Carol Roth: Higher Education Draining Wealth From Millennials, Gen Z

Television personality and bestselling author Carol Roth issued a scathing rebuke of U.S. higher education, slamming the industry for harming wealth accumulation for younger generations.

In her forthcoming book, “You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order and How to Fight Back,” Roth asserts that attending college is making the Millennial and Gen Z generations less wealthy than their ancestors.

Roth recounted that her research led her to a startling conclusion. Younger generations lag far behind their parents and grandparents in wealth, even when they have higher incomes.

According to writer Kevin Drum, median income for Millennials adjusted for inflation is a full 21% higher than that for Baby Boomers at the same age. It also ranks 10% higher than that of Gen X.

But the all-important status of overall wealth for Millennials, which is largely based on home ownership, is far behind that of their predecessors.

Insider reported that this new generation has a much lower share of overall wealth than previous generations measured at the same point in life. For example, when Boomers were at the present age of Millennials, they held roughly 21% of the nation’s wealth.

That figure for Millennials, based on data from the Fed, is only 5% today.

While earlier age groups saw a college degree as necessary and a rite of passage, many in 2023 are not so sure. The industry is overwhelmingly supported by the federal government, and the resulting degrees hold less value for their recipients than in previous years.

Critics such as Roth charge that the liberal education system is saddling students with enormous debt challenges and holding them back from wealth accumulation. 

She called the system “the biggest legal financial scam in the country.” 

Individual students, often with parents as cosigners, put their signatures onto massive loans, even before their 18th birthdays, that will saddle them with enormous debt. And often for nearly worthless degrees.

This in turn, according to Roth, inhibits for many years their ability to begin accumulating true wealth. The college education that was sold as a springboard to success becomes a road to failure, and many times it places a major burden on their families as well.

A study earlier this year showed that roughly 15.1 million Americans between 25 and 34 have about half a trillion dollars in debt. This flies in the face of liberal educators swearing that higher education is the path to a better life.