What’s more expensive than a college education? Not having one

CPT Jack Durish - You can say that . . . but most people I have hired, trained, and mentored as collection management officers, collection officers, operations officers, consultants, and lobbyists . . . took just that . . . some collection of soft courses . . . that were in the main quarter or semester term assignments to learn and master a new set of sources, materials, and methods in some new area of study . . . and to write reports that provided a summary of what they learned and demonstrated mastery of the new material in concise project and summary reports followed by oral and written in class exams. While I have hired my share of doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, physicists, and math geeks . . . these journeyman workmen generally have a difficult time thinking outside the box . . . or beyond the most orthodox constraints of their professions. Warmest Regards, Sandy

1LT Sandy Annala - The first book I had published - Dream Pirates - was written for college students who couldn't read above a third grade level. A friend who teaches post graduate courses tells me that he has students who are similarly handicapped. Imagine that. These young men and women will graduate with massive student loan debts and are not even literate. That sound like a lot to pay for nothing, doesn't it?

CPT Jack Durish - You really must do a better job of characterizing the colleges and universities from which your kids graduate. Most of the best and brightest kids I am hiring come out of the top 5 to 10 percent of colleges and universities . . . and are among perhaps the top 1 to 2 percent of graduates of those colleges and universities. If you are trying to recruit from lower level community colleges, for profit rip off schools, and far too many poor quality state colleges & universities established to placate political masses . . . then you can spin stories about college students and graduates . . . particularly athletes with somewhat different academic priorities . . . who cannot read and carry larger debts for their college & university studies than would ever be rationally acceptable. Sandy :)

CPT Jack Durish - I generally agree. I'm a big fan of both trade school programs (most, but there are a few that don't pay off very well, like cosmetology) and STEM courses of study in universities. Some trade schools should be avoided. Private Culinary Institutes for instance. One can drop $60k plus to qualify for a very low paying job with lousy hours (community college culinary programs are just as good at a very low cost).

Regardless, there is a place for "useless" degrees. There are people that select a course of study because it is their passion or they have in mind how they will go into that line of work. Psychology comes to mind. A bachelor's degree in psychology is one of the worst degrees with respect to median income. One cannot work in the field without going to grad school. Master's degrees in the field (counseling/social work) are the lowest paying post-graduate degrees. Yet, the median income for people with BA's in Psychology is still higher than high school graduates and the median income for those post-graduate degrees are well above the national median household incomes. For people with a desire to work in that field, they aren't going to get rich, but they won't starve either.

SSG Kevin Wells - that's exactly what scares me about education right now. I'm waiting for the bubble to burst and education prices to plummet.

Always tell people finish college. Places you in a different category. Same with graduate school, learned a lot by going to school for an MBA 4 years at night. Problem now is colleges promote the lifestyle for four years leading to amazingly high tuition at private schools, public colleges are promoting to out of state students who they can charge much higher rates. Best plan today maybe to go to a community college for two years then transfer in to four year school. GI bill is a blessing to veterans not only for tuition and housing but chance to adapt to civilian culture.

Ken Kraetzer - You are absolutely correct. I was just reading an article about how college is an experience versus an education now. I am definitely not saying to shirk getting an education. I just want people to be smarter about it and definitely find a less expensive way to do it. The community college route is an awesome way to get your GE stuff done.

NOT all people who hold degrees are intelligent enough to do the job. There are so many out there who were merely given passes in "college" just to move them out. I have experience with "graduates" who really made me wonder what kind of "school" they were "graduated" from.

SGT (Join to see) - You make a great point about on-line courses.

I found out during my transition that there are MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses) like http://www.Coursera.com , Open Badges, and Future Learn where you can take courses on what you want or what you need. At least for Coursera I know that the certificates can be linked to your LinkedIn profile to show that you are working to gain knowledge, skills and improve yourself in a field. Perhaps as a networking tool.

Attached is a screen shot from my LinkedIn profile highlighting from Coursera a Project Management Specialization course (red box). The course counts as contact hours to meet the Project Management educational requirement. Much cheaper than a PMI Boot Camp or college test prep course in Alaska.

MAJ Raúl Rovira - I've never heard of Future Learn or Open Badges. However, edX does the same thing with LinkedIn. I have a Linux badge on mine. Thanks for the new sites to check out. Got any more ?

SGT (Join to see) - SGT Jacqueem Spratley I am a big fan of Khan Academy, Duilingo & Coursera. Here is a list of MOOCs from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course.
By the way, Coursera now offers an MBA program.

MAJ Raúl Rovira - Thanks for sharing. I'm not touching Duolingo again until they cover Mandarin.