Let me get something out of the way right now.

I'm not anti-college. I'm not here to trash higher education or tell you that learning doesn't matter. Learning matters more than almost anything. But here's the thing nobody wants to say out loud:

The college system is broken. And pretending it isn't is costing families everything.

I'm Alex Ortner — entrepreneur, author, best-selling author, Boston College grad, and father of three. And this is what I've learned the hard way: the path you're "supposed" to take isn't always the path that leads somewhere worth going.

The Promise vs. The Reality

Here's what they tell every kid in America: Go to college. Get a degree. Get a good job. Live a good life.

Here's what's actually happening:

According to the 2025 Graduate Employability Report, only 30% of college graduates secured a full-time job in their field of study. That's down from 41% just one year earlier. A third of 2025 graduates are unemployed and actively looking for work. And nearly half say they feel unprepared to even apply for entry-level jobs.

Think about that. Four years. Tens of thousands of dollars. And a coin flip on whether any of it leads to a career in what you actually studied.

Meanwhile, the graduates who do land jobs say it wasn't their degree that got them there — it was personal referrals, internships, and interview skills. The degree itself? Ranked fourth.

So what exactly are we paying for?

What the Classroom Never Taught Me

I graduated from Boston College in 2003 with a history degree. I went on to build a successful real estate business — not because of what I learned in a lecture hall, but because of everything I taught myself outside of it.

I read everything I could get my hands on — books on business, sales, leadership, mindset. I went to Tony Robbins events and surrounded myself with people who were actually building things, not just theorizing about it. I knew real estate inside and out. I was doing well.

Then 2008 happened.

The market crashed. The business I'd built came down with it. I was buried in debt — real debt, the kind that keeps you up at night and makes you question everything. But here's what I learned from that: when you've built something once, you know how to build it again.

So I went back to the books, back to the grind, and built something new. Together with my brother Nick and my sister Jessica, I built a personal growth company from nothing into a platform that's reached millions of people worldwide, with a New York Times best-selling book, an app used in over 130 countries, and over a million dollars raised for charity.

None of that came from my history degree. It came from reading, learning from mentors, showing up at events, failing, and figuring it out in the real world.

That experience shaped everything about how I'm raising my kids. Nobody is going to teach them this stuff — not the school system, not a university. If they're going to learn how to build wealth, think independently, and actually thrive in the real world, it has to come from home.

What We're Doing Instead

So that's exactly what we're doing.

Right now, as a family, we're working through books like DotCom Secrets, the $100M Offers series, Traction, and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Not because someone assigned them — because the information in those pages is more useful than anything on a college syllabus.

My son Malakai went to Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within and walked away with more clarity and drive than most people get in four years of college. That's not an exaggeration. When you're in a room full of people committed to growth, something clicks that no classroom can replicate.

Malakai and Lucas — my two boys, 16 and 14 — are learning to sell, learning to communicate, learning to build something from nothing. We're building a podcast studio right now to document this entire journey and share what we're learning with other young people and families who feel the same way. First episodes are coming soon.

Are they going to mess up? Absolutely. That's the point. Every failure is a real lesson — not a hypothetical case study in a classroom. And I'm right there beside them, not as a professor behind a podium, but as their dad who's been through it and can show them what actually works.

College Has Its Place. Just Not On a Pedestal.

Let me be clear: if your kid wants to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer — college is the path. My own daughter wants to go to college, and I support her 100%.

But for the millions of young people who don't fit that mold? The "go to college or you'll fail" narrative isn't just outdated — it's dangerous. It's pushing families into crippling debt for degrees that, statistically, most graduates won't even use.

It's time for a different conversation.

This Is for You

If you're a teen reading this — you don't have to wait until you're 22 to start building your life. You don't need a degree to learn how money works, how to start a business, or how to develop the discipline that separates people who talk from people who do.

If you're a parent — it's okay to question the system. It's okay to want something different for your kids. And it's okay to admit that the path you were told to follow might not be the right one for them.

That's not failure. That's growth.

I'm documenting this entire journey in real time — every book, every lesson, every win and every failure. If you're looking for something beyond the traditional playbook, you're in the right place.

Welcome to Instead of College.