[degenerate]

The important thing is to keep learning on your own during the 4 years of college. You're essentially playing the game, going through the motions for the degree. What they teach you in college you probably won't apply to your actual job, so keep learning on your own and teaching yourself new programming languages, tools, and techniques for what you enjoy doing. The degree just opens doors.

[Alupis]

The degree doesn't just open doors, it forces you to learn and be exposed to some things you wouldn't have otherwise.

Sure, we can say taking a Film Study class is a waste of time, but I can tell you from experience that years later, you will look at things in film a little different than before. Would I have sat down on my own and studied film techniques, types of lighting, angles, etc...? Probably not. Does it apply to my career? Well, not directly, other than making the mind think about things a little different.

Without those CS classes forcing you to learn Binary Trees, Shortest Path, Circular Queue, Algorithmic Proofs, etc... how many would sit down on their own and learn them? Probably very few. Will it apply directly to a job? Maybe. It really depends on what type of job you have. Simply "programming" or "developing", then probably not. Engineering a system, then those Priority Queue's probably come in handy.

A lot of arguments settle on the basis that [1]University doesn't teach you anything you couldn't learn already, and/or [2]it doesn't teach job skills.

1) Of course it teaches things you could learn on your own... but would you? It's unlikely.

2) Of course it doesn't teach job skills, University is not a Trade School.

The big take away from University is that it's an experience that enriches your life. It's unlikely you will notice it immediately, but it will impact your life in a positive manner. University shows commitment, and accomplishment.

[ghufran_syed]

As they say in finance, "price is what you pay, value is what you get". In these discussions about college, it's worth us differentiating those two parts. Many of those arguing in favor of college are describing the value of college ('what you get'), without discussing the price. Many of those arguing against college are focussing mainly on the price (tuition, lost earnings etc) without discussing the value. Clearly, the balance between the two is what matters, and that is different for different careers, and different funding mechanisms for college.

As a thought experiment, imagine the same college degree was available: 1) tuition free, with an additional $20,000 / year given to you for living expenses 2) tuition free, with no living expenses 3) at a tuition cost of $100,000 4) at a tuition cost of $1,000,000 5) at a tuition cost of $10,000,000 and so on

'What you get' in the degree would be the same in each case, but there come a point where 'what you pay' would be too high in relation to 'what you get'.