The point of going to college is to find a career path that you're comfortable enough with to do for a very long time, potentially your whole life. During that time of working in your field, you're expected to make your way up the ladder and gradually make more money.

Without college, unless you find something you're VERY good, you'll just be working odd jobs, making scraps wherever you can, and probably living with your parents (or with someone else willing to tolerate your lack of sufficient income).

Having a degree, may appeal to many, but at the end of the day there are so many different variations out there.

I work with someone who spend time in jail, he makes about 10K a month, he has no degree. We have another guy who does the same thing and doesn't even make half of what the other guy makes. And he went to school for it.

Degree or no degree, when u know your stuff, it shows.
Sometimes a degree locks you into something you may not even like. As in my case.

I think that before, people commit to a particular field, in which they want to acquire a degree, they should spend some time in that field and see what it's like in the real world, because as Nic said, we don't live in a bubble.

You are, indeed, a perfect example of someone who can achieve a comfortable lifestyle while being as educated as anyone else, if not, even more! The things that I have seen you accomplish in the last few years is inspirational to me, and gives me hope and motivation for success.

Education doesn't always cost an arm and a leg. Financial aid services from the govermment help MANY people in the US - I'm not sure if it's the same for Australia and other countries. Benefits that some students gain from being a student can be VERY useful and important to them, because they may not have the funds to provide these things to themselves on their own.

In terms of security, I completely understand where you're coming from. A "degree" doesn't mean that the person is any more or less qualified to talk about a subject matter. For someone that doesn't have much to back themselves with, unlike yourself, they would need all they can get to fall back on.

As I have already agreed on, people can live happily and achieve amazing results without a college degree, but unfortunately, that's not the case with everyone.

* More money:
As you know I don't have a college degree yet I am in a well paid job writing software for the radio industry. I know that there will be opportunity for advancement and other better employment opportunities in the future.

* Knowledge and skill set:
I agree that you learn many things while studying, and you can pick up ways of thinking and skills from your professors (for better and for worse) but I don't believe that doing your college course prepares you for real world experience. Real world experience prepares you for real world experience, many theoretical things don't apply in real life.

The major benefit to college is that I find that sometimes I do sometimes face concepts that I might have spent time on in college. Having the past experience would make it easier to grasp these concepts today.

By the way, any good interviewer should know a good candidate by interviewing them, irrelevant on whether they have a degree or not. I believe that the interviewer will pick someone based on their skills, not what degree they have.

* Security:
Saying that having a degree lets you get into conversations without embarrassing yourself is absolute nonsense. I've met plenty of people who have degrees that hardly know a thing, they're the ones embarrassing themselves.

Sometimes I get self conscious when talking to people who have degrees, especially when I've only just met them. Not having a degree does give people a false impression of your skills and I find myself not wanting the subject to be raised, but it's something that I am gradually becoming more confident with because I know it's only a perception.

Also, I feel perfectly comfortable in my job, the people I work with know what I am capable of and I don't think I am going to get fired because of a lack of college degree.

* Social benefits:
Totally agree, there are big benefits socially. The interaction with like minded people is something that I never had much of.

* Student benefits:
Getting cheap software, hardware, travel, movie tickets, etc can help with finances, I don't believe it's something that should be should be classed as one of your 5 reasons for finishing college.

Especially since you're paying tens of thousands of dollars for your degree in the first place.

>>> Anyhow
Being 26 now I do have the ability to start looking at my life in hindsight I if I were transported back in time to when I was 18 and just finishing year 12 I know I would do things much differently.

I struggled for years and years with my business, and while I learned a great deal from it, and I do believe I've gained abilities that I'd have never gained from a degree from the experience, it would have been easier to get where I am now if I had have gotten a degree instead of getting full time jobs in various fields and then running my own business for a few years.

While I don't really agree with all of your article, I do agree that having a degree is a benefit. In vocations such as mine it's not essential but in several other vocations it's extremely important.

Having a degree also makes it easier if you want to live and work in other countries for a while.