Before Mark Cuban's successful business ventures, he was simply a student figuring out the most affordable way to advance his career. He attended the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to Indiana University for a degree in business. According to him, this move made more financial sense.
In a recent interview in the IMPAULSIVE podcast, Cuban shared that taking out student loans to pay for college is the dumbest thing one can do.
'If you can't afford it, you can't afford it," he stated on the podcast. 'And the dumbest thing you can do is just take out a s–tload of loans and f–k up your future.'
Start at a Community College
Cuban focuses on affordability when it comes to education because he doesn't believe that students have to study in expensive schools and colleges to become successful in life. He believes in starting at a community college before transferring where you can afford to go.
'You know, accounting class is accounting class whether it's at a community college or at Harvard. You know, psychology is psychology for the most part whether it's community college or Harvard,' he said. 'So get those first couple years of your introductory classes but, you know, transfer where you can afford to go.'
The College Board's 2025 Trends in College Pricing report highlighted that the average tuition and fees at public two-year community colleges are $4,150 annually for in-district students, compared to $11,950 for in-state students at public four-year institutions, and $45,000 at private non-profit four-year schools. If you apply Cuban's strategy, the first two years at a community college before moving to a public university could save tens of thousands of dollars.
'I think the college business is f—ed up enough, you're starting to see a couple colleges like close to bankruptcy. You got to go to school you can afford, because the delta between, you know, the most basic four-year school and the best public universities is really small,' Cuban told Logan Paul in the podcast.
US Student Debt Continues to Rise
US student debt is nearing $1.7 trillion. The US Federal Reserve data shows that the median outstanding student loan balance was between $20,000 to $24,999. However, the average federal student loan balance stood at $39,000 in 2025.
Unlike personal loans and credit cards, student loans could be difficult to escape as borrowers typically cannot discharge them in bankruptcy, which Cuban believes is the top reason college prices rose in the first place.
'If everybody could borrow any amount of money and you couldn't even declare bankruptcy to get rid of it, college prices went up,' he said.
In all, he believes that when it comes to education, the academic content at affordable institutions is mostly the same as top schools, especially when it comes to foundational coursework. Countless millennials and younger generations are stuck with student debt years and even decades after leaving college, which also impacts their ability to save and grow money.
Cuban did not go to an Ivy League school, but he developed habits that allowed him to thrive in the business world.
'I learned how to learn. That's the most important skill. Like when people say, what did you get from Indiana University? I learned accounting, but I learned how to learn. If you know how to learn, and if you love to learn, you will find a way to figure it out. And that's what I tell my kids,' he concluded.
