@Baalzamon, yea that 8.2k is for 30 hours which is a year (15 hours per semester, I am pretty sure 12 is still full time but most people take least 15 hours per semester). A lot of the high school things you just mentioned didn't start happening in most states till around 2000 or so. So I couldn't get college credit in high school in Ohio because they just started allowing that after I graduated high school.
I understand that generally the college educated people make more money. My degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Management hasn't even helped me find a job in that career. Problem is that there are too many Wildlife majors for the little jobs. I have applied to about 1,000 or more wildlife jobs since 2007 and received one offer for part time job in FL which I denied because I couldn't move there for a part time job. So my field is pretty much filled with people with more experience and I can't get any experience because no one will hire me. So I work in manufacturing field etc until one day maybe I will get my chance.....
The only thing I can thank my degree for is the 16k in federal student loan debt.
