Buyer's Remorse: High Debt and Low Pay Leave Some College Grads Rueful

Re:Buyer's Remorse: High Debt and Low Pay Leave Some College... by leesec on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @10:30AM (#20040609)

I am a college dropout turned coder who eventually re-enrolled in school and want to shout out Western Governors University. I would have never gone back if it was 4 years and a huge amount of money. WGU offers the ability to test out of every class (or complete a project) for credit. You also pay by the 6 month term not the credit hour. This means for people who already have the skills or who have the work ethic you can finish a large number of credits very quickly. In the past 5 months I have completed 60~ credits. I will finish in likely 9 months and will pay no more than 7k total for the two semester.

A world of difference from 20-30k at 3-4 years.

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Re:Buyer's Remorse: High Debt and Low Pay Leave Some College... by chexx on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @11:33AM (#20041358)

Is there a reason why you decided to go back?

I am on a similar path (dropped out and landed SWE @ big bank) and still relatively early in my career (just turned 21).

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Re:Buyer's Remorse: High Debt and Low Pay Leave Some College... by leesec on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @01:55PM (#20043291)

Stability is the main reason. I've gone broke a lot in my life and hope to never do it again. Probably like 30-40% of companies won't care about a degree, but that still leaves 70-60% that might not even let you in the door. For 7k and 9 months it seems almost a steal to cement my employability and future stability.

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Re:Buyer's Remorse: High Debt and Low Pay Leave Some College... by chexx on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @03:14PM (#20044181)

Has that been an issue you have come across?

Granted, it felt like 99% of companies did not let me through the door, but I was under the assumption that after actually having industry experience, it wouldn't be as hard.

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