What's the point of a four year degree when everybody and their cat has one?

What's the point in even spending four years of college to get a degree? A Bachelors holds less value now than it ever did. There are too many people attending college and getting degrees so why get one too? You're not distinguishing yourself at all.

Unless you want a Master's or Doctorate's or you are fortunate enough to get into a top end university like Harvard or Stanford, I don't see a point of going out of your way to get a Bachelors unless you really like college.

There are many fields that don't require a Bachelors to get into and there is also the option of going to a trade school and focus on getting the knowledge you need to work in a particular field without the stuff you don't. Furthermore, for the self starters, freelance work and entrepreneurial opportunities on the internet are more abundant than they ever were before.

Why bother with a Bachelors? Why make life needlessly complicated?

I think the desire to be educated is a noble one, and in our modern world it's hard to find a good job without extensive *knowledge* - but you're right that holding a degree may not always be the best way to obtain that knowledge. Especially in the modern workforce, many skillsets you learn in college are already out of date by the time you get into the work force. Not to mention many colleges these days are for profit and will end up drowning you in debt for the rest of your life. Most industries are so specific you have to start form the ground up when you start there, anyway. But unfortunately, a lot of employers want the degree to prove you have the commitment to learn. Anyway, you're right. Will Hunting said it best: "you dropped 150 grand on a ****in' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!"

It really comes down to what you want to do. A Bachelor's isn't worth much by itself, but it's becoming a prerequisite for a lot of jobs in N.America, even ones that didn't use to require them just because there's a huge surge of people with degrees looking for jobs nowadays. Coding used to be a prove your skill and worth kind of job, but since anyone applying for a dev job can do that nowadays, employers tend to look for those with education on top of the skill set.

I didn't ever finish my business degree before getting into entrepreneurship. I've worked for a few of the bigger startups in Canada, as well as a few smaller ones and eventually co-founded my own. Definitely didn't need a degree to do that, but it wouldn't have hurt either. I didn't get a few jobs that I would have otherwise gotten with a degree, and lost a few networking opportunities for alumni only.

It's definitely worth getting a Bachelor's nowadays because it does make employment easier, but that is also highly based on what you're interested in doing. If you're more interested in anything that's outside of academia, sciences and the professional/corporate world, your time and money can definitely be better spent elsewhere. However, if your interest does lay in one of those, then it's definitely to your advantage to finish your degree.

I think the biggest problem is that people are often fed the idea that they need to get a degree first and then figure out what they want to do, instead of vice versa.

I feel like that is the problem. Now that everyone has one, if you don't.. your distinguishing yourself in a bad way.

Personally I think the degree is just a piece of paper and I didn't lean anything in college. But I have a degree and that is necessary today just to get even the most slight job.

I don't really understand Bernie Sanders' plan to give everyone a free education. That will just make things worse. A degree won't be even the slightest bit special. It is sad to say but the value of the college education was never 'what you learned" which is unknowable anyway.. it was weeding out a certain group as a better caliber of employee so employers could feel they had something special.

I went to grad school and it is the same thing... wayy to many people got this degree for the jobs available and now 50% are out of work or making what someone at Starbucks would.

I'm honestly glad I made this thread when I did.

I am working on my final essay this week for English Comp and I plan on writing about the evolution of jobs and how dramatically the job market is going to change thanks to technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Talking about stuff like this on PC will only benefit me further on this.

Once things start changing, I have a feeling that a degree in a STEM related field will increase and most other college degrees will become obsolete.

I shall enlighten everybody including my professor about why

Yes an actual Bachelors Degree doesn't really carry much weight...However the Academic Transcript is what is all important. This denotes the levels you attained in each module which builds a frame reference of your abilities for acceptance into higher levels of study and/or entry level employment. Its important to remember that there are hundreds of surgeons and lawyers who graduated at the bottom of their class....this unfortunately isn't displayed on the actual degree hanging on their office wall. The Gap between 42 High Distinctions as opposed to 40 Passes+ 2 Credits is massive.

When I was looking for a job it was required that I submit my transcript willingly. I used to think that just passing was enough because they couldn't see my records.. I never thought to apply they would make me willingly turn them over.

I also find that a lot of time well connected people get good jobs as sort of bribes. Quid Pro Quo to their dads. I went to school with the son of a congress person but I didn't know it until graduation. That explained how he managed to get a 6 figure per year job with straight Cs. It was a bribe to dad so dad would take their calls. But all these people do need to have the degree.

If everyone has one, except you, doesn't that mean you are ****ed?

While I do get the argument of people paying way too much money for their degree.
I also get the argument of people getting degrees that do not have much demand.
I do not get the argument that not everyone needs a degree to get a job.

We are just being hit with a new wave of automation. There are going to be many people that the job market just doesn't have any need for. If you are a young person, you should be concerned about how you get a job in a world where 20-40% of the current jobs are automated/no longer exist.

So you need skills so you can generate profit for a company. And you need a way to prove it in 5 minutes.

In an ideal country, everyone has an advanced degree and no person does manual labor/mundane work. All people have interesting, intellectually stimulating jobs.

Saying that all people having a Bachelor's degree is the same as no one having it is a very very odd statement. It reminds me of this video:

My knowledge with both technology and business is only increasing and my plan is to be self employed or run a business someday. I don't need college when I can just as easily learn everything that I need online for free and pay a couple hundred dollars to get some certifications with what I learn instead of tens of thousands on a college degree.

I only attend college out of necessity right now. I do it only because I need their resources and help because I can't function fully independently as of yet. It is unlikely that I will be able to endure college for a full four years but who knows what the future holds.

At least, with the growing gig economy, there will be plenty of opportunities to be self employed in the coming years which is far better than living life being told what to do and told how to live your life by some asshole who makes more money than you but I won't get into that here.

I do know that for me, the fact that I had a Bachelor's Degree meant that I started out at a little higher pay when I started my current job, and also, two of the promotions that I've received since I've been with the company required a Bachelors Degree in addition to experience. What actually got me in the door though was the fact that I also have a Vocational School Certificate for Office Management and Computer Operations.

The fact that my degree is in social services, and I work in Marketing/Web Development, has prevented me from receiving further promotions. I'm a self-taught web designer, I've been creating websites for 17 years, I've been working at my current job for 12 years. It took 5 years before I was even considered for web development and then only part time, and it has only been since January that my role has change to primarily web development. If I had the right degree, I would have been there much sooner, and I'd be making significantly more than I do now. So, the right degree can help you reach your max potential, the wrong degree can get you more pay.

That said, not all careers need a degree. It's really a matter of research, what do you want to do, and what type of training do you need to get where you want to be? Having the wrong degree has made it difficult to get where I want to go, but it's been better than not having a degree.

Trades are hurting for young workers, since most of the labor in those jobs are getting older and have very few people to replace them. A vocational school, career center, and even a community college can have courses for those jobs. Much cheaper than a four year degree , and less time (two years or less).

You guys have been making valid points; so much so that I have been questioning my negative opinions towards college and actually considering sticking it out.

I still don't know exactly what I want to do yet. I have many paths that I might want to take but nothing clear cut. I am trying to endure, but I can't help to think that I might lack the resilience to spend 4 full years on college and deal with all of the rules and structure on top of having to survive and deal with my mental health.

Still though, I will try my best. I will at the very least earn my Associates Degree. I will likely be able to score two Associates Degrees because the trade school that I went to several years ago for working in the IT field has a deal with the college that I attend where one can count the work they do at the trade school towards an Associates Degree which means that if I complete the two year program, I will have two Associates Degrees instead of just one which should mean something at least.

Once I get to that point, I will likely have a better idea of what I want out of life. If I do go for a 4 year degree though, I am NOT getting one in the state that I currently live in. I am transferring my credits and leaving.