While I agree that university provides plenty of opportunities to explore pursuits outside of the academy, I think that your estimate might be a bit off. I'm not sure where you go to school, but for Engineering students it is not uncommon to have over 30 hrs/wk of class/lab/tutorial time. Homework in the form of assignments, lab reports, presentations and projects can easily double that number. Then, of course, there are tests and exams that must be studied for. If one is to have any sort of social life, then there not much time left for a startup during the Fall and Winter terms. The summer on the other hand is a great opportunity.

Well, one obvious downside is a mountain of debt.

Yes, but for that you get the following:

a) Interest free debt that you don't have to even think about for 4.5 years, and even then you only pay back a few hundred bucks a month and if you can't they'll work with you to defer payments or adjust them.

b) No other expenses for the 4 years(rent, food, high speed internet, utilities), nothing to worry about but school and startup.(this is if you live on campus..which you should since your loan can cover housing)

c) Plenty of engineering talent all over the campus who can take a risk with you and even work for free

d) Plenty of people who you can consult for advice(teachers/councilors)

e) Access to alumnis who you can eventually tap for angel level funding

f) No obligation to show up to classes/do homework...yes your grades will suffer(if you mess up on finals), but if you are doing a startup, you don't really need to care about grades, and this way you can be very flexible

And sure you'll end up 40-200K in debt, but so what? Everyone else is in the same situation as you. But unlike them who'll get a job at $40k/yr, you'll have a startup that you had 4 years to grow to profitability. And it doesn't matter what business model you have, in 4 years anyone can get profitable.

I agree with Vaksel entirely. I have two degrees and during both I performed well academically and had more free time than I care to mention; Certainly enough to get a side project started, and I did just that during my second degree.

I also think the article makes a great point in that you can always drop out. If college isn't for you; you can leave.

tjogin; Private colleges are expensive, but if you go to state schools it is not. You still have to deal with feeding yourself and housing, but the courses are only a couple thousand per year. You barely get a used car for that little. :)

That really depends on how you plan things.If you want to go to college you will find the means for it.

I personally planned financially for it, applied for as many scholarships as I could, hold 2 jobs and work through holidays. Not to mention there are ways to reduce the cost of a degree. Take general ed classes at a community college and then transfer credits.

I'll be finishing my second bachelors degree in Mathematics(finished my CS degree already) with no debt.

I'm either stupid or our schools were vastly different. I took 12-13 hours a semester all the way through, and still spent 50 hours a week on school.

Of course, we had several professors that prided themselves on upholding the 2-to-1 ratio. For every hour in class they wanted us to do at least two hours of homework/projects.

Granted, if you cut out the 16-20 hours wasted every weekend on going out with friends, and the 20ish hours a week wasted playing video games, I probably would have had plenty of time for both.