I was super-thrifty. I got a scholarship for undergrad and worked most of the way through both programs. So including fees and living expenses I graduated with about $60,000 in loans. I make that in about 12 weeks now. Best investment I ever made.

My sister also went to a state college and got her bachelors. Total cost $20k. She makes well into six figures as a VP of sales for a major retailer.

And we both went to school sans help... grew up on welfare and living in housing projects. So it all depends on 1) whether you pick a marketable degree (as opposed to art history) and 2) whether you are willing to work your ass off either way.

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Here's reality:

Bill, who couldn't find a job as a plumber because he was only 18 years old, went to work at Wal-Mart instead, starting at $9/hr. He couldn't contribute 5% of his income on anything because he had to spend everything he earned (and then some) on rent, groceries, and gas.

Three years later, at age 21, he finally got hired as an apprentice plumber at $13/hr. Eventually, he would become an independent contractor and top out at an effective hourly wage of roughly $30/hr.

Do you think plumbers make $75/hr. for a whole 40 hours a week? "No" would be the correct answer. They charge you $75/hr., then pay both his portion of SS/Medicare tax and his nonexistent employer's share. He isn't actually performing billable labor for all 40 hours he's working in any case. If he's lucky, he probably brings home the same as some desk jockey who makes $30/hr.

Ernie, who was reasonably smart (smart enough to go to college and actually get an education) and majored in Electrical Engineering (and minored in some Arts and Sciences thing because he enjoyed it), went to work at Lockheed Martin after graduation at a starting pay of $58,000 (roughly $23.75/hr.), the going rate for new BSEE's, topping out somewhere in the low six figures. Because of his higher income, he managed to pay of his student loans AND contribute a significantly greater percentage of his income than 5% to his 401K.

Who made off better?

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I agree with Thomas Paladino, we need more intelligent, passionate people to be encouraged to take skilled trades, if that's their cup of tea, instead of telling everyone that not going to college is a life sentence of loserdom. I have a friend who is lucky to have made it through school without any debt by working, but now is looking to get an associate's in something she's actually interested in doing (as opposed to what she had majored in). She sees those 4 years as lost time and lost resources she'll never get back, all because she was too intimidated by the dominant ideology that smart people all go to college to just do what she wanted from the start.

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