I didn't go to college. I graduated, joined the air force, broke my leg, and just went from job to job. Now, I work at a nuclear power plant. No credit card bills. No loans. No car payments. I own my own land. I can put away over a grand in the bank every month and still do whatever I want to do ( just got back from Disney World on Saturday morning).

My wife also didn't go to college. She manages apartment complexes and she makes great money. She doesn't even have to help me pay bills.

My friend went to college to become a lawyer. He worked at Wal Mart until he was almost thirty until he finally graduated. Now, be works at a bank. Wtf!?!

Meanwhile my ex's son graduated Clemson college to become a chemical engineer. He's traveled waaaaaaaaaaay more than me and makes as much, if not more than I do--but he's got a lot of debt, too.

So what's your story? Did you go to college? Did it help or hurt you? Was the experience and knowledge worth the price of admission?

depends what country you are in

There a lot of factors that goes into it. College for me worked out well. I got a degree in computer science and currently have a stable job with good benefits that pays 6 figures.

On top of that I could not put a cost on the experience of being 18-22 and living around 1000's of other 18-22 year old. I have so many great memories from those days.

That being said I graduated college 10 years ago and just in that time the price of college have significantly increase. Everyone have to decide if the cost is worth it for themselves.

Depends on what country. The cost of College in America is pretty ridiculous.

Depends, really. There's the good side of it and the bad side of it.

On a social context level, if you manage to fit in, then it's awesome. You'll make friends (some which will probably follow you for the rest of your life), you have a big degree of independence, and you can only rely on yourself to accomplish things (or have things done, which in essence allows you to maneuver through these things as you see fit). If you don't, though, it's not that bad either I guess. At least in my collegue, social outcasts weren't bullied or anything.

On educational level? Psh, it really depends. My college was trash. Most of the things I learned, I already knew (they just spin them to make them more difficult to understand and make people fail, but other than that...). Of those four years I spent on it, only one felt worthwhile, and a second one to a certain degree. There's also a forced "job-like" course that makes you work as in a real job, though you don't get money from it since the college itself pays it. It was a nice, since you get some laboral experience; if you already have it beforehand, it's pretty much pointless.

If you don't know what to do with your life, and have enough income on yourself (or a decent, not much time-consuming job), I think some years of college could give you a new perspective on your life, so I'd say go for it if you feel like. Also owning a degree in anything gives you the edge over the people.

I went to University. For my current profession, while it helped to get it, what I learnt in my degree was nothing to do with my current job other than field. Most my knowledge is self taught but it depends on what you want and need to do in life. However, I don't have debts (well, some but mortgage and a student loan just more than a grand is not the same as a credit card), and I am money savvy so not sure if my comfortable life style is down to that over my degree.

Military service can be a good choice as you can learn many different roles in the career, they need engineers, cooks and other jobs too, so it can work out in the end.

Yet, it not really required, you are a sign of that. It might help getting a step into a certain career, I mean it would be hard to follow a career is Psychology without a doctorate. But if you want to be something else, sometimes an apprenticeship is the way to go.

Costs are one of the biggest concerns with modern times. My student loans are small, getting one now for 1 year would be more than what I would have got in 3 years and a degree when I did mine.

In some places of the world its much less risky than others.
The costs you have to pay in the US to get a education is ridiculous.

overqualification, so gotta dumb down the resume to actually get a job.

Got a scholarship for UoM, but chose to go to a smaller college. It's just not worth having to deal with all the extra stress of major universities. In the end, most people will barely care if you go to Jimmy johnson's College or UoM.

I'm going to get a degree in computer engineering hopefully. With so little people actually working in such a field, I will(hopefully) not have to worry about competition for a job.

In many countries like Finland it is near free or affordable, in that case it's worth it, if you have to take out huge loans to pay for the lot like in some countries then it's a different story