Better Than College: How to Build a Better Life Without a Four-Year Degree by Blake Boles (Copyright © 2012 by Blake Boles) offers the thesis that you can skip four-year college and still get a higher education. This may seem nuts, but spend a few moments considering the propositions, and you’ll begin to see why Zero Tuition College (ZTC) holds just as much life-changing potential as traditional college. Please click on the icon at the bottom of any page to purchase this outstanding book.

Blake Boles

• After two years as an astrophysics major at US Berkley, Blake convinced the school to let him design his own alternative education major. Two years later, he realized that he didn’t need school at all to do what he had just accomplished. Unfortunately, not every college would allow him to do what he did. He has since met many young adults who did everything that he did—learning deeply, developing mastery, becoming exposed to new fields, adventuring, building work experience, and following their passions—without the college price tag..

What is a Higher Education?

• When the price of oil rises, we look more seriously at alternative energy. When a business raises its prices, we consider different ways that we could obtain the same goods or services. But even though the price of college has skyrocketed, we still flood its gates. Why? A college degree proves that you can survive four years. It’s a piece of paper that says, I followed a prescribed path. A higher education, though, is first and foremost the capacity to self-direct your life. Someone who has a higher education can define her own vision of success and pursue it, even in the face of difficulty. A college degree does not guarantee a higher education.

The Alternative

• Instead of following someone else’s curriculum, self-directed learners begin by asking themselves what fascinates and drives them. Their journey begins—and ends—with self-knowledge. Instead of taking full-time classes, self-directed learners give themselves assignments that they find interesting, eye-opening, and challenging. They start businesses, find internships, travel the world, read and write about things that fascinate them, and work for organizations they admire. Instead of working on homework, papers, and presentations destined to be seen once and tossed into a trash can, self-directed learners turn much of their hard work into useful products for other people.

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