For R29,800 (36 months DSTV Premium) you can afford a decent entry-level laptop, enough internet service to teach yourself a marketable skill off YouTube, and go into business to start making that money back by year 1. https://twitter.com/stealthy_wealth/status/1319249810764009473

Midrange laptop: R12,000
12 months Rain unlimited 4g: R5,800

The remaining R12k? Up to you - Udemy courses, Jetbrains/Adobe subscriptions, a nice keyboard or webcam. Or just save it.

I didn't even start out with that. My first 2 freelance clients were serviced from a Windows XP desktop that cost less than R5k at the time, and I paid much more for a 4mbps ADSL connection.

Paying R30k for a year of tuition is not the best option in 2021.

To make all of your initial investment back, you'd need to bill around $1800 or so.

If all you do is learn a skill people are paying for on Upwork, and get to a point where you're charging $10/hour (not unreasonable), you'll break even within 200 hours.

$10/hour is the Virtual Assistant tier (if that) - a basic command of 1-2 languages, basic ability to use Office and email, and you can pretty much get started.

Learn graphic design, creative writing or programming, your hourly rate can climb quickly.

Start hanging out in places like http://indiehackers.com  and follow early-stage founders who build businesses, learn from them.

Within a few years you could be sitting on a very profitable lifestyle business, instead of student debt on a credential nobody is hiring for.

There are thousands and thousands of businesses out there waiting to be built - small enough to only take 1-2 people, big enough to be worth it for a small team, but too small for established players to bother with them.

Related: follow @noCSdegree for endless related stories.

And that's tech (my domain). Similar stories exist in creative, marketing, research, and other fields.

Credential-seeking at huge expense in a crowded market is not the only path anymore. Pains me that it's still the default for so many bright kids.