[ruswick]

I'm in what might be considered a precursor to this situation. I'm a high schooler and although I have a fair amount of technical skill, finding employment has been a fruitless endeavor. I fear that my inability to find freelance work or secure an internship will preclude me from the vast majority of jobs. Moreover, my grades are fairly mediocre (something largely attributable to depression and general apathy), which effectively prevents being accepted to most colleges. This then puts me into a situation whereby I'm forced to attend a state university, which, although technically has a lower sticker price, has a higher net cost because state schools don't meet full need. Moreover, in many cases obtaining a degree from middling college is tantamount to not having a degree. (Obviously, the majority of institutions still have a positive ROI but the return plumets as one descends college rankings.) I spend every day worried that I'll graduate with a relatively worthless education and little employment experience into a market in which I have no capacity for employment saddled with tens of thousands in debt.

[goldfeld]

Boy, if you start contributing to some open source project at your age, you'll be so ahead of the game. And you can do it from anywhere, for free (well, provided your access to HN is free.) Get yourself early exposure and it will be like a an investment fund that keep on giving compound interest.

[xionon]

I have a degree from a state college and do quite well for myself. I don't work at Google or Yahoo, but since I graduated in 2006 I've never been without a well paying job, or offers for one.

If you're studying computer science or a related field, your ROI is going to be just fine at a state university.