I like the idea of Community College for 2 years. Get your math, English and most of your elective requirements out of the way while living at home and not running up much debt. I took trig and calculus at a CC... I think it was the same trig and calc taught in big colleges. And English... I can talk good... even punctuate better than most kids today. (I once got a response complaining that I "use too much punctuation".... musta been a youngster.)
That's likely a very smart move, if you go the college route. Still, according to Altucher, its time that you are wasting-- which you can't get back...
Dunno about that. Before I went to college I was a janitor. Getting a few years jump start on my working career as a janitor doesn't seem like much of a benefit. Your "times" are what you make of them, mostly.
Most college educated people will defend their decision, as will most who aren't college educated. College would be worth it if it was really about intense studying, right now most of the time is "wasted" on partying, needless paperwork, formatting and socializing. Not all colleges are like that but certainly most.
going to college is worth it if you: A- get a real major (math/science/computer prog) AND B- get in-state tuition at a state school or C- get into a top 10 private school people who go to run-of-the-mill private schools and don't get real majors are doomed to regret their decision. i went to northwestern university and studied economics there and i barely would recommend that to someone at this point (i don't think i could qualify it as a real major by my definition). but being at such a good university i will say that i now have friends that are in increasingly high places if i ever need to do something besides trading.
I also like the trade school route these days... anything which pays decently and can't be outsourced... HVAC, plumbing, something like that... something most don't want to do because it involves getting a little dirty. (Speaking of dirty, the refrigerator repair guy which came highly recommended from Angie's list... charged me $240/hr... for (1) swapping refrigerator parts, and (2) misdiagnosing the problem and not getting the repair right. $240/hr sounds like a righteous wage.)