[bodigami]

...i just want to work in something i like; university is getting boring... most of the knowledge i have studied in this past years is self-taught; therefore i have no paper with fancy signatures and seals probing it.

[vision-master]

You may need taht union card.

[Ludi]

Take more difficult classes.

[nobodypanic]

considering the amount of debt you have to go into to get one....

those student loans, they suck.

a truly civilized people would understand that it was to their general benefit to educate as many citizens as possible; and that aside from that, it was a moral imperative to make sure each person goes as far as possible towards reaching their full potential, but alas... it's all about squeezing a buck out of you from the cradle to the grave.

[Schmuto]

Advice I'd give any young student who wasn't an all star with a penchant for schooling:

Don't go to college unless you know exactly what you want from your degree.

Go to your state college and graduate in 3 years (use AP credits and taking extra classes) - if you enter college with 15 credits from HS AP, then all you need to get out in 3 years is 15 extra credits. If you are there for 3 years, you can take 2.5 extra credits a semester - one course - and graduate in 3 years. Average state college - about 20 grand a year. Work summers and weekends and breaks and make 10 grand a year - graduate in 3 years with no more than 30 grand in debt - if need be, defer a year and work full time to accrue money. Any person serious about his/her studies could easily do this.

Do well enough in school to stand out - if you can't graduate in the top 20% of your class, don't go.

[3aidlillahi]

I never really did well academically in school. I graduate in one week. One great thing about this all is that I have zero debt. Thank God for scholarships (I had good grades in HS), grants and family funding. Even if I can't get a full-time job for a year or so, I'm still better off than many of my friends graduating with 30-40 grand worth of debt. Add interest and it's close to six figures. Good luck paying that off.

I'm a geology major hoping to go into the groundwater or environmental field, which should be pretty good considering we're entering a period of drought for much of the planet and environmental catastrophe for most of the planet.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')o to your state college and graduate in 3 years

[Schmuto]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '
')
Actually go to CC for the first 2-4 semesters. Get all of your prereq's done there (history, philosophy, etc.) and then go to a state school for the final two years, which is normally the requirement.

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'T')ake more difficult classes.

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '.')..i just want to work in something i like; university is getting boring... most of the knowledge i have studied in this past years is self-taught; therefore i have no paper with fancy signatures and seals probing it.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[AAA]

From my experience, a college degree allows me to be more flexible in my career choice and it also allows me to make more money which helps prep for the future.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bodigami', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '(')...)
In the end, you'll have about $10-20 in debt, depending on school and state. Maybe you can get lucky with scholarships and grants and get out with almost no debt.

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '$')1300 per hour here.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('3aidlillahi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '$')1300 per hour here.

[Plantagenet]

"According to the Census Bureau, over an adult's working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million; associate's degree holders earn about $1.6 million; and bachelor's degree holders earn about $2.1 million (Day and Newburger, 2002)."

-------------

So the average college grad makes about 500,000 bucks more then the average high school grad over 30-35 years of work.

But not all college degrees are equal when it comes to earning money. For instance, the average college grad with a degree in English probably makes a lot less then the average high school/trade school grad who goes into a skilled trade like plumbing.

[3aidlillahi]

I actually just remembered that we don't use a "per hour" tuition rate. They thought about switching to one but there was quite a backlash. If you take between 12 and 17 hours, then you pay a flat rate of about $1900. If you take less, then it's per hour (although I think this is practically impossible now) and if you take more, then it's per hour only on the extra hours.

So we're around $110 to $160 per hour. $300 - $600 per course, depending on how many you take and how many hours. But we pay pretty high income and sales taxes in this state - some of the highest in the country.

All of this is In-state students. Out-of-staters pay about five times as much.