- Peter Thiel plans to give 20 more young people $100,000 not to go to college.
- Thiel started the fellowship in 2010, encouraging students to skip school and start companies instead.
- The effort has attracted criticism from education leaders.
Don’t stay in school, kids.
That’s the message billionaire Peter Thiel is sending as he extends a fellowship program that offers $100,000 to students willing to skip college and develop a company instead.
Some in the latest cohort of applicants plan to launch projects related to the buzzy industries of AI and cryptocurrency.
The PayPal founder started the program in 2010 with an initial group of 24 young people. He gave them $100,000 over two years so they could skip college and pursue entrepreneurial projects. More than 270 people have participated in the program since its launch.
Thiel has said he originally started the venture to prove that the American college system is not for everyone. That’s not a particularly disruptive take anymore, as more young people consider other routes to success to avoid going into debt.
While workers with a bachelor’s degree earn 31% more than those with an associate’s degree and 84% more than those with a high school diploma, the cost of college has steadily risen for decades.
Thiel told the Journal he decided to extend the program in part because he thinks American universities are now overly “woke,” inspiring him to encourage young people to steer clear.
“Our view is it’s still an outside game, getting people out,” Thiel told the outlet.
Thiel himself has multiple college degrees from Stanford University.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers called the effort the “single most misdirected bit of philanthropy” during a 2013 conference, according to Tech Crunch.
Vivek Wadhwa, a former Washington Post columnist and Harvard researcher, wrote in Tech Crunch that “friends don’t let friends take education advice from Peter Thiel,” advising that the best path to success is to complete a college degree.
Wadhwa wrote that “elite” Ivy-league education is unnecessary but that getting a basic education and “completing what you started” sets students up for success.
