My fiance's nephew has a law degree (I love the kid, and he's got the same sense of humor and morals that I do!).  He's 26 years old and he worked in Wal-Mart in North Carolina to help him while he was in school.  He's still working at Wal-Mart (he got a transfer) and living with his mom.  Education is good, but you have to find a way to apply it.  If you can't, then all you've done is create some debt.  Applied Education > Everything.

If you haven't got a degree and you go for a job with someone else who has a degree then you might not even be considered for the place.

I disagree with your theory. Education is never wasted.

I actually know several cases when that's happened.

Um, the student loan part is usually mostly the student's fault completely and entirely.  If you go to a private school, yes, you will probably have crap tons of student loans.

I'm getting a degree in a very difficult subject (statistics) at a simple State College.  I have been told during numerous presentations in the Stat Club from people who are now working in their major that what college you go to for that degree does not matter, it's being able to apply what you learned to the work presented to you.

Now getting back to the state college subject, this year, I received a $2000 presidential scholarship ($1k each semester) which makes my total costs before books ~$3000 each semester.  For my first semester, I have ~$350 in books, and after I trade them back through amazon or sell them on amazon, my book cost will be ~$100-$150.  Total cost for the year is $6300 approximately after books.  For my first year, I'm living at home to save money, and after all the money I make from work, I am going to have more money in my bank after I'm done with this year than I had before I started.

Oh, plus, next year on my taxes, due to a government program that has been running for a couple of years, as long as I spend 4k on college, I will get $2500 back on my taxes (and yes, I will get the whole thing back, as I have enough money paid in).  So total cost is $3700, $5700 if you don't have a scholarship as I do.  Anybody can make $5700 in a year.

I also attended the same State University (College) full time for my senior year of high school and got the whole thing paid for by the government, I was top 5% of class, but you only need to be top 50% of class to do this in Minnesota anyways.  After this year, I will probably move out, which adds a lot of costs.  I will have ~2 years of college remaining, maybe even a little less (I currently have 41/120 credits before my "1st" year).  If I pay for none of that while paying for living costs, I'd have like $8k in student loans.  This is not something that will never get paid off, its less than most people's car payments.  Anyways, I have enough savings to not need to borrow money, because I actually saved money my whole work life so I could pay for college.

So no, college does not equal tons of debt.  That is only for the people who want it to.

You know, I get that a lot!  But really, my job (along with the other members of my team) is to sit in one of our defensive fighting positions with various weaponry and defend my power plant from any acts of terrorism.  A terrorist attack would devastate the U.S. so having personell to defend it from any and all comers is a requirement.  That's where I come in.  But since there is absolutely NO CHANCE of anybody breaching our defenses, all I do is kill time.

LOL... so basically you actually do what Homer Simpson did at his job. Cool man

And he gets paid shitloads for it to. Sweet job right there

Damn... well guess you don't need a fanct degree to have a well-paying job. Hope he'll have enought time to put down his PSP ang go for his gun in case actual terrorists do attack though (and hope he doesn't accidentally pick up the Wii zapper instead).

Yeah because my changing my annual salary from less than $40k a year to over $80 a year in two years wasn't worth it. Not to mention I am now sitting in an office where I can come to VGC whenever I like vs having to force customers to purchase extended warranties to bump up my commisions on appliances. lol SCREW ADVANCING YOUR LIFE, WORK HARDER TO EARN LESS (MAYBE SAME) MONEY!!!