Self Employment and No College

College has become too costly for many persons and is generally not needed for those working for or going into small business. The author, a high school dropout as well as a Harvard lawyer and small business person, and creator of the paralegal field, explains why self employment is a better way than college followed (hopefully) by employment.

College, at a cost of up to $75,000 per year or so for some students (when taking most costs into account, including personal costs, but not lost employment), is priced through the American student-loan system far in excess of the value of a degree for most college graduates, who find out too late that a degree costing $50,000 to $250,000 too often results in a job paying only $10 to $20 per hour, which cannot pay off a student loan of $50,000 (or $60,000 with accrued interest by the time the student starts working). A salary of $20/hour amounts to $750/week (35 hours), or about $500/week after various deductions, or $2,150/month. To service a $60,000 loan at 6% interest repayable over 10 years amounts to $555.10 per month, or 26% of the $2,150/month net amount received by the employee, leaving the employee with only $1,595, which is not enough to cover the cost of living for most individuals in any city in the United States. Education through the American regulatory system is terribly over-priced and needs to be avoided by many or most prospective college students, as this book will explain.

Carl E. Person is a practicing attorney helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School; a high school dropout without a high school diploma; he was the President of the student body at Long Island University. Also, he has been the Libertarian Party candidate for Attorney General in New York; was one of four candidates seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for U.S. President; was the Reform Party candidate for Mayor of New York City. Also, Person created the paralegal field, and started up and ran for 18 years a technical school providing instruction at the college level or above. Person understands colleges, training, costs of education to the student and to the school, student loans both as a student and as a school receiving student loan money. Person believes that the key to restoring the middle class is having high schools, technical schools and colleges provide the kind of education that will enable graduates to be hired by small businesses, so that small business can expand and compete with the businesses which are now too big to fail.