just how much is a degree worth?

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: jspeicher
Just got a job making about 45k/yr with no degree what-so-ever. I love life.

and that's probably the most you'll make

Yep. My dad's a first year community college dropout - hit a cieling at 48k TEN YEARS AGO and hasn't seen an additional dime since.

 

[BoberFett]

What a bunch of elitist assholes.

That is all.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Stifko
what about the intageable benefits of a degree?
what about things that you get out of college that you can't put an exact price on.
imho, getting a college degree does a lot more for the grad than increasing his/her earning potoiental.

For instance, it improves their spelling.

Talking about spelling.... you've spelled iNNate wrong in all of your above posts.

 

[Svnla]

Ok, I have two degrees: BS and MBA, so me > *...LOL... j/k

Seriously, there are good arguements on both sides. I think how much degree is worth will depend GREATLY of what field you are study, what state you live in, cost of living, etc.

Another good point about salary, you can't just say so and so makes this much. You have to ask how many hours that person puts in to get that kind of money. A person who makes 100K a year but works 80 hours or more a week is about the same as a person who makes 50K a year but works only 40 hours. I don't know about you but I rather make 50K for 40 hrs <much less stress, been there, done that>.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
A 4-year degree will get you a great position at a company who will lay you off in a couple years after they outsource the job to India. Then you can get a job at WalMart. But hey, then you're a guy working at WalMart who has a degree.

I'll be my own boss, thanks.

Then you have to get a job that isn't up for outsourcing, e.g. R&D. We're outsourcing "trade" jobs--IT, customer support, software support, and some more basic development tasks.

The fact of the matter is that foreign countries don't have the higher education foundation that the US has. For the most part, those that take advantage of the opportunities offered to them in university (esp those that attend 'elite' schools) come out better equipped in terms of knowledge & problem solving ability than their Indian, Chinese, etc counterparts.

This isn't to say that the students in India/China are dumber...in fact I wouldn't be surprised if a good many of them were smarter than us. HOWEVER higher education in outsource-countries (currently) tends to concentrate on memorization/recitation rather than innovation.

Granted the US and its increasingly anti-foreigner policy is fvcking itself over. Some of our best minds come from abroad...they once came here to study and then stayed here to work in industry/as researchers. But now many come here for the education and return to their homes... So perhaps the US's R&D bubble will burst sooner or later too. But even then, the best equipped/smartest people will still find work & still get paid well.


As for the college education...
I believe that the degree is worth nothing. It's a piece of paper--big deal. Rather, the importance lies in what you accomplished in school. Did you form connections w/potential employers/professors? Did you get work experience and/or research experience? Did you do well/work hard as opposed to slacking off? College is a time to have fun, yes...but it's a waste of your time & money if all you do is get drunk and party.

College offers a wealth of opportunity. You can pass it up by just being a student... Or you can show some initiative and do things for yourself.

By attending university, you will receive some benefit from the diploma...people will respect you more at the first glance (probably), you'll probably get paid more, and have better job prospects. But that doesn't mean that it's absolutely necessary...many of America's most successful don't have degrees in anything. Anyway a BS from MIT is going to get you noticed regardless of where you apply. BUT what (imo) ultimately makes/breaks you is what you did BESIDES earning that piece of paper.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: HBalzer

Originally posted by: rpbri2886

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: jspeicher
Just got a job making about 45k/yr with no degree what-so-ever. I love life.

and that's probably the most you'll make

very true

My dad makes 100k+ with 2 weeks of community college.

Times have changed.

Times may have changed but opportunities are still there. It's just that people fail to see them or are too closemined.

I know several people who can't even speak English that's pulling in 6 figure incomes via trade. No education required. But they're skilled at what they do and are in high demand. I've a college degree from a top 20 school, but I don't use it. My current job requires zero education but the pay potential is unlimited. College is one option but not the only option. Like others have mentioned, trades and crafts can be very lucative as well.

 

[Reckoner]

College degrees are a dime a dozen these days. I have a Bachelor's Degree and I'm making 22k a year. I can't even get into my field.

I'm considering giving up trying to enter IT, and attempt to become a apprentice as an Electrician or Plumber.

 

[SilentZero]

I think a degree goes hand in hand with how much experience you have in the field. My wife is a prime example. She is doing her masters while working, and earns upwards of 80k a year, which will bump up to ~100k+ when she finishes her masters according to her employeer (She has 8 years in her field). Now me on the other hand, I only have a limited amount of experience however have two B.S. degrees (CS and Applied Mathematics), and doing my MS in CS now, but I will be lucky to walk into a 60-70k a year job when my masters is complete (my TS clearance is my crutch). So I think a degree can be worth different amounts depending on what you bring along with that degree.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

A college degree means pretty much nothing as long as you are good at what you do. I work next to a bunch of guys with B.S and Masters degrees, I make more than all of them. However, I do still go to school at night on a quest to get my BS in Computer Science but that is for my own satisfaction. I think a degree opens more doors when you are first starting out in the job market, but once you are established it loses its value.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: SilentZero
I think a degree goes hand in hand with how much experience you have in the field. My wife is a prime example. She is doing her masters while working, and earns upwards of 80k a year, which will bump up to ~100k+ when she finishes her masters according to her employeer (She has 8 years in her field). Now me on the other hand, I only have a limited amount of experience however have two B.S. degrees (CS and Applied Mathematics), and doing my MS in CS now, but I will be lucky to walk into a 60-70k a year job when my masters is complete (my TS clearance is my crutch). So I think a degree can be worth different amounts depending on what you bring along with that degree.

The people that argue that a degree is the end all be all of finding a decent paying job, most likely have never put in years of training in a low paying job. Using a low paying job with excellent training, as a stepping stone to "bigger and better" things is a great way to get educated in a field and move up fairly quickly.

I've admitted down the line I will hit my glass ceiling as far as the corporate ladder is concerned. Though I could move into sales (Cue Airplane take off sounds), but that's not in the cards as of yet.

As Silent pointed out, being a cleared resource is fantastic for you bottom line. Do anyone realize the backlog of clearances the Government is processing. How about the cost to the employeer to get that done, PER EMPLOYEE. I can honestly tell you, my employeer told me if I moved to our commericial side my salary would drop 10-15k. That's strictly based on clearance alone. Nothing like saying you have almost 6 years of experience, and telling your prospective employeer I can walk into any building in the US today and start to work. I swear you can see them tear up as they start to visualize money raining from above... 😉

Experience typically trumps a degree earlier on in a career. As the qualifications do not require a degree but an aptitude for learning and motiviation. Later on in a career you will almost be forced to have at least a four year degree when moving to management rungs. So in the end it's very much worth it to pursue a degree, but not at the cost of a good paying job early on.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: TGS

Originally posted by: SilentZero
I think a degree goes hand in hand with how much experience you have in the field. My wife is a prime example. She is doing her masters while working, and earns upwards of 80k a year, which will bump up to ~100k+ when she finishes her masters according to her employeer (She has 8 years in her field). Now me on the other hand, I only have a limited amount of experience however have two B.S. degrees (CS and Applied Mathematics), and doing my MS in CS now, but I will be lucky to walk into a 60-70k a year job when my masters is complete (my TS clearance is my crutch). So I think a degree can be worth different amounts depending on what you bring along with that degree.

The people that argue that a degree is the end all be all of finding a decent paying job, most likely have never put in years of training in a low paying job. Using a low paying job with excellent training, as a stepping stone to "bigger and better" things is a great way to get educated in a field and move up fairly quickly.

I've admitted down the line I will hit my glass ceiling as far as the corporate ladder is concerned. Though I could move into sales (Cue Airplane take off sounds), but that's not in the cards as of yet.

As Silent pointed out, being a cleared resource is fantastic for you bottom line. Do anyone realize the backlog of clearances the Government is processing. How about the cost to the employeer to get that done, PER EMPLOYEE. I can honestly tell you, my employeer told me if I moved to our commericial side my salary would drop 10-15k. That's strictly based on clearance alone. Nothing like saying you have almost 6 years of experience, and telling your prospective employeer I can walk into any building in the US today and start to work. I swear you can see them tear up as they start to visualize money raining from above... 😉

Experience typically trumps a degree earlier on in a career. As the qualifications do not require a degree but an aptitude for learning and motiviation. Later on in a career you will almost be forced to have at least a four year degree when moving to management rungs. So in the end it's very much worth it to pursue a degree, but not at the cost of a good paying job early on.

The problem with working on govt contracts is that pay will be based on experience. In general, it is not a meritocracy, but rather, promotions/salary are given based on experience. This is because of the nature of the contracts, where they can only bill people out at certain rates

 

[TGS]

I work for a company that gets contracted slots. I'm by no means a contractor though. When this position dries up, my company will just slide me into another spot. Other smaller companies, with *real* contracted labor most times are looking for a new job when a slot is taken away.

The only thing the Government requires from me, is that I'm a cleared resource or I couldn't get in the building to work. My company provides 2 weeks of training per quarter. My company bids on the contracts the Government puts out, but my salary is all covered under a blanket purchase agreement. As I'm a salaried employee, who has seen all of two periods of overtime it works to my advantage.

 

[Otaking]

Originally posted by: HBalzer
Depends on the degree; if you get an English, or Liberal Arts degree not much.

Hey, I resent that! :|

<- B.A. in Linguistics and Japanese

And I think I'm doing OK. I'm glad I chose those degrees; I enjoyed learning them. :beer:

 

[loic2003]

Depends on the degree. My degree in AI raises eyebrows and got me great job offers even though I had zero experience.

 

[SouthPaW1227]

A degree isn't worth NEARLY as much as knowing important and powerful people, and no one can argue that.

 

[TGS]

"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

I've seen that work to peoples advantage more than I care to admit.

 

[Special K]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is the level of interest in a given profession. Sure, I might be able to become a plumber without going to college and make decent money for the amount of work I do, but I would personally be bored stupid doing that kind of work.

If someone really wants to become a doctor, lawyer, psychologist, or other profession where credentials are pretty much required, they would have to get the degree. So to answer the original question, for people who want to go into these professions, the degree is worth the potential fulfillment they would hopefully get from their career choice.

On the other hand, if you would enjoy being a plumber, electrician, or any of the other professions mentioned in this thread that don't require a college degree, then go for it.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: TGS
"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

I've seen that work to peoples advantage more than I care to admit.

But what you know can get you well-known