. >> reporter: and you probably think so, too, if you were peter thiel. he's the silicon valley version of the man behind the curtain in "the wizard of oz." he didn't give you a brain, a heart or courage, but he had a lot to do with giving you paypal, facebook, youtube and yelp. he's now paying students who drop out of college, is surprising for a guy who went to stanford for undergrad and law school. but maybe it's his own story that helped lead him to this conclusion. he was a derives trader before cofounding paypal at 31. so, how did you come up with the idea? >> we were trying to come up -- we were looking at all the new payment companies that people were trying to start and we realized you had to do something with real money and you had to do something where you could get people involved who weren't signed up yet. the brainstorm, the main insight was to link money and e-mail together. >> reporter: to say that combination turned out to be a winning one is an understatement. ebay bought paypal in 2002 for $1.5 billion, earning thiel $55 million. some o

this program is the brainchild of paypal cofounder peter thiel. he says that he thinks college can get in the way of creativity. one of the winners is from palo alto. >> the intent of the fellowship is not to pay a ton of kids to drop out of college and pursue their ideas, right? and these people i think can make it no matter what they do, right, like they're that good so, uhm, i think it's a great idea and to produce like really good opportunities for the future. >> winners are working on projects ranging from biotech and economics. thiel has multiple degrees from stanford. i don't think anyone offered him the money. >> his candidate sounds like he already graduated. >>> that's it for the cbs news at noon. >> caption colorado, llc comments@captioncolorado.com ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

dollars this year even surpassing the credit card debt epidemic in america so what's a student to do peter thiel the co-founder of pay pal things that they should stop wasting their time and dropout these are the two million dollar fund they give students who drop out one hundred thousand dollars to work on projects that the breakthroughs in technology and science but which option carries more risk joining me from our studio in new york to discuss this is attorney denies he live in founder of the thin law firm united thank you so much for joining us tonight so for starters i want to hear from you do you think college is worth it these days. well the fall is an inverse and i was looking at college education as a based on return on my money not today i don't think it's a good investment what if our if you look at the unemployment numbers i mean after all they're much lower for those who have a college degree they're at around four percent versus those who only have a high school degree who is unemployment is around ten percent well even with that being so what does a person to do coming out of sch

. >> reporter: peter thiel made billions co-founding paypal and investing in facebook.ow he wants americans to think twice before going to college mindlessly. >> learning is good. credentialing and debt is very bad. it's quite possible for someone to go to a top tier private school and end one a quarter million in debt. >> reporter: if you have a great idea now, college can wait. >> facebook was started in 2004. if all the people involved had finished their college education, it would have been too late for that business. >> reporter: thiel is backing the first scholarship aimed at college-age students that requires them not to go to college. at least not right now. >> $100,000 grant. people can pursue anything they would like to. >> reporter: that's why jim danielson is pulling the plug on purdue. >> no engine at all. doesn't use gas. it's all electricity. >> reporter: he started tinkering with this old porsche in high school and managed to turn it into a fully electric car, something he learned to do on the internet. for free. >> the price of education on a college le

peter thiel found pay pal thinks you don't need college to success seed. he's telling kids to dropout at least for a couple of years. he's offering $100,000 fellowships to worthy kids who agree to leave college to start their own tech company. he says college is overvalued. >> people can get loans to bror but you have to pay them off. we had this housing bubble where everybody said you have to have a house. housing would always be good. >> now we're saying that about college. >> yes. us are. before you discount his idea. consider this. do we as a country push college on our kids even if they are not interested. there are other kinds of jobs out there good jobs that don't require a good job as in skilled labor but how many of you are willing to encourage your kid to become a welder. not many. a manufacturing institute survey showed 30% of american parents said they encourage their kids to learn a trade. so today's talk back is a college education really worth it? facebook.com/carolcnn. >>> here's a look at the rundown some of the stories we'll cover. japan'

paypal cofounder peter thiel launching that program.es college can get in the way of creativity. one of the winners is from palo alto. >> the intent of the fellowship is not to pay a ton of kids to drop out of college and pursue their ideas, right? and these people i think can make it no matter what they do, right, like they're that good. so, uhm, i think it's a great idea and to produce like really good entrepreneurs for the future. >> award winners are working on projects ranging from biotech to economics. i mean, these are the kids that are so smart. they will get into college any way if their idea doesn't pan out. >> or like we said earlier. some may bypass college. >> like mark zuckerberg and make millions. >> i'm already make making $100,000. >> some people don't go to college and go on and do very well. >> you did very well! [ laughter ] >> except for parking my car. >> it's officially a used car now. >> it's sad that first one. after that -- >> spilling coffee on the seat you. >> guys are killing me! >>> looks like we have a nic

peter thiel is an entrepreneur who is paying 24 kids to quit college and start businesses instead. >>. >> why can't you have both. it is 35 minutes past the hour. [ sam ] my first ride lasted just 30 seconds. another reminder of what i couldn't do. ♪ the accident could have been my excuse to quit. i made it my reason to go even harder. ♪ [ male announcer ] helping people achieve without limits. at the hartford it's what we do... and why we're the founding partner of the u.s. paralympic team. show your support at facebook.com/thehartford. [ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. when i realized that weight watchers online is for guys. all the guys, they think, "do some crunches. that'll just make you thin right away." that just doesn't work. so with weight watchers online, it teaches you about doing the right things when you're eating. there's something called a digital cooler. grab some beer, maybe some chips, a