If you think it'l be easy to get hired at a legacy within the next 5 years without a degree you're living in la la land. 5 years from now getting on at a legacy will still be very competitive.

 

I get what you're saying, but most people today are not going to take on $100k+ in debt just to be 'well rounded.' With the cost of college going through the roof, you better pick a good field. My cousin just finished his bachelors and the total cost was over $200k. Needless to say, he's going to need a good paying job out of school.

Also, attaining knowledge, applying critical thinking, accomplishing goals, and meeting timelines are things we as pilots accomplish every day, degree or not.

 

........really?

 

[QUOTE=Judge Smails;2137546]I get what you're saying, but most people today are not going to take on $100k+ in debt just to be 'well rounded.' With the cost of college going through the roof, you better pick a good field. My cousin just finished his bachelors and the total cost was over $200k. Needless to say, he's going to need a good paying job out of school.

Two years at junior college, two years at a state school and work part time and summers and you can graduate with little or no debt.

 

[QUOTE=WhatNow;2137550]I just calculated that scenario in my state. Junior college here is $9,900/year. State school for a resident is $23,600/year, for a 4 year total of roughly $67,000. You're not paying for that bagging groceries part time.

 

Judge - you just told the story yourself - your cousin walked out of college with $200,000 in debt. You showed how it could be done for $67,000. Or go directly to the state school and graduate with $95,000 in debt(4x $23,600).

Daughter commented on the $200,000 vs. $95,000 choice decisions that friends were making - "that's crazy. The state school is higher ranked." Bingo. $100,000 for the campus views...

 

Some things to think about.
The trend in cost of degrees is going way down very fast. With the exception of large schools and ivy leave colleges there is a lot of downward pressure on costs and I'd be willing to bet in 10 years school will be free.
If you look hard enough you can find 3 or 4 accredited colleges offering online degrees from zero time to degree in under $10,000.
Having said that the Human Resources profession also recognizing the need to look at experience over degrees. Many large established businesses are leaving college off their apps entirely.

http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/25/why-google-doesnt-care-about-college-degrees-in-5-quotes/

Aviation will do the same. I suggest you never go into debt for school (or anything else) Community college and a school that is affordable makes sense.

If you were very young you would probably be okay in the future without a degree as long as you had TPIC.

 

A similar example, in the military we had to take continuing military education. When your a Major, in order to get promoted you had to do ACSC (not important what it stands for). Every now an then an "Outlier" would get promoted to Lt Col without accomplishing ACSC. This would embolden a few guys in every unit to avoid biting the bullet and do ACSC because "so and so" didn't do it and got promoted. Invariably all of the "dice rollers" who didn't do ACSC were passed over for promotion a few years later and either had to scramble and cram to finish ACSC before their next promotion board, or they retired as a Major. Just get the degree, as a minimum, you can tell your interviewer how hard your working to accomplish this goal, and your resume can reflect the fact your "enrolled" in a University program..makes you look like a hard charger!

 

Actually he speaks for a majority of circumstances these days.

 

Consider this...before the degree requirement goes away completely, they could add a "if no degree, are you currently working towards it?" box to check. And checking yes puts you ahead of all those who are simply waiting for the requirement to go away. Meet the bar half way as it starts to come down.

If you want the job, go get it.