How the NFL Draft Has Shown Me College Is More About Opportunity Than Education

My wife and I were watching the NFL draft last night when a pretty good debate about the importance of college arose.  One of the players had decided to enter the draft early.  He was just a junior in college and hadn't graduated yet.  However, he now had a job with a pretty good paycheck.  Had college served its purpose?

It's one of the biggest moments in a college athlete's life.  They're there at the pro draft of the sport that they play.  Last night it was the NFL.  They've been working their whole (short) life for that moment.  That's when they hear their name being called from that stage with an invitation to join one of those teams.  Along with that invite is a hefty paycheck.  It's almost as if they've won the lottery.  They've made it!

But the question is, "is THAT why he went to college?"  Do we go to college with the hopes of landing a big job?  Or do we go to college  to get an education?  Because it can be argued that if it's for the latter, then this gentleman hasn't quite reached his goal yet.

My side of the argument was that this kid could always go back to college to get that degree.  Especially if he only has one more year to get it, it should be easy for him to finish up and get that degree.  However, you can't always be chosen in the first round of the NFL draft.  Plus, what happens if he goes back to school and plays that final year of football and he gets hurt?  Then where are his million dollar dreams?

Lets take the focus off of sports for a second.  If your son or daughter was going to college to become lets say an engineer, and a very large company came to them and said that they were very impressed with their skills and they wanted them to join their company for a multimillion dollar paycheck, would you encourage them to take that offer?  Or would you ask them to stay in school and get their degree?

You wouldn't pass up that opportunity would you?  When opportunity shows itself, you have to seize that.  Right?

Plus, it will be a whole lot easier to pay for that one year in college if they play their cards right and use the money they way they should.

There is no question that an education is one of the most important things a person can receive...but at what cost?