Frankly, as a business owner, I could care less about the degree. I care about what tangible skills you bring to the table, right now, to help my team win. Time taken to train you is time lost in productivity, and a cost of overhead.
Average time an employee spends in a job - 3 years.
Average time it takes a business to generate positive revenue - 3 years
Turning over one employee can cost around 1/2 of a low skilled hourly workers annual wages plus benefits, while losing a member of C-Level upper management can cost 3 to 5 times his or her annual wages and benefits.
A degree is all about what you want to do in life. Some will tell you it is a measure of your ability to finish something. Well, 6 years in the Navy, 2 combat tours, overseas billets, and an honorable discharge mean more than that to me. Yet, aside from Air Traffic Control, I was "unemployable". And so... I employed myself. And I am legitimately unemployable now. There is no offer high enough to get me to go work for some big corporation that determines what I am worth. I will fly airplanes for that reason for only one reason; I love flying airplanes. And at some point, I will be able to parlay that knowledge into operating my own aircraft for hire.
The fact is this; you're getting into the working world with nothing more than a piece of paper that says you woke up on time, showed up, and took the requisite tests. In the worst economy in yours and my lifetime. You'll NEVER get the ROI out of a college degree today. In 1950, you were told if you go to college, work hard, get good grades, you'll graduate, and get a good job. You'll work loyally for a loyal company for 20,30, or 40 years, and retire with enough to live "comfortably" on. Today... That is laughable. You'll spend between 60-160m to get a piece of paper where you'll pray to God that some HR person sees your pithy resume and calls you about a $23,000 a year job with GREAT benefits. And MAYBE will match your 401k which is worthless, as well. You might get a 3% a year raise, and work there until you're burned out in 3 years and have to relocate to another company that will pay you what you think you're worth. And the wheel turns....
If you want to climb the corporate ladder, plan on AT LEAST a Master's or PhD. The bachelor's is a good starting place. Maybe your company will match part of your tuition. But a degree won't get you into ULM. Work for yourself and your degree becomes irrelevant. But, your success and failure is dependent solely on how big your dream is, how clear your vision is, and how well you can generate revenue out of the gate to offset the enormous costs of running and operating your own gig. But.... When CEO's and others come out to my farm and ask me to trade places, I get validation that I need to continue doing what I'm doing vs. whatever they make a year and promises of Golden Parachutes and stock options etc.
It's all about what you want out of your life.
Figure out what it is you want to do in your life, find people bigger and better than you to help you, listen to what they tell you, and stay committed to whatever it is that you're after. A few years of doing that will show you exactly what the worth of your degree is.
