LUDad wrote:
A degree, unless it is in something like law, nursing, engineering etc. allows you to get your foot in the door in most corporations at an entry level. Due to circumstances, I did not go to college. It took ten years of hard work and risk taking to get the major break I need. I proved myself and afterwards, every other job I took "required" a four degree, allowing me to send my kids to a christian school and pay for their degrees at Liberty. You can do it without a degree but it is certainly harder.
More and more corporations are valuing experience in a given field over a degree. Yes, there are businesses that still require a degree but that requirement is starting to dwindle. One of the main reasons is that the value of a degree has been diluted because so many students have been told they have to go to school. A university education is no longer a differentiator in the measurement of knowledge.
Let's say you're right, and it takes 10 years of hard work to get to the point where you have the equivalent of a career that requires a degree.
1. You're doing that without incurring student loan debt.
2. You're doing that while gaining experience in a field or general work experience, which is highly valued.
Compare that with the life of an average student.
1. Taking 4-6 years out of high school instead of gaining full time work experience.
2. Likely incurring student loans in tens of thousands of dollars.
Even if they exit college with a higher paying job than the non-college worker has with 6 years of experience, how much does the loan offset that pay? Is it worth it?
And to be honest, you can get your foot in the door at the largest and most successful corporations in America without a degree. If you're not able to, then you're not trying very hard.
One of the biggest lies told to a generation was that a degree was needed for a good career with a successful corporation. Yes, a degree is needed if you want to be a doctor or a teacher, etc. It certainly doesn't apply to the direction a lot of people take.