Is an Education Not Worth Something?

Somewhere along the way our perception of the value of an "online" education became vastly skewed. I want to explain this in a little detail and put things into a bit of perspective here.
If anyone has read any of my self-proclaimed frustration regards the education system, you will understand how unimpressed I am with the dated system that people are being thrown into and the end result of our traditional "institutionalized" school systems.
Being educated and investing in your education has always proven to be the best personal investment you can make. Better than the stock market. Better than real estate. And definitely better than buying a lottery ticket.
Things are changing however and they are doing so quickly. Since 1980 education prices have increased over 600% while median household incomes have barely gone up (see chart below).

How is this possible? And why isn't education paying off like it used to?
Because people are learning skills that are IRRELEVANT and education is vastly overpriced. To be completely honest with you, The Open Education Project is the start of initiative by Carson and I to lower the cost of education. Information has never been cheaper to create and cheaper to deliver, yet worldwide education is leaving people with no job and an average of $40,000 in debt.
I know I felt Irrelevant.
I remember when I graduated from my college degree in Computer Science (was a fast track 2.5 year program) I felt as though I had accomplished something, I did learn a lot of things, but I came out feeling unprepared.
The reason was simple. The focus was tests and assignments. I would spend my week nights cramming for exams, getting great marks...only to forget half of the material the next day. By the time I graduated, half of the material I had learned had become outdated due to the speed of the technology. The other half I simply forgot because it had washed off my hand (shhh...don't tell anyone).
I can remember the feeling on graduation day. "Man, I don't really know anything". I had already lined up a job, but guess what I was doing the whole time while I was at school.
Learning how the Internet works. Learning about marketing. Trying things out on line. Building stuff, building web pages, and ultimately building a business. Although I felt my education was irrelevant when I left school, in the 2.5 years I was there I managed to create an Internet business.
Did attending college lead to this success? No. Learning the right skills did. And that leads me to...

Why I Think YOU Are Ahead of the Game!
It is true. By getting an education of how the Internet works and working to create an Internet business you are WAY ahead of the game.
Let me explain what I am talking about.
The Internet is relevant. The Internet is highly sought after by companies worldwide. Learning how the Internet operates and how to leverage it to create business is probably the most powerful tool you can have these days.
You can use the skills you learn here to:
(1) Create a business for yourself (many ways to do this)
(2) Help existing business create more business
(3) Offer more value to an existing company you work for
(4) Get Internet related jobs
(5) Freelance with the skills you learn
This is real. These are valuable skills. And you are an "educated" person because of them.
The stigma of having to attend a college or university to be an educated person is soon going to dissipate. Education is great, don't get me wrong but there are many ways to educate yourself and just because your education does not cost a lot of money (like WA) shouldn't make you feel as though carries less value. Your education platform and community should cost less than $1 per day and we are going to continue making this a reality. Technology says so!
People pay for skills, not a piece of paper.
Love to hear your thoughts on this!