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PayPal Co-Founder Gives Out $100,000 To Not Go To College

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-rich-man-goes-to-college-and-a-poor-man-goes-to-work dept.

Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel says the key to quicker business innovation is skipping college. His foundation is handing out $100,000 to 24 people under 20 to drop out of college for two years and start companies. From the press release: "As the first members of the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship, the Fellows will pursue innovative scientific and technical projects, learn entrepreneurship, and begin to build the technology companies of tomorrow. During their two-year tenure, each Fellow will receive $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation as well as mentorship from the Foundation’s network of tech entrepreneurs and innovators. The project areas for this class of fellows include biotech, career development, economics and finance, education, energy, information technology, mobility, robotics, and space."

3 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Funny Thing by Sonny+Yatsen · · Score: 5, Informative

    For a guy who's claiming that college impedes innovation, Peter Thiel sure had a lot of it. He has a BA in Philosophy and a Juris Doctor from Stanford.

    --
    My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
    1. Re:Funny Thing by arb+phd+slp · · Score: 3, Informative

      (A lot of people said the same thing, but replying to you because you're the non-AC).

      A B.A. in philosophy + a J.D. is a common combination of degrees. Philosophy is increasingly becoming the undergrad foundation for graduate studies in Law. It's like being a premed major, which doesn't qualify you to do much of anything except go to med school.

      --
      There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.
  2. Re:Neat! by DurendalMac · · Score: 3, Informative

    THIS. The guys railing against college always cite insane amounts of debt. I don't know where the hell they dropped out, but most state schools won't leave you with anywhere near that much debt. I'll be graduating next year and figure I'll have less than $25k. Not ideal, but student loans aren't exactly back-breaking in their payment plans, at least they aren't if you avoided private loans like the goddamned plague. Payments are pretty low, interest usually isn't that bad, and they usually are willing to work with you if you fall on hard times.