Is college over?
You know the answer. I know the answer. But we’re in limbo. We still hate to think of our kids and grandkids not going to college. We are stuck in Baby Boomer and Gen X mindsets. University degrees were a big part of our identity and professional careers. We want young people to be educated in the real sense of the word—and better off than we were.
Mises University fixes this. Let me explain.
We already know college costs far too much and fails to teach marketable skills. They still offer courses in economics, history, science, math, literature, philosophy, and classics, but those courses are diluted and inadequate. They are essentially remedial, comparable to what high school students once knew. And with the terrible moral hazard of government student loans, many students graduate (or not) with six-figure debts and useless degrees employers don’t want.
Mises U can save young people from this. You can help.
Even worse, many students leave university with disastrously stupid worldviews—hostile to property, markets, free speech, family, and even civilization itself. The whole cottage industry of “identity studies” is useless and destructive, by design. These phony courses leave kids dispirited, depressed about the future, and ready to throw away centuries of received wisdom for a progressive blank slate. Unwitting students graduate meaner, dumber, and older—with de facto degrees in narcissism (“I feel”) and nihilism (“I hate”). Talk about opportunity cost! Paraphrasing Mises, universities are gardens of socialism rather than exciting places for knowledge, ideas, and development.
In these times, more than ever, the Institute represents an oasis of sanity in an increasingly unhinged desert. —Marcel Gautreau, Mises University graduate
Mises U is the alternative and the refuge. Your donation helps make it possible.
I mentioned limbo. Many of us (I have teenagers) wrestle with how to view college for our kids. And it’s still necessary for credentialed fields like medicine and law. We might even cling to outdated distinctions between white-collar and blue-collar jobs. We know young people can learn things online and read the Great Books themselves, but part of us still believes in formal education and the status of a degree—even when everything we read tells us universities have become totally corrupted. We want our loved ones to have broad liberal educations, to read Chaucer and Shakespeare and Plato, not to mention Aquinas and Mises and Rothbard!
The point is not to bash college. It’s to make sure kids attend with eyes wide open. And to let them know real options exist like never before. Mises U is the weeklong required course for every student who is serious about jump starting a real education.
Mises University is not simply a weeklong immersion in correct economics. It teaches history, philosophy, political theory, sociology, ethics, and much more. It is the gateway to a lifetime of self-directed learning. And it is how we introduce young people to another world apart from their awful professors, pathetic PC textbooks, and Soviet campus atmospheres. For many students, it is the beginning of their deprogramming. The beginning of a serious reading habit. And, frequently, the start of lifelong friendships and connections around the world.
A major highlight of the experience was being able to have access to so many brilliant professors and to be able to ask them questions and talk to them in more detail. My favorite conversation was with Professor Ritenour on comparative advantage and artificial intelligence. I also really loved talking to other like-minded people who share my passions for Austrian economics and liberty. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone after the event and building relationships. —Anthony Cesario, Mises University graduate
Mises U was always radical. When Lew Rockwell started the program in the ’80s, it brought the Austrian economics revival to a whole new generation of students. It was the summer experience for young people interested in market economics and uncompromising political liberty.
And what an experience! Our students learned from legends over the years, beginning with Murray Rothbard himself, our first academic dean. Through the ’80s and ’90s our Mises U faculty was a list of intellectual giants, from the brilliant antidemocrat Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Christian economist Gary North to Ronald Hamowy and historian Ralph Raico. Students also rubbed elbows with top economics professors like Roger Garrison, Walter Block, Yuri Maltsev, Thomas DiLorenzo, Richard Vedder, Jeffrey Herbener, and our own Joseph Salerno. They heard lectures on the history of war from the great lawyer and historian John Denson, lectures on philosophy from David Gordon, and incredible talks on international trade from Auburn professor Leland Yeager. A few very lucky students even enjoyed talks from coconspirator JoAnn Rothbard!
These experiences are life changing. Please consider making your most generous donation to make Mises U possible for more students. The impact is immediate and profound.
Former students become superstars themselves. Jörg Guido Hülsmann is the world’s expert on the cultural consequences of fiat money—and now produces his own PhD graduates in Europe. Historian, author, and podcaster Tom Woods reaches hundreds of thousands of people through his platforms. Peter Klein is an acknowledged expert on business organization and the economics of firms. His protégé Per Bylund—also a Mises U alum—is the foremost authority on entrepreneurship. Robert Murphy is among the top Austrian monetary economists in the world, while Shawn Ritenour at Grove City College has taken up the mantle of explaining the Christian view of economics. Most recently, Patrick Newman has become the leading revisionist historian on the topic of American cronyism.
Hundreds of our graduates work across academia, finance, banking, tech, and business. All of them got their start at Mises U, with the help of generous people like you.
Mises University is a truly energizing week of the year for all involved, as the Mises Institute brings together some of the most dedicated professors and passionate students for a week of education and camaraderie. I have benefited tremendously from the experience and am deeply grateful for this opportunity. I will always cherish the memories I’ve made over the course of the week and will strive to meaningfully contribute to the edifice of Austrian economic thought and pass on what I have learned to future defenders of human freedom. —Karras Lambert, Mises University graduate
We live in profoundly anti-intellectual times. Truth, knowledge, beauty, and even objectivity are under attack like never before in my lifetime. Mises U offers young people the incredible opportunity to transcend the banalities of today’s college curricula and begin learning the foundations of economics and all the related liberal disciplines. Every student needs an intellectual home, a North Star to guide them toward the education their professors won’t—and frankly can’t—provide.
In the past week, I learned more about economics, history, and sociology than I could have in four years of college! One of my favorite quotes from the week is “Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.” After attending Mises U, I will go back to California with much more clarity about the world. —Barry Bai, Mises University graduate
We need your help to make Mises University better than ever. A gift of $1,000 sponsors one student, $2,000 sponsors two. But please make your most generous contribution, and know that any amount helps. You can go to mises.org/2022MU to donate online.
Mises U is our single most important program. It’s at the heart of the Mises Institute’s mission. And it changes lives for the better, as I’ve seen up close with students over the past seven years. Please help support this magnificent week of education for the deserving students who seek out the Mises Institute!
