Amusingly, I have a polisci/philosophy with a minor in history and I make my money in computer science. I never viewed college as a tech school, I viewed it as an avenue to study things that expanded my mental frames of reference.

Perhaps that's why I'm not just a pure coder but also a biz dev, marketing, and operations resource for the companies I've worked for.

Abstract thinking with an understanding of how it applies to multiple problem sets is far more valuable than sheer technical knowledge.

It's a good thing, then, that a CS education also trains you in abstract thinking applied to multiple domains. Subjects like mathematics (especially more abstract branches) and CS (especially theoretical CS) are some of the best options for expanding your mind and gaining new perspectives.

Despite the name, computer science isn't actually about computers or even technology. At its core, it's the study of information--very much a dual to certain branches of math and even certain branches of philosophy. "Computer" is just the name given to essentially all the tools used to study information and computation.

Having immediate practical applications does not mean CS doesn't also have significant depth!

Discussions about macroeconomic conditions aren't about people like you. You are a very small minority. You probably also went to a pretty good school. I would not advise a random eighteen year old to pursue your path, and isn't that what we're talking about?

Another article I read recently said that the gains were made by people above the age of 25. This actually indicates that experience became the important factor of the recession, though the degree may have been important prior to the recession in order to build that experience.