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I hear so much today about college grads leaving school with a boatload of loan debt ending up as barristers.
So I'm wondering, how is your degree serving you? What was your major? Are you in your chosen field?
Importantly, do you believe you'd have been better off learning a trade and becoming a journeyman in those years it took to get your degree (and your debt load)?
I hear so much today about college grads leaving school with a boatload of loan debt ending up as barristers.
So I'm wondering, how is your degree serving you? What was your major? Are you in your chosen field?
Importantly, do you believe you'd have been better off learning a trade and becoming a journeyman in those years it took to get your degree (and your debt load)?
Absolute waste of time and money.
Wish I never did it.
All I got out of it was a bunch of debt and disappointment.
I'm not sure it was needed. I graduated near the end of the recession mess (2013) and the demands were still high to break in (and the H1B influx doesn't help). One of my issues was being in a rural area made an internship hard to do (I did get some experience working on a group project with an actual company, but no official internship.) Internships would be at least an hour away, would have to have been during the summer, and I'd have to get it and also make sure it taught me the right stuff (seen loads of people on here that DID get an internship or two and STILL couldn't break in to the field, so even getting one was no guarantee), not all internships are paid and traveling over an hour for free seems a drag, especially when you don't drive.) Anyway, I did apply for both local and rural but was never able to break in.
I'm not sure if a trade would work (my motor skills are not the best, so a trade might not have worked either.)
The one silver lining was the debt load. Thanks to some money my family set aside for me (though a bunch was lost during the 2007 crash), and with money I'd saved up from my paper route in middle school, and because I rarely spent much money before college, and because I had a scholarship that paid some, and also because I had Department of Rehabilitation Services pay some, I had exactly $0 in debt left the day I graduated.
BS: Computer Science and an MBA with concentrations in organizational behavior and IT Management. Currently manage a team that improves operational systems in investment management.
Out of pocket cost of both combined was just under $130k, both degrees were worth the money. If I did it again, I would have waited another 3-4 years between undergrad and grad school, but that's all I would change.
Bachelor + Master's, Mech. engineering; I got out of school when the economy was in full swing and all engineering grads had multiple offers to choose from.
Many many years later I went back to school for a MBA; again, propitious timing as I graduated in the middle of the dot-com boom. I was able to make a "soft landing" at a big software company just as the bubble burst.
I don't regret the time spent in school at all. I think my degrees allowed me to have a comfortable lifestyle.
I hear so much today about college grads leaving school with a boatload of loan debt ending up as barristers.
So I'm wondering, how is your degree serving you? What was your major? Are you in your chosen field?
Importantly, do you believe you'd have been better off learning a trade and becoming a journeyman in those years it took to get your degree (and your debt load)?
My degree qualified me for the profession I worked in for 34 years. It was a specialty, so no way to attack it any other way. There was no alternative route to the work I wanted to do, so had to face facts. Fully admit I was more fortunate than many; little accumulated debt due to educational costs at the time, parents who planned ahead and helped me manage the loan I did get, no non-essential coursework or advanced degrees (I chose the time/experience route to get ahead instead of more framed wall art), and living a pretty modest life in rural less expensive places until they were paid off. Lifestyle desires took a back seat to paying them off as soon as possible.
Its not the degree. Its just LACK OF JOBS (too many people and not enough jobs) and insane hiring practices along with companies providing no investment in their workforce. Along with ridiculous narrow job qualifications
So yes, generally its going to be a waste of money unless you have the connections that can help you along the way further your career.
I hear so much today about college grads leaving school with a boatload of loan debt ending up as barristers.
So I'm wondering, how is your degree serving you? What was your major? Are you in your chosen field?
Importantly, do you believe you'd have been better off learning a trade and becoming a journeyman in those years it took to get your degree (and your debt load)?
I invested 5 years for the equivalent to a masters degree in accounting and another year and a half getting a CPA license. So Probably 3 to 4 years of lost wages at near minimum wage (since I worked part time for pretty much the duration of that time, plus about the average student loan debt for a student in the year I graduated.
It was absolutely worth it. It also helps that my degree directly helps me understand money to improve my personal financial life.
I quickly breached 100k of total compensation, can probably get a job in any major metro in the country, and am treated well by my employers. I’ve gotten to travel the country for business, and afford a decent lifestyle. There’s no way I would have had the opportunity and pay without my degree.
Bachelors of Science in Information Systems Management
Currently enrolling in a Masters of Science in IT with cyber-security specialization
The payoff isn't there yet since I'm working a government job (Air Force) but when I go private, it will allow me to get more money, more promotions, and have better job security.
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