Mark Zuckerberg Says 'Reckoning' For College Degrees Is Nearing As Student Debt Balloons: 'You're Starting Off In This Big Hole'

Mark Zuckerberg says that the cost-value equation for colleges is cracking as degrees keep getting pricier, yet the jobs they promise are no longer guaranteed.

What Happened: Speaking on comedian Theo Von's ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast, the Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) founder, who famously quit Harvard, warned that ballooning tuition and $1.77 trillion in U.S. student-loan debt are steering the system toward "a reckoning."

Average published tuition at public four-year schools climbed to $11,610 for in-state students in 2024, with private nonprofits topping $43,000, College Board data shows.​ "You graduate when you're in debt … and you're starting off in this big hole," Zuckerberg told Von, adding that many majors fail to deliver clear job pathways.

"There’s going to have to be a reckoning," Zuckerberg warns. "People are going to have to kind of figure out whether that makes sense."

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Federal figures put total student-loan liabilities at roughly $87 billion in new borrowing each year, and 28 percent of undergraduates now take out loans. With monthly payments resuming after a three-year pause, delinquencies are rising.

Questioning college was once off-limits, Zuckerberg said, but attitudes are shifting as Gen Z weighs boot camps, certificates, and direct-to-work tech jobs.​ “It’s sort of been this taboo thing to say, like, maybe not everyone needs to go to college… I think people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe like ten years ago," says Zuckerberg.

Why It Matters: Zuckerberg isn't the first to question the necessity of college degrees in 2025. Elon Musk actively dismisses the need for formal credentials, too. Although Musk earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, he walked away from a Stanford Ph.D. program after just two days.

Peter Thiel, the billionaire PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor, challenges higher education even more directly. The Stanford graduate with philosophy and law degrees believes college is so overrated that he offers students $100,000 to drop out.

Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com

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