I did some community college, took all the “required” classes although every fiber of my being was angry & restless about it, intuitively knowing it was a waste of precious time, energy, money, resources,

even doing what was “required,” I felt like I was fucking around when I should’ve been out in the real world living my life because I’ve got SO MUCH LIFE IN ME and college sucks out the life force.

But I still needed money to survive because you can’t survive without money, so I spent a couple years in two vocational schools and now I am working in those fields.

Vocational schools are a fast track to employment. Employment needed to pay off the educational loans 🤦🏼‍♀️

I went to a European University of Applied Sciences for a bachelor’s in business administration. I relocated to a new country at 18, and it was one of 3 degrees offered in my area in English at the time. At the start, I was completely uninterested in business. I was mostly there to add structure to my days and to qualify for student benefits. Zero long-term plan. It ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made. I quickly learned to recognize projects where I could apply my existing interests and talents, so working was actually fun. I also gained the skills to breeze by tasks that weren’t enjoyable. Because it was a UAS, I got what felt like years of working experience under my belt before I graduated, which was invaluable as a young person without parents to groom me towards professional life.

I wish I wasn’t 17 when I had to make the decisions about it, and I wish I did many things differently. But ultimately yes I’m glad to have recieved a degree.

I got tired of working crappy jobs for >$10/hr, so I went and got a 2 year degree in IT. A few months after graduation, I got a job in my chosen field, and a couple years after that, I landed a position specifically related to my degree. While a college degree isn’t necessary in every job/field, in my case, it’s been the wisest decision and had the most profound impact in my life so far.

Got most the way through an environmental science degree, then learned the job market was mostly helping oil companies dodge regulations.

Father got cancer so I had to return and help out, asked the bursars what can I get with the credits I’d accumulated, took a “university studies” bachelor.

Returned to school online in 22’ for a degree in software. About half way through the degree the layoffs started. Cut my losses and dropped out.

~43k usd debt for both programs as of now after paying some down over the last 8ish years.

I enjoyed being exposed to new ideas, information, ways of thinking etc. probably could have found those things without the price tag.

I got a two year English degree and now work in tech. It was primarily focused on creative writing, which doesn’t help much in my field.

Yeah, I wanted to go and learn more shit, didn’t matter what (and my parents didn’t care either), I just wanted to learn more. Eventually landed on biology and got a BS. I still wanted to learn more so I got a PhD in biology. I’m a postdoc now and still learning and discovering cool things.

Relative to my qualification i’m paid like shit and nothing about my position is permanent, so it’s stressful. I love my job though, and don’t regret my path through higher ed…except maybe that I’d like to have learned skills to be able to fix my own car.

Undergrad in History and International Relations, because I intended to become a diplomat. Realized an anxiety disorder was probably not going to make that a good career choice. Decided to go to nursing school, got an associates in “science” working on the pre-reqs and then decided to go to grad school for public health and epidemiology instead.

Honestly I love school, I don’t regret any of it except that I was too nervous about quitting my job (I worked my way through to cover what grants and loans didn’t) to do a term abroad. I should have taken the five weeks in Berlin.

I went to university (Australia). I struggled a lot but finally made it through with a Computer Science degree, just in time for AI to fuck everything up. Now I’m a year and a half post-degree and still unable to get a job.

As for why, I went because it was the “right” thing to do. My younger sister got a degree and a “real” job and was doing well. She’s the golden child, and I guess I wanted that praise and love from my parents too. So I went to uni to get a degree too. But I’m still failing. Still worthless in their eyes.

I went and it’s the biggest regret of my life.

It took me 4 years to find a job after leaving because half of my prospective employers thought I was overqualified, and the other half said that completing university was no guarantee that I’d handle “real work”. My first (and current) job is only tangentially related to my field and doesn’t require a degree. Or any training, to be honest.

7 years before I bought my house, it sold for exactly half of what I paid for it. If I swallowed my pride and got a shitty minimum wage job straight out of high school, I wouldn’t have a student loan (where I live it’s interest free, but there’s a minimum weekly payment which is based on your wage), I would have been able to buy a house so much earlier, for so much less money, and I would have been paying off my mortgage for so much longer.

In hindsight, my perspective is this: The actual cost of going to university isn’t your student loans (which are still substantial, don’t get me wrong) - it’s time. Your degree has to make you so much more money than most people realise, because at a minimum you’re starting your working life 3 years later than you normally would - that’s 3 years you could have been working and saving, and 3 years of extra inflation to deal with.

Graduated high school 12 years ago and never got any further education than that (college, trade school, apprenticeship, or whatever else). It’s far too expensive to risk starting and realizing I hate doing what I wasted money on or that any job that would take the degree pays less than I currently make or just straight up doesn’t exist (even if it did exist when I started education). My current job pays $50k in a small Midwest town which is fine for right now.

I started because my parents made me. I stayed because mechanical engineering is pretty cool. I’ve had some very cool jobs in robotics and aerospace, currently going back to school part-time to study electrical engineering. After being in the industry for 10-ish years I realized I’m more interested in EE.

I did a year of literature when I didn’t know what to do in my life. I always liked computers so after that I applied to a computer science school. There I had a lot of fun and met a lot of people, some I still have in my life, learned some useful mindsets. Before I managed to get an actual degree I started working. From NOC engineer to software developer where I happily stayed. Did I need my higher education? Probably not, but I think it gave me another perspective and friends and many fun memories.

Wanted to go to a trade school for welding when I was a teenager. Mother said no, because “you’re going to college”

I kept asking for help figuring out college stuff, mother kept saying “I’ll help you tomorrow/next week when I have time” (she was technically a substitute teacher but usually worked 1 day/wk)

Graduation came and went and I had no money saved up, no colleges looked at beyond what my limited googling skills could come up with, and absolutely no help from my parents with anything.

Good news though, since my parents collectively made enough money, I didn’t qualify for financial aid of any kind! Did I say good news? I meant bad.

And of course my parents lived paycheck to paycheck and we got EBT or medicaid for most of my childhood.

Now instead of an education or a trade that’s in demand, I have depression and a shitty 15/hr job that is destroying my joints.

Ain’t life grand?

I did twice. First right after high school, and many years later, my work offered to pay for a master’s program.

Now, I work at a college, so technically, I go to college every day and plan to until retirement.