Robin, you also cannot overlook the non-financial gains that people get from college. It is a place where a young person can test ideas and even experiment with lifestyles without fear that it will destroy him or her. It is a place where the dedicated students learn the reality that learning does not take place in school. You simply learn how to learn and where to look for knowledge.

My college had no admissions tests when I went there. But at the first gathering, the Dean stood before the incoming freshmen and told us something that applied to the rest of our lives:

"Look to the left of you, then look to the right of you. This time next year, one of you won't be here."

We learned early that the reality of success in the world is striving for it ... and sure enough, by the beginning of the sophomore year, one of them wasn't there. For the rest of my life, I made certain that the one who wasn't there would never be me.

Many non-graduates earned more than me. Good salesmen who didn't require college earned more (at times). Plumbers definitely earned more. The best bank robbers earned more ... when they were available to work.

But, I learned the value of learning and never stopped. I learned how to use facts to build theories and philosophies and it gave me the ability to lead and create. I learned the richness of the language and it gave me the ability to communicate - and write well enough so that some of it was contracted and compiled into books.

Yes, I got my degree and more after that first one but they were simply tickets to ride. My real education comes every day when I open a newspaper, research something on a professional search engine and most of all, it made my nose especially sensitive to the smell of bullshit so I can avoid the traps and entanglements that too many people I see everywhere seem to be getting into ... up to and including candidates for the office of president!

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