[eLobato]

This view on higher education saddens me a bit.

Is the self taught dev in your example ahead in work experience and financially? For sure. For how long though? I've personally seen brilliant people stuck in positions they don't belong in just because people generally prefer to give an opportunity to the most educated fellow of the group. Anyway one of the reasons I enrolled in college because I wanted to learn stuff I would probably not have a chance to learn while working. College opens a lot of opportunities (living abroad, studying abroad, prestige internships) that self-taught people usually can't simply 'break-in'. As a simple example, research groups are usually closed to people with college degrees. Not to mention the friendships, freedom to learn new things, the environment in which you can fall and stand up again easily, that college provides.

On the other hand, there are some benefits you can't just dismiss. Try telling a Japanese immigration officer you want to apply for a skilled worker visa because you learned a bunch of stuff contracting and on the internet.

I'm not saying the world is right not taking self-educated people as seriously as college educated people, but as long as the world works like that, self-taught geniuses will be at a disadvantage the same way college-educated punks will have an advantage.

PS: I purposefully didn't start to mention that the upsides of getting a college degree are virtually the same in the US as in places where the ratio 'upside/price' might be much higher.

[opendais]

I'm curious about the income portion of it mainly because it is the reality I live in, regardless of other advantages. I'm well aware there are some limitations to the choices I've made in life, like any other set of choices. However, if I care purely about the financial benefits...without a study showing one way or the other how can anyone make an informed decision based on facts rather than anecdotal evidence? :/

That is the part I was trying to get at.