Why Gen Z Is Skipping School Infographic

Why Gen Z Is Skipping School Infographic

College has gotten expensive. The average cost of college has risen 151% since 1978, but families incomes have remained about the same, only rising about 20%. As a result many Millennials graduated with $30k or more in student loan debt which they can never bankrupt and which follows them around for life. This has caused all kinds of problems in the economy with people not being able to afford housing, defaulting on their loans, and not being able to make ends meet when jobs aren't paying the wages they need to cover all their bills.

Generation Z has taken notice and many folks are opting out of college altogether. After all, why leave yourself saddled with debt when you can start your own business instead? The entrepreneurial spirit is strong with Millennials, but they often have too much debt to make it work. Meanwhile, Generation Z has taken note and is looking for alternatives. Trades, startups, and eLearning are all viable options for the generation that doesn't want to take on a lifetime of debt before their lives ever get started. Learn more about why Gen Z Is skipping school from this infographic!

The Most Entrepreneurial Generation

Gen Zers Make Their Own Way

• 61% of high school students and 43% of college students would rather be entrepreneurs than employees after college

Of students grades 5-12:

• 40% plan to start their own business
• 29% want to invent something that changes the world
• 24% are already learning how to start and run a business
• 9% already own a business

Parental Pressure to Pave Their Own Career Path

• 55% of high schoolers say their parents pressure them to gain professional experience while in high school
• But 54% of their parents have not helped them gain experience

Low Prospects in Traditional Jobs

Unemployment Rate:

• Young high school graduates
  2000: 12.1%
  2017: 16.9%
• Young college graduates
  2000: 4.3%
  2017: 5.6%

Average Wages:

• Young high school graduates
  $10.89 per hour
  4.3% lower than 2000
• Young college graduates
  $19.18 per hour
  1.4% higher than 2000

Increasingly Independent Workforce

• 55 million Americans work as freelancers
• That’s 35% of the workforce
• In 2016, the freelance workforce earned $1 trillion
• 79% of freelancers said freelancing is better than a traditional job

Are you engaged at work?

• 85% of freelancers
• 68% of non-freelancers

Another apparent draw of working for yourself? You don’t have to wait to finish school

What Young Entrepreneurs Say About Education

“We need to stop focusing on scaring students into passing and motivate them to do more with the information that is taught at school.” – Ishan Goel, 18, CEO, Genzey.com

“Not going to college allowed me to learn and teach myself on my own and at the fast pace that I wanted.” – Jeremy Miller, 18, President, Inspired Blue Media and IDEAvize

“You only need to be in college if you are looking to work in the law or medical fields―otherwise any skill that you want to learn can be learned online at a fraction of the cost.” – Arri Bagah, 20, Facebook Marketing Specialist, Arribagah.com

Why Traditional Education Has Lost Its Luster

• Unengaging Curriculum: 51% of students grades 5-12 are not engaged or are actively disengaged at schooIn 2015, only 54% of college freshman and 61% of seniors felt challenged to do their best work
• High Cost of Education: The cost of 4-year public education increased 151.1% between the 1978-79 and 2016-17 enrollment years. In that same time the median family income only increased by 20.2%.
• Between 2004 and 2014: 92% increase in student loan borrowers, 74% increase in average student debt

Gen Z wants to avoid the student debt that buried Millennials—1 in 5 say debt should be avoided at all costs

More Alternatives

• E-learning (online classes, tutorials, etc.)
• By 2025, E-learning will have $325 billion global value
• That’s 4X the $70.6 billion market for higher ed.
• By 2020, Gen Z will make up 40% of E-learning customers

Programs that Help Young Entrepreneurs:

• Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE):
  Entrepreneurial training for high schoolers from low-income communities
• Thiel Fellowship:
  $100,000 annually awarded 20 entrepreneurs who skip or put off college for 2 years to start a business
• TiE Global:
  $10,000 business plan competition that has had 140 participants from 25 schools

Skipping school to become an entrepreneur sounds great, right? But it isn’t the path of the masses―for good reason

Most Gen-Zers Are Not Ditching the Classroom

• 61% of students grades 5-12 say they will attend a 4-year college or university after high school
• Only 3% say they will start their own business right after high school
• Gen Z entrepreneurs plan to use college to further their business goals
• Independently investigate new skills and ideas online
• Network with other young thinkers

Gen Zers are still getting their degrees—but what they teach themselves outside the classroom might be what helps them change the world.