Husband was bio and psych, I was bio and anthropology, both from private colleges. Neither of us love money, being consumers, or lavish lifestyles. Keep that in mind when framing the following as talk of money can make those who don't care much for it say, "well, I'll be fine because I don't need a lot". We have both noticed more job positions demanding degrees...when the job really doesn't require it and certainly does not pay enough to warrant it. There are two jobs where I was paid fifty cents more than those without a degree. The income was tough on my friends and coworkers without degrees and student debt, and that little bit more didn't so much as touch my student debt.
Fresh out of college, we struggled and struggled to find a job. Any job. We finally were able to secure a minimum wage job only because we knew someone working at a company that was hiring. It has been really common for managers to come out of schools rather than work up through the ranks and for HR and keyword finding software to do the hiring, and I feel it has helped lead things in a very negative direction. Also fun is degree-holder purgatory where you are both never qualified enough and overqualified at the same time. We spent some time living out of our car.
Internships had some benefits, but do not expect them to lead to a job these days, or even to have enough benefits learning wise to justify the small or completely absent income. Each time I was too busy doing unpaid labor to learn about and be involved in the activities that were promised as part of the whole work for peanuts/free deal.
Both my husband and I have seen our friends struggle. Friends who have PhDs are having a very rough time overall. Probably the friends doing the best with their actual degrees are a couple who are part of the government program where the student debt you accrue pursuing teaching certification is lightened if you teach in an inner-city area. It seems to have been very good for their souls and doable for their pocket books. My husband and I found similar gratification working in a clinical therapy setting for teens (did not require a degree...), and I did toy with the idea of pursuing a PhD in clinical psych for a while. I think I would love the work, but decided that the risk these days with student debt was too high, and also that there are things I want to do for our future now...not ten or more years down the road after another round of schooling and internships. Reading up on transient degree holders and seeing how the odds have worked amongst my friends makes me relieved that my husband also decided against a PhD (in psychology of the completely different sort for him).
Well, we both ended up going back to school not too long ago. My husband went to community college to get a start in the IT world. He worked while taking classes and had no student debt (he worked while getting his double major too...but still had plenty of student debt). After his first certification, he was able to find a job immediately that has paid substantially more than either of us have ever made before, and he continues to work on certifications with no schooling other than books and free web materials. We were able to move and buy two acres after he did that, and right now, I am working for very little part-time while fixing up this place until it is a homestead that provides most of our food. Once this place is more under wraps, I will be pursuing independent study and certification as well.
Not trying to scare you or be overly negative. Not all degrees will lead to more debt than they do jobs, and there are still plenty of great job experiences out there. If you know how to network to secure jobs, your chances are better still. Just be mindful of why it is that so many young people are moving back in with their parents, and also that the hiring process has completely changed from what it was with older generations who worked hard to send their kids to school because that meant a secure future.
, 4 actually worked in our field of study and 2 were making do with an average paying job until something better came along in the area were they wanted to live. One was not employed but actively searching for work. That was actually better odds of getting the job I wanted than I had thought so I went for it.
