Some kids spend their first paycheck on shoes or a new video game, but Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu says she spent hers on her education.
The 21-year-old freestyle skiing phenom, who won two gold medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, received her first paycheck from a sponsorship deal when she was just 13 or 14 years old, Gu said last month on “The Burnouts,” a podcast hosted by Sophia Kianni and Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates.
Instead of saving that money or spending it lavishly like other athletes have, Gu said she put it toward her private high school tuition.
“I was able to pay for my own tuition from my freshman year of high school onwards,” Gu said. “That was a point of pride for me,” she said.
Today, Gu is a student at Stanford University and one of the world’s highest-paid female athletes. In 2024, she earned an estimated $22 million from endorsement deals with brands including Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co., according to Forbes.
Over the years, she’s likely paid well into the six-figures for her education. Tuition at San Francisco University High School, the private high school she attended, is listed at $64,850 for the 2025-2026 school year. Stanford’s total estimated cost of attendance for the upcoming academic year is $96,513.
“Stanford is so expensive, but being able to click that pay button makes me feel proud,” Gu said on the podcast. “It’s contributing to who I want to be.”
‘Go to college’
Self-made billionaire and serial investor Mark Cuban believes everyone should give college a try — even if it’s not a prestigious institution that costs nearly six figures a year, he told social media personality Jules Terpak in December.
“Even if you don’t end up getting a degree, that’s fine, but go to college,” Cuban said.
While the return on investment for a college education can vary based on what you chose to major in, generally, the economic benefits of a college education still outweigh the cost required, according to a 2025 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Majors that require quantitative and analytical skills, such as engineering, tend to lend the highest salaries within five years of graduation, according to data from the New York Fed.
But there are also many intangible benefits that can make attending college a worthwhile investment, Cuban said.
“Going to school isn’t about your major — at least not in the first two years,” Cuban said. “It’s about learning how to learn and it’s about getting excited to learn and exposing yourself to all kinds of different people [and] ideas.”
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