about the same thing—first into the wind—for almost 20 years.
Death Threats
In 2007, I wrote in the Financial Times that college was a waste of time. Nobody said this then. It was heresy.
I got hate mail.
People said, ‘Well you went to college so now you are trying to keep others beneath you’…
One person threatened to kill me—turned out he was a senior at Brown University.
But I looked at the math: $200,000 sunk for a degree, years lost, and for what? A shot at a job you weren’t even prepared for.
In 2010, I doubled down.
I wrote “Don’t Send Your Kids to College” in Huffington Post. I went on Yahoo’s Tech Ticker and said it straight: college is a scam.
Tuition was rising 10x faster than inflation. Kids were drowning in debt. I told parents: take that $200,000, put it in bonds or let your kid start a business.
They’ll learn more failing at a startup than partying four years away.
People started asking me, “OK James, if not college, then what?”
So I wrote 8 Alternatives to College.
Travel. Start a business. Create art. Write a book. Learn how to make people laugh. Join a charity. Master a game or sport. Learn by doing.
That grew into a 2012 book, 40 Alternatives to College.
My anti-college book made it to #1 of all college books on Amazon.
Cracks were forming.
I Failed. But She Dropped Out.
In 2017, I offered my daughter a deal: I’ll give you the money I would’ve spent on your tuition.
She said no.
I drove her to campus, dropped her off, and wrote an essay called I Failed to Prevent My Kid from Going to College.
Two years later, the college came after her for $16.92 for a microwave she never broke.
They threatened her with legal action.
She dropped out. Got a job in her passion. Found an internship. Paid her own rent.
She was thriving. I wrote College Is Going Down the Drain and said, “I’m a proud father.”
And I was.
Then COVID Hit
In late July 2020, I wrote a viral post: “COLLEGE IS DEAD FOREVER. HERE’S WHY: …”
I argued the pandemic had accelerated the demise of the traditional college model.
That’s why I like Matt Smith’s The Preparation.
It’s not me ranting on a blog or crunching math in an op-ed.
It’s a working prototype. A young man skipping the $250,000 mistake and gaining actual skills, resilience, and purpose instead.
I loved this conversation.
And if you’ve ever wondered if there’s an alternative to the debt trap—this is it.
