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This morning driving to work I enjoyed the public service radio hour and if you didn't catch my sarcasm, let me be clear, I was being sarcastic.

The show had an author on who was talking about how awful and impossible it was for Millenials to go to college and not end up with $30,000 in debt from either college loans or credit card loans.  IMPOSSIBLE he shrieked.  It is impossible for the average twenty something to get out of his chosen university without a mountain of debt: "you just can't have a life" without doing it.

Really?!?  The author purportedly had an MBA and had written a book on personal economics and he didn't understand that you do have a choice as to whether or not you sign up for that credit card offer or whether or not you work while you are in school?  Really?!?

The fact is lots of people are cutting up their credit cards, noting as Dave Ramsey would say that worshipping at the foot of FICO is not a good trade, that living credit card free makes tons more sense.  I get that not everyone likes Ramsey's "for profit" model of personal financial advice, but to a certain extent his advice is very sound.

Can you get by at a local junior college doing basics before going off to university for a degree?  How about working while you are in school?  I realize that both of these have social implications, but of all the people I went to high school with back in the day, I am still friends with...none of them.  Most of them I can barely remember.  I have a few friends who were a few years older or who I knew before  went to high school, but by and large, who cares if I went to the cool university with them or not.

My career has not been negatively impacted by my decision to get basics done at junior college.

Sorry for the rant, it just bothers me that someone with an economics background would argue there is no choice.  Personal economics is all about choice and choosing what is more important.  If status IS that important to you, guess what, you are going to be saddled with debt.

For me, I just bought a brand new 2004 Volkswagen about six months ago.  I know, brand new 2004 in 2014?  Well, it's brand new to me.  It gets great mileage, has been a breeze to maintain and I paid cash.  Cash for a car.  I don't shell out $350 (or more) in payments every month.  Instead I put that into my family.  Meanwhile, I know people paying nearly twice that on car mortgages whose value only goes down.  That is the definition of ludicrous.

Again, I apologize for the rant, but if you are college age or high school aged, you do have choices.  Another option is to skip school.  If your goal is to manage your local coffee chain...you probably don't need an Ivy league education in art history.  You might try your local library though as a starting point.  If you are planning on attending medical school, well, college isn't an option, but figure it out - or at least have an idea - before you shell out thousands of dollars per year for an education that might be that you didn't need to shell out thousands of dollars.