CRIM '86 ... Retiring in June '24 w/ 37 yrs on the job.

All 3 of my kids have better degrees and make better $ than me. Don't let your kids or friend's kids do CRIM.

No, in fact I don’t even have a HS diploma. Doesn't matter though.

Proud college dropout, and basically a GD millionaire-close to 7 figures liquid

"Four years prostrate to the higher mind..."

Bachelors is in logistics and supply chain mgmt from the university of north Texas.

Graduate degree in manufacturing systems mgmt from Southern Methodist university.

Nope, but have employed and supervised several.

BSChE and MBA

Putting aside the question of whether you think that's supposed to be impressive...

Do you think truly wealthy people send their kids to school because it's about future earning potential?

MBA here. Not really used in my current job.

Not meant to impress but rather point out the fallacy of education=earning potential. In answer to your query: no, to the wealthy grad school = good ole boy club.

Yes. Of course.

Nope.  However, due to luck, fortune, or just hard work, I am doing very well.  No regrets for me.

Truly wealthy? It's at least a part of their concern. The networking opportunities advanced at those schools lead to relationships which do have an impact on future earnings. Not necessarily just from a jobs perspective, either.

It's a slightly different calculus than the middle class families sending their kids to school, but earnings potential is a part of the equation.

On your former, the expression "the plural of anecdote is not data" comes to mind. While educational opportunities can certainly be squandered, the reality is that even modest lower 6-figure incomes like yours are far more likely among people with an education, with many doors wholly closed to those without one.

But, I find it amusing you'd think money alone is what this would be about. I certainly haven't seen that theme emerging in this thread. Your post just seems awful defensive, and ironic in that so, so many people with higher education see pay like that by the end of their first quarter or first half, let alone the 8th month.

There are also certainly a lot of business owners with barely a high school education who make far more than you. But, exceptions don't prove the rule.

As for "good olde boy club?" I dunno, don't see it. People in that world can have those clubs wholly separate from education.

Interesting perspective.  So I agree, exposure is a factor within certain fields.  My experience is mostly STEM careers

Now, I am trying to understand your "middle class" comment.  

Earnings are most certainly a variable.  But exposure to various thoughts also has value.  Now I am am an engineer (not college educated).  My thoughts do tend to be linear, but I am trying to be open, lol.

Communication with a minor in wildlife biology

This.

College can be a great thing if you do a ROI and have goals on where you want your education to take you.

I have no degree(physics major dropout), but, I read heavily and can teach myself things rapidly.

It’s all about motivation and pushing yourself to excel.

BS Mechanical Engineering
MS Engineering Mechanics
PhD Engineering Mechanics

I work with UHNW individuals, so I get exposure to their thoughts pretty regularly. It's a very interesting perspective.

I 100000% agree that exposure to various thoughts has a value all on its own. The classical liberal education is worthwhile, and I'm very sad we've moved away from it to more "job training" style education that college has become. I was a philosophy major (before I dropped out) and it helped broaden my thought process in ways I have only just now started to appreciate almost 20 years later.

As for the middle class comment, when I was a kid, we were told that the only path to success lay in going to college. Our parents bought this hook, line, and sinker, and ended up spending astronomical amounts to send kids to even state schools. I have a bias here since I do not have a college degree and have made a very good living, and I fully admit this bias, but I think that for most folks college ends up being a waste. The whole lifetime earnings thing is better with a college degree, but as the costs go up, that ROI greatly diminishes.

Yes, makes me a whole $1.25 an hour more than the people doing my job with associates degrees

I done graduated. I'm a PT.

Inside sales?

BFA in design I used for 20 years
Masters in Education that I have used for the last 15

I think I do ok, but my baby brother who was also homeschooled is an entrepreneur, and makes several times what I do. He worked in the oil fields as a young man and saw a need, filled it, and now lives a life of luxury with lots of time off for his passions of hunting and fishing. I live vicariously through his pics and stories.

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In a way, this is a private chat, lol.

So I did not finish college.  Not even close.

I am grew up "Middle Class" at best.  It was, to me, an imperative my son go to college from the very beginning.  Now again, I am a STEM person by choice and self training.  I taught my son multiplication before 1st grade, technology and science was a passion I did try to instill, but not force.  

So, he did go to state college, and made life changing connections.  Hell, he was a TA in his 1st year grading others work over his summer off.  The success he enjoys now is part my determination for his better life (though he won't admit it, lol) and part his exposure in people and experiences while in school.

Now to clarify, he was / is STEM.  His focus was tight and only on the things that needed to accomplish that goal.  "Under water basket weaving" was never on the schedule.  Literally an all work no play time education wise.  

We did spit the cost 75 (me) / 25 (him).  And I am proud to say each of us have paid everything in full.

ETA: He is now very successful and happy in his career.  He has been involved in numerous projects / fields and has been a champion at them all.  I am just a happy father who always wanted more for my kids than I had.

Yes. Waste of cash just like my Masters. Everything that makes me money I learned in the shop or from the guys who trained me.

Could’ve bought a lot of equipment for what I’ve spent on school.

Same.  I have a “Chief” at the beginning of my title and “Officer” at the end.  I spend more time in meetings than actually getting work done.  

I got a Bachelor of Arts in fancy talk, liberal bullshit and faggotry.

It’s a pretty solid area of study.

Too Bad...

Maybe if you stuck it out you could have been a great surgeon or at least a good Dentist!!  

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No, but I know how to spell poll.

Yea a worthless one.

I are a college grad (1993).  

I met a MILF my senior year after returning to CONUS and subsequently failed to follow through with my original plans to apply for OCC and earn a commission in the USMC.

I should haze myself.

FPNI

Fellow RPN master race checking in!
My HP15C is no longer so abused and mistreated with emulation apps on my phone and pads.

Yes.  Undergrad degree was a B.A. in a life and a physical science.  After my first enlistment on active duty I went in the reserves for four years and knocked out an undergrad degree at a 240-ish year old public Ivy in four years using the GI bill.
150 semester hours / five years worth of credits gave me the above plus one class short of a math minor, one class short of a physics minor, one class short of an English minor, one class short of a Psyc minor,  all classes met for a Classics minor except my language two years language were not Latin or Greek and could not be awarded, and requirements met for an Anatomy and Physiology minor except that was college of Allied Health and my college of Arts and Sciences at the university did not award minors from other colleges/divisions within the university.

Plus further education making me Dr. Instead of Mr. Ramairthree.  At like real brick and mortar intense level.  Not some internet Ed.D., D.Sci., doctorate of acupunctural testicular dentistry or quackery, no math pre-requisite/no GMAT required MBA/business doctorate,  etc.  With several peer reviewed publications, previous core faculty appointments, current guest lecturer, etc.

And, hate to break it to you guys,
But I can weld, braze, solder in a relay, rebuild a carburetor, jump rheostats, replace a distributor, swap electronic ignition for points, drive a skidder, run a chainsaw, work horses, train dogs, do a brake job, change oil, put in a new alternator or starter, sharpen knives, reload, been through a SOF pipeline, been on target in TICs, shot people, stopped bleeding, don’t faint at the sight of blood, shoveled shit, hayed, fabricate and install subframe connectors, 3/3 another language, butcher a deer, run a tractor, tow a trailer, had a boat, Drag raced, some road courses, rode motorcycles, -
And a bunch of shit I keep hearing smart educated people can’t do even though most of the ones I know can.

It pains me when I hear people say education should be nothing but job training.
It pains me degrees are awarded to idiots with no real difficult education, knowledge, accomplishments.

I would reset the clock somewhere between 42 and 87 years to academic rigor and expectations and cognitive ability if I was Thanos.

Has done nothing for me. Waste of money.

Yes, Bachelors

I have a slide rule, but I have no idea how to use it.  They were long gone when I entered the engineering classroom in 1988.  I would still like to learn.

I never liked those sideways HPs.

I have a bachelors and a clinical doctorate, but I recognize that it only makes me knowledgeable in select areas

Bachelors here…..basically a gateway to career in one of those fields that requires it.

While I think a college degree is over-rated for the majority of young adults who have no direction in life and no understanding of the job market, they do open some doors or are requirements in some sectors. I tell many young people to put off college if they don’t have a career plan that involves some type of internship as part of their degree program. You don’t get a degree to find a job, you find a job that requires a degree…

Outside of needing any four-year degree for a job, the only ones of value are the technical degrees for specific jobs (medical, engineering, bio-chem, mathematics/accounting, etc.).

I had no hard direction for my undergrad, ended up with a bio-chem degree, but just needed a bachelor’s degree for my Army commission to be an “ociffer”. At the time of my promotion form MAJ to LTC, it was an unwritten rule that you needed a graduate degree…so I picked up a Telecommunications Engineering graduate degree. Neither helped me “in the job” other than the basic foundations of writing, a few critical thinking skills, and smartass enough to find a few cool vocabulary words to make me sound educated.

You don’t need a formal educated to be successful, but some education can help you navigate certain occupations a little easier. These days, in my world of cyber defense, it’s all about “certifications”.

My wife on the other hand is working on her dissertation (last year, hopefully!) for her doctorate in education (EdD). She’s used the hell out of her previous “specialist degree” and a few graduate-level endorsement classes; they have significantly helped her in the jobs she’s had. She has another 10 years in the workforce, so we did the cost-benefit analysis and it will make her money after she retires and can teach college classes and/or do contract work in educational professional development sectors. Hell, she’s been working as a graduate research assistant for the past year and a half and it’s paid for her doctorate program and her two other endorsement classes…oh, and she’s been working full time and is in her first year as an Assistant Principal administrator.

Her mom only achieved her GED and her dad (RIP) only had his high school diploma. Both are smart as hell and her late father blew me away with how intelligent he was, he was just a die-hard, blue collar worker. That dude could have done anything…but he raised three very successful kids.

A degree means nothing to me unless you’re cutting me open on a surgery table (and even that is questionable today). I work with a lot of data scientists and government types in the cybersecurity industry. Many who have their doctorates, you wouldn't know; those that let you know are usually dipshits and lack basic common sense. I’ve learned that you never judge anyone’s potential, successes, or failures based on their resume or curriculum vitae, but anyone who always has to remind you of their CV or demand to be referred to as “Doctor” (when they’re not a medical doctor), I immediately put them in the fucking idiot box…and they rarely prove me wrong.

ROCK6

You work at the del?

THat stuff is in high demand now.

BA and arfcom’s favorite, a MBA to go with it.

Also a couple super hard to get CCAF’s

Went to university one year.
Too immature and didn't know what I wanted to do.
Quit and worked different jobs for six years.
Found an in the hospital radiologic technologist school that sounded interesting.
Not a degree program but a certificate program.
Hospitals don't care if you have a certificate or a four year BS degree.  Same opportunities and pay.
Total cost of two year program was only $400 and they pain a stipend during the last year.
Uniforms, medical coverage, meals all included.
Retired after forty years in the x-ray business.
Did most everything in radiology and the last 25 years in MRI and teaching radiology physics.
Loved it except for the last few years where hospital changed from not-for-profit to for profit.
Didn't get rich but did OK to where I have a comfortable retirement.