My wife had a merit scholarship from Boston University for the first two years of her bachelor's degree. She completed her mechanical and aeronautical bachelors degrees at UC Davis. She had about $20k in student loan debt.

I had the old GI Bill when I got out of the Air Force. It had a limit of $15,500 to use for an accredited degree. I lived with my parents and went to Santa Barbara City College for my lower division classes. I worked in the tutorial center for spending money. I transferred to UC Santa Barbara and earned my mechanical engineering bachelor's degree. I had no debt when I finished, and in fact had enough money to buy a new Toyota standard pickup for $6k.

We both had our master's degrees paid for by work.

College is the minimal education needed to participate in the world.

It is what a high school education was 40 years ago.

Because it is an "entry level" ticket, get a college education as cheaply as possible.  Got to a state school (subsidized tuition) and then go to a GREAT graduate school.  Invest your money in a top-10 grad school.

No one cares where you went to college.

p.s. I am 56, have hired hundreds of people (and did not care where they went to school, only that they had the determination to finish). I went to a state school and then Harvard Business School.  NO ONE cares where I went to college when they see a Harvard MBA.

Wise words here, you've said it well! My MBA wasn't from Harvard though :) Oh well. However, I agree that college is what a high school education was years ago.  The key is going to graduate school and choosing one that yields differentiated ROI. 

In terms of undergrad education, I think the idea of whether or not college is worth it is more like: you must go to college, but you really should choose your undergrad school with great care.  Some can really wreck a person's future, if way too expensive.  So choose wisely, but don't choose not to go to college.

College is the minimal education needed to participate in the world.

It is what a high school education was 40 years ago.

Because it is an "entry level" ticket, get a college education as cheaply as possible.  Got to a state school (subsidized tuition) and then go to a GREAT graduate school.  Invest your money in a top-10 grad school.

No one cares where you went to college.

p.s. I am 56, have hired hundreds of people (and did not care where they went to school, only that they had the determination to finish). I went to a state school and then Harvard Business School.  NO ONE cares where I went to college when they see a Harvard MBA.

Good point!  I would add that college or graduate school just provides some skills and knowledge.  It is still up to the individual to do something with it.  

It is what a high school education was 40 years ago.

Because it is an "entry level" ticket, get a college education as cheaply as possible.  Got to a state school (subsidized tuition) and then go to a GREAT graduate school.  Invest your money in a top-10 grad school.

No one cares where you went to college.

p.s. I am 56, have hired hundreds of people (and did not care where they went to school, only that they had the determination to finish). I went to a state school and then Harvard Business School.  NO ONE cares where I went to college when they see a Harvard MBA.

I'm working on a blog post that details how to get a good return on your college investment. (I'm still working on a snappy title.) 

I am NOT a fan of student loan debt. And I think the United States' focus on sending everyone to a 4-year university is misguided. However, a bachelors or advanced degree does pay off handsomely for some people. It did for me. 

So, I was wondering if any of you guys could tell me what you did to make your college degree a worthwhile investment. If you went to a community college even better. And if you think going to college was one of the worst decisions you ever made, I'd like to hear that too.

Thanks in advance for your help! 

How is the article coming along? Hopefully it's finished by now  

What would be a good idea would be to write a blog post which covers all of the subjects in university, along with the yearly cost. Then compare them to the earnings over a 5 year period. Or a scale of how long it would take to cover the cost of university. 

Unless that is what you have done of course

addiea123 said:

PS… Does anyone else find it crazy that you make such life altering decision as a senior in high school!?

This has always puzzled me. I learned about Running Start my senior year (RS starts junior Year), and then was supposed to start applying to colleges in January of my senior year. I had NO CLUE what I wanted to do at that point, so I just didn't.

Ended up at community college on and off for 2 years, then got a degree from an art school.

BUT, as much as I want to knock my audio degree, it has assisted me in getting my current position ($55k salary), and helped me with my troubleshooting and problem solving skills ("why is that microphone squealing at 115dB?!. OMG FIX THAT RIGHT NOW!!!!").

Edit: BTW, my degree was $33k, but is now (thankfully!) paid off. I would say college is worth it IF you can do it without going into debt, and if you know what your are getting in to.

Now, my wife has a bachelor's degree from a private, out-of-state college and is now a stay-at-home mommy. But that's a whole other can of worms...

I was actually surprised to discover how many people are still proponents of a college education. You wouldn't be able tell if you only paid attention to the news headlines.