[freehunter]

Complete anecdote, but I have a friend who went to the same college, for the same major, and we started the same year. He went on for six years before he got his degree (plus a minor), I "dropped out" of being an on-campus full time student after two and only continued to take classes when I was able to pay for them out of pocket, which meant one or two classes per semester while working full time.

Now granted I got lucky and found a company that was willing to pick me up as an intern, then hire me part time, then hire me full time while I was working on my degree. Five years past graduation, my friend and I work for the same company now making roughly the same money in exactly the same job. I bought a house a year ago, he lives with his parents. I got into the workforce and started making money four years before he did, and he racked up four years more student loan debt than I did, so his monthly payments are over $800. That's the price of my mortgage.

We make the same money in the same job with the same education credentials, but instead of him making a house payment, he makes a student loan payment of the same size.

[yardie]

Indeed you were lucky. Most land grant colleges are in far off rural areas. The local economy is built around the university so it can be very hard for students to find part-time or even full-time work that isn't service jobs. If you can find an employer that will work around a class schedule then you've hit the jackpot.

[freehunter]

That was actually part of the challenge for me, my school was 50+ miles from the nearest real city. I didn't have a job that worked around my school schedule, I had a school schedule that worked around my job, which is why it took so long for me. Lots of online classes and classes transferred from the local community college.

[_dominic]

You would factor that as the cost of his quality of life, while you were a full-time worker and half student he was a full time student.

[Phlarp]

As a data sample of one, roughly 2.5 years post graduation: I've found "quality of life" to be far higher in the professional world than it ever was as a student. Managers are generally more reasonable than stodgy tenure track professors and "group projects" have a lot more buy-in from group members when everyone is getting cut a paycheck at the end of the week.

[ryandrake]

I've been a full-time student (twice!) and a professional worker, and I would never, ever choose to go back to the lifestyle of being a full time student. Ever again. Full stop.

It's just like work, but instead of making money you're losing it--both gradually and in large chunks every 6 months. The workload is the same (probably greater as a student), the pressure is the same, the lack of free time is the same. You're subject to the same arbitrary deadlines and due dates. Plus, as a student, you have the privilege of needing to take high-stakes tests every semester or so. It's basically years of hazing for a credential that's become a requirement for getting any job later.

It's as if devised by a Bond villain: "I know, Let's have a system where we take a bunch of people in the prime of their lives, work them like slaves, subject them to enormous pressures and tests, put their social and productive lives on hold, and if they make it through N years of this hazing, only then do we let them participate as full members of society. AND TO TOP IT OFF THEY WILL PAY US FOR IT!"

[freehunter]

The only thing I truly enjoyed about the time I lived on-campus was hanging out with my friends. Fortunately most of them are still around and we get together several times per year.

I seriously do not miss studying, attending classes, doing homework, or having to walk everywhere. These days if I'm reading something boring, it's because I want to read something boring.

[antisthenes]

And now we should factor in his quality of life, since he lives with his parents and not independently.

[burkaman]

This seems like two extreme examples, though. You were able to pay most of your way through college and start your career early, he for some reason took six years for an undergraduate degree and paid for it all with loans. Most people are somewhere in the middle, spending 4 years in college with maybe some internships and/or part-time jobs to help out.

[freehunter]

It is, which is partly why I picked him as an example. I have another friend (in a different field) who did it in four and had an internship during his last year. He's doing well for himself, though he makes a bit less due to his career choices versus mine.

But don't be fooled into thinking a part-time job pays for college in any way, any way at all. I had a full time job making $40k and could only afford one or two classes per semester, and I lived extremely frugally. Paid-off car, apartment under $400/mo, no vices, no parties, and no pets. Someone making $8.15/hr for 20 hours a week only makes ~$8000/yr, or ~$4000 per semester. My mid-size state university costs over $13k per semester, plus books.