Given the fact that there are millions of college students now saddled with debt and no job prospects, it’s difficult to disagree with this estimation.

Vivian Giang of Business Insider reports.

EXPERT: 85% Of College Students Are Wasting Their Time And Money

We talked to the one of the most vocal college skeptics in a growing national debate about the value of a degree.

Penelope Trunk, founder of Brazen Careerist and widely syndicated guru, estimates that 85% of college students are wasting their time and money on getting a degree.

Please take this estimate with a grain of salt, as most experts will still tell most students to go to college. Trunk’s reasoning is certainly provocative, however, and it may be coming into the mainstream as more students are finally deciding to pass on college.

Trunk says you should skip college unless you’re really great at school or got accepted into a top ten school. Instead “you should just go to work.”

In her recent article published on LinkedIn, Trunk advises young people to re-think college and focus on internships, saying that anyone can teach themselves the skills needed to be successful. She gives the example of an MIT program that gave iPads to illiterate kids in Ethiopia who then were able to teach themselves how to use it, program it and read it in English without a teacher or curriculum.

With college costing more than ever, getting a degree may actually limit your career choices.

“How do you make those loan payments? There are like five career paths for you if you take out a $100,000 loan,” Trunk says, while “if you don’t take out any loans, then the whole world is opened to you.”

And then there’s the question of time.

“We’re not debating if you should be taking out loans … we know that’s a bad idea … we’re asking, ‘Is it worth your time?’” Trunk says.