Do Entrepreneurs Need a College Education to Succeed?

As a home school veteran, I’ve noticed the prevalent philosophy for college attendance after graduation has always been necessity driven. There are still many parents that still advocate a college degree to be as critical as a high school diploma. However, I believe that most hard-core home schoolers will insist that college should only be pursued if their vocational goals require it.

So, does an entrepreneur need a college education to succeed? Bill Gates dropped out of college, along with many other millionaire entrepreneurs. That doesn’t really answer the question, does it? Doctors, nurses, teachers, and engineers don’t have a choice. A specialized degree is required, no questions asked. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have a choice. Anyone can start a business and call themself an entrepreneur – but can they call themselves a successful entrepreneur?

My middle son loves business. However, he wasn’t positive about what part of business he was crazy about, and was offered a full scholarship to a top Christian college and took it. Did he learn much about business? No. Did he learn a thousand other valuable life lessons? Yes. He also has several decent job offers now that he is graduating this spring. He would still like to have a business of his own someday, but until then, he has some really good options to pass the time (and build a bank account).

As a lifetime entrepreneur, I will say that a college education isn’t required to succeed, but if it’s something you can afford, it’s an excellent investment. If you share the gene pool with the likes of Bill Gates or Michael Dell, then you will probably do just fine without a college degree. However, in the last decade many colleges and universities have developed programs directed specifically at the entrepreneur. Most of these programs are amazing and could be extremely worthwhile, paying for themselves in a very short time.

Most of these programs include actually starting a business under the watchful (and experienced) eye of a seasoned/successful entrepreneur. Avoiding the pain and expense of the  many common pitfalls most first time entrepreneurs fall into could make it worthwhile all by itself. The mentoring and training from experienced as well as educated entrepreneurs is priceless. You will make like-minded  friends and contacts, building a network for a lifetime.  There’s also that degree you will have to help you find a decent job in case all else fails, too.  It’s always good to have a back-up plan!

Choosing a School

I don’t recommend one of those $800 correspondence courses offered by Penn Foster or Stratford on “Starting Your Own Business”. There is probably some good information in those courses, but nothing you couldn’t find online. Two year entrepreneur programs are also a questionable investment of time and money since they simply offer more generic textbook-based work that is more than likely outdated. Homeschoolers are masters at finding ways to teach themselves what they need to know.

What you want to look for in an entrepreneurial program is experience-based learning. It goes without saying that the school’s reputation and credibility are important, but what are the graduates from the program saying? If it’s a new program, like many are, that may be difficult to assess. If you can find a way to talk to any of the students that have been in the program for at least a year or two, that would help you decide if the school is what you are looking for. Here’s a video from a student at Neely Entrepreneurship Center in Texas had to say about their program:

TCU’s Neely Center For Entrepreneurship

U.S.News & World Report and Entrepreneur magazine have recognized Neeley’s entrepreneurship program as one of the best in the country. The TCU Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) is the largest in the country and has been named the best student-run CEO club in America. Take a look at their website and hear what the students there are actually doing! 

High School entrepreneurial students take note:

Every year the Neeley Entrepreneurship Center and their sponsor, Compass Bank, offer a scholarship competition called the TCU Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards to high school entrepreneurs in the state of Texas. There are six award winners and the competition is open to any high school student who has started and managed a business. For more information, go to http://www.tcuyeya.org/

The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (Indiana University)

Fortune Magazine rated them as the #1 Entrepreneurship Program at a US public university. One of the world’s largest entrepreneurship centers with some of the top entrepreneurship thought leaders, Indiana University offers entrepreneurship curriculums at the PhD, MBA, and undergraduate levels.

Babson College

Highly regarded as the top business school in the US, their entrepreneurship program is unsurpassed. If you doubt the return on your investment, Babson graduate students have an average starting salary of $93,000 yr according to Entrepreneur Magazine! Entrepreneur Magazine details the school’s attributes for the aspiring entrepreneur here.

Read about all 25 of the top entrepreneurial colleges in the US in the opinion of Entrepreneur Magazine.

Obviously, there are many examples of successful entrepreneurs without college degrees, some without high school diplomas! However, how important do YOU think an entrepreneurial education/degree is to an entrepreneur’s long term success?

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