College

The only reason that I mentioned not going to college is that I have always thought that we have an over educated population and from my experience is seems that tradesman are getting the best pay and benefits these days. Lately there has been some discussion about that very topic on talk shows. Not only do you loose an average of 5 years of your life and graduate in debt by tens of thousands of dollars but I don't think college helps that much anymore.

You mentioned an ME degree I can only assume it means Mechanical Engineering. I can assure you that engineers are far from secure. My father is an aerospace and electrical engineer and he spent plenty of time under employed while he waited for the cyclical job market to return.

By comparison I spent some time with a carpet layer this afternoon who fully expects to be retired in 10 years at 40.

Therefore my advise is to get an early start on the job market and if you like it and seems to be working out then consider college.

Skyline