New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

College, with its specialized training followed by a job in corporate America, is still the most popular career "training" track and research shows that the average college graduate will earn more than their non-degreed peers -- with the notable exception of entrepreneurs (think Bill Gates and Michael Dell among many other very successful entrepreneurs that lack a college credential). For the aspiring entrepreneur, the entrepreneur track is more about acquiring the necessary skills through a variety of creative means and less about specialized classroom training that result in a degree.

Since the college/corporate track is well defined and understood (get good grades, go to a good college and get a good job) and is the standard requirement for those striving for work in the corporate environment, I would like to challenge some common assumptions and lay out an argument for the alternate entrepreneurial track. Let's start by looking at the design, purpose, and costs of modern colleges to create a more balanced view.

First of all, the entire college and university system is completely outmoded in today's wired world. The university construct with its aggregation of professors and libraries came into being due to the scarcity of books prior to the printing press when students traveled to the experts and listened to lectures to facilitate the knowledge transfer.

Secondly, the university model was designed intentionally around training good employees dependent on someone employing them, rather than training students to create their own opportunities, so the educational content is not consistent with the entrepreneurial goal. There are some notable exceptions with colleges that have entrepreneurship programs, but their goal is still to graduate students with a degree rather than with a viable business.

Thirdly, the cost of a college degree is high on every dimension: spiritual, financial, emotional and opportunity cost:

• Spiritual Cost -- Between 65% and 94% of college-bound Christians either deny their faith or stop attending church during their college years according to Youth Specialties -- including those that attend so-called Christian universities. Throughout scripture, the patterns, precepts, and principles indicate that we as parents are to guide and protect our children, which we cannot possibly do if we send them outside of our effective influence to the world for re-education.
• Financial Cost -- According to the College Board, the average all-in cost (tuition, books, fees, room, board, and estimated personal expenses) of a four-year degree at a public university in today's dollars for students entering college in the fall of 2007 is between $102,700 (in-state) and $132,700 (out-of-state) and the equivalent degree at a private university costs over $183,100.
• Emotional Cost -- The college experience is replete with the dangers of immoral lifestyles and influential roommates, classmates, and professors with dramatically different worldviews that can leave our precious children confused and scarred for life.
• Opportunity Cost -- The time investment of four years or more (many students need a fifth year and/or go on to graduate school) usually means delaying marriage and family (and therefore postponing the blessings thereof) and delaying the launch of their own businesses.

Lastly, to top it off, only 42% of students entering four-year colleges graduate according to the Council for Aid to Education.

By contrast, a good entrepreneurial education can be acquired at a very low cost on every dimension and the money parents would have spent on college, can instead be invested in their children's entrepreneurial ventures.

But entrepreneurs need a great education in order to succeed.  They need to understand the sales and marketing process and principles, they need to understand financial and accounting processes and principles, etc.  Being an entrepreneur doesn't mean you get to skip the arduous process of a higher education, but rather that you are focused on acquiring useful skills - which in all likelihood will include some measure of classroom education, online classes, mentoring, apprenticeship programs, self study, etc.  See our posts Creating an Entrepreneurial Training Roadmap and Preparing to Be an Entrepreneur - Example Roadmaps for more details and see our Venture Academy for basic entrepreneurship training on the key processes and principles of entrepreneurship.