Is a college degree really worth it anymore???

[straight6pwr]

i can understand the difficulty of trying to get a diploma later in life when you already have bills, a job, a family, etc. but if to get farther in your career you need it, that's what has to be done. if you are happy with the type of job you qualify for right now, nothing wrong with that, plenty of people are happy that way. time and experience can you get further along in your career too, it just takes a little longer.

success is how you define it. if what you want takes hard work, then work hard.

[gte175x]

really?!? they are still concerned about a GPA from so long ago? shocks me. what a bummer and BS if you ask me.

I will say this, school/degree can open doors. Does it mean you will be a success when you get through the doorway, no... that depends on many factors. Go because you are interested in learning, and you won't regret it. If you can get in...such BS.

[noid]

A degree teaches you how to think, not what to think.

[BobombETA]

Similar story here: Was too immature my first go around and got poor grades. Started working full time instead and realized how much further I could go if I had a degree. Went back to school (local CC) and retook the classes I had failed, which bumped my GPA, graduated with a decent enough cumulative to get accepted to a SUNY school, finished my bachelors there graduating Magna Cum Laude majoring in Business Administration...

I took a position at the same company I interned with in my senior year and had a decent starting offer, but my salary has doubled since then. I graduated 4.5 years ago.

In the end a college degree will only open doors. It will never shut them. Since I went to a state school I was lucky to only have around 16k in student loan debt when I graduated, so the return on investment has been huge. I was working part time to offset some of the costs and shared books, ate ramen, etc to keep costs lower.

[mr.vang]

Don't forget the abundant network within the institution. That leads to more jobs opportunity that someone from the outside doesn't have.

[naplesE30]

^ Sounds somewhat similar to me. Went to cc and paid out of pocket while working as a porter at a car dealer. Trasnfered to a state school, lived off campus, bought books for 50% of the classes, no meal plan, worked at home depot, and ended up with $13k total in loans for the whole of my college BS in plant science. Going to college doesnt have to break the bank. Graduated 10yrs ago and didn't make much out of school or the past 8 yrs. In my carear you gotta pay your dues so to speak. Then last year took a job making 2.5x what I was making. The degree allowed me opportunities I would not have had period without it. Its a door opener and requirement for many jobs, and just about any management position.

Sidenote: My wife and I currently pay nearly double what my entire college loan was a year on childcare. You dont see me screaming and protesting for free(as if anything is really free) childcare. End side rant.

[varg]

For you, it sounds like it is worth it to get that degree, but unlikely that you'll be able to get one.

[spiDmang]

A degree teaches you how to think, not what to think.

All of this.

But Simon, I had no idea you were 34?? You age well brother haha.
I personally think a college education is important. I was in the same boat as you when I was younger. Partied too much, tanked my college career and eventually dropped out. 4 years later, and much wiser, I decided to to go back to community college and start over to rebuild my GPA.

How far along are you? Doing CC or finished with that, and trying to get into a University?

[mrsleeve]

A degree teaches you how to think, not what to think.

So does LIFE (but that does not count right).

your right it does, it teaches everyone how to think the very same as the one in front of you and the one behind you.

I know engineers that hate their job, and are very bad at them, but went into the field "because I am good at math"

Yeah that was the whole point, you dont go to college for things that wont make you any more
money as a result.

Ummm I know plenty of welders that make 1/4mil a year so long as they can keep busy, yes they are at the top of heep for pay rates but they like me are never home either.


Life changes fast and getting a degree because "degree" may or may not be worth it especially if your going to have to go in large amounts of debt to do so.

If you look at it from a purely monitory perspective. For me I did the math a couple of years back and for me to take 4-5 years off and get a degree it would have cost me between 5/8ths and 7/8s (likely far higher)of a million dollars in the long run, and getting back into the work force would have starred at about 3/4 or less my current earnings, thats a big hurdle to overcome to make worth while. How is this you as.

1: Lost income I cant do both school and work, 4-5 years of lost income would be a huge chuck of that number.
2: No work no monies paid into my pension fund a 6+ bucks and hour for 3000+ hours a year
3: Nothing going into my Annuities funds either
4: Nothing being contributed (or very very little) to my own investment accounts and there for a loss over the next 25-40 years of 2-5% compounding on those things.
5: The cost of the degree itself 40k, living expenses in a college town, for 4-5 years lets say conservatively the degrees overall costs are going to be about 100k.
6: Incidentals good round number for that over 5 years is 2k a year.....

Its not just the cost of the degree, its the cost of getting the degree in the long term when you already have a good job,unless your employer is going to pay for or is pushing you to get, and willing to work with you while you do both.

All this said, with work slowing some in the last 18 months, the real cost of a degree for me has come down some monetarily. coupled with some family shit and a desire to travel a little less. The idea depending on what I choose to study could be more viable at this point in my life than it was even 4 years ago, and might be worth it in the long run.

[flyboyx]

lots of good advice above. i agree that college teaches you how to think in a certain way that conforms to society. for employers, that is usually a good thing. i don't think a college degree can replace actual work experience. basically, you pay a lot of money for the piece of paper that gets your foot in the door to accumulate actual work experience.

that is how society here works unfortunately. generally, you have to either play ball or stand by in a dead end job and watch the world pass you by.

there are lots of online universities such as the university of phoenix. as long as its accredited, who cares where the certificate comes from? I finished my bachelor's when i was in my early 20's. this really is the best time to get it done because you don't have distractions such as family, career, mortgage, bills, etc.

getting a degree is hard, time consuming, and expensive. i suppose this could probably be said about any worthwhile task.

i can't think of a single person in my history whom i've met that said: "damn, i wish i never went to college. that stupid degree was a waste of time and money!"

[2mAn]

I've since reached out to the school that I thought I had gotten into only for them to rescind their offer after getting ALL of my transcripts. Im waiting for an explanation. I also plan on talking to a counselor one on one after I get their response to see what, if anything, I can do. A big problem here in CA is that schools are impacted and so they look at locals with preference over an "out of state" application. I've taken my classes at the same CC in Seattle so that my most recent transcript is badass. But that only matters if someone actually looks at the big picture and sees that my dumb times were in the early 2000s and the last 5+ years of CC classes Ive taken Ive kicked ass.

[ak-]

I skimmed the thread, but read your post. Talk to the counselors of the schools you got bad grades in. I think you are allowed to remove 3 D's or F's through "academic review". I've done this with two D's in my college career.
I was shocked how easy it was for them - literally just a signature from the counselor, and it's off your transcript by that week..
Especially for your current reason, I don't see how they will say no. Most counselors are pretty human and empathetic.

[Mr. Tasty]

Yes it is worth it. No you are not guaranteed a job. The type of person/personality you have will determine if you are successful in life or not.

[2mAn]

I skimmed the thread, but read your post. Talk to the counselors of the schools you got bad grades in. I think you are allowed to remove 3 D's or F's through "academic review". I've done this with two D's in my college career.
I was shocked how easy it was for them - literally just a signature from the counselor, and it's off your transcript by that week..
Especially for your current reason, I don't see how they will say no. Most counselors are pretty human and empathetic.

Ive actually tried this twice with Fresno State and was denied both times. So if you ever hear me talk shit about Fresno, this is why

[E30 Wagen]

Yes it is worth it. No you are not guaranteed a job. The type of person/personality you have will determine if you are successful in life or not.