Of course this is about averages. There are always exceptions. But half of the people on your initial "successful" list (Zuckerberg, Gates,and I should add Steve Jobs & Michael Dell) dropped out of an Ivy League college, which cannot be discounted because of the valuable networks they encountered at those schools which helped launch and support their ventures. On
average, even college drop-outs make more than those who never went. And then there's this:
For young adults ages 25–34 who worked full time, year round, higher educational attainment was associated with higher median earnings; this pattern was consistent for 1995, 2000, 2002, and 2005 through 2012. For example, in 2012 the median of earnings for young adults with a bachelor's degree was $46,900, while the median was $22,900 for those without a high school credential and $30,000 for those with a high school credential. In other words, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned more than twice as much as those without a high school credential (105 percent more) and 57 percent more than young adult high school completers. Additionally, in 2012 the median of earnings for young adults with a master's degree or higher was $59,600, some 27 percent more than the median for young adults with a bachelor's degree. For the above years between 1995 and 2012, this pattern of higher earnings associated with higher levels of educational attainment also held across sex and racial/ ethnic subgroups (White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian).
- Source:
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77
I'm sure you can point out exceptions, but the problem is...they're still exceptions, and the cost of NOT going to college for the
average person, especially if they're a person of color, is too much, and its getting worse.
....Millennial college graduates ages 25 to 321 who are working full time earn more annually—about $17,500 more—than employed young adults holding only a high school diploma. The pay gap was significantly smaller in previous generations.2 College-educated Millennials also are more likely to be employed full time than their less-educated counterparts (89% vs. 82%) and significantly less likely to be unemployed (3.8% vs. 12.2%).
-Source:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/
But its not all about money either. Learning to listen to different opinions, and entertain arguments that you morally and ethically oppose is valuable too. I'm not saying it can't be done without college, because I know it can be, but it doesn't hurt.