I’d say that in the age of information we’re living in – everyone needs to master quite a bit more academic skills than was necessary a hundred years ago. Otherwise they’re just someone’s tool, they will eventually find themselves in a rapidly evolving vocation but without the skills to rapidly adapt, etc.

Additionally, I’d also state that quite a bit more analysis is coming out that shows high correlations between college education and health. Of course there are many exceptions – but in general a college education results in better economic opportunities and health.

In other words my above comments are less directed at what someone studies than how much more effort they put into it to improve themselves.

Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve known many people like that.

Garbage in, garbage out.

1. Live at home.
2. Get required courses out of the way at a community college.
3. Look into online degrees, which are more flexible if you need to work.
4. Test out.
5. Join the military.
6. Don’t go. If you’re more interested in a trade like plumbing, why go to college to get a liberal arts degree?

Having said that – in many fields there are excellent state universities that provide great education in specific areas. For example, both University of California at Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (where I got my MS/CS) have great engineering and CS programs that rival the best private schools. There are several other great state schools.

I think deciding what one wants to study early on and researching universities based on education offered in a specific field may allow to find a good value for the money.

Another trick is for people who plan to go to grad school: they can go to an OK and relatively inexpensive public school as an undergrad, get the best grades possible and then to try to get an assistantship to go to the best graduate school for their field. Assistantships cover tuition and fees regardless of their cost and pay enough salary to live on. More than enough to live on modestly: there was a woman in my department who was a single mother of three who lived on an assistantship and felt it was enough.

Another trick. Many undergrad programs require a number of courses outside of the major e.g. English composition, humanities or social sciences requirements for a math major, etc. Starting in a community college, taking these courses and then transferring, or simply taking these courses during summer may save money. A friend of mine daugter did it during summer.

“Furthermore, taking 20 credits a semester wasn’t that onerous. I was still able to work 20 hours a week and earns A’s.”
Me too, but it really depends on courses and a university. In some universities the workload is so high that it may not be possible. I did it as an undergrad, but even there I had to organize my schedule so that only 2 of these 4 courses required completion of complex projects every couple of weeks. I would’ve found it diffucult in my grad school. Still, it’s a good idea, one just needs to be careful.

“… college is not a monetary or career investment but a “life changing experience” where education is valued for its own sake.”
This is something I don’t understand either. For example, I can understand an English major who wants to be a writer or a journalist and actually has talent for it; I can understand someone who plans to be a teacher or a technical writer or a lawyer. What I don’t understand is someone’s majoring in English in order to “improve writing skills”. I think one should learn writing skills in school.
In most countries, young people go to college to get a profession. In these countries one doesn’t just apply to a university, one applies directly to be a specific major. Different majors have different entrance requirements, different number of students accepted and different number of people applying on the same spot. Where I grew up, we had about 2 applicants/1 spot competition for engineering, but 10/1 competition for humanities and thousands to 1 competition in art, acting, or music. Anybody wishing to major in, for example, native language had to demonstrate writing ability well beyond one required for engineering majors, not just the good writing skills, but something special.

I think this approach makes a lot more sense than wasting 4 years and a lot of money getting a degree one will not use. In some universities in the US, a person with only mediocre abilities can even declare a major in music… How does it make sense?

I’ll be graduating this spring at 20 with my BA, which I completed in 3 years. I had no credits coming into college, but took an extra class every semester and a couple of courses at a local community college during the summers and it was fairly painless. A bright and motivated student could easily do it. There are lots of ways to earn college credits. Graduating early is letting me afford a degree from a much more prestigious university than I otherwise would have been able to afford.

Furthermore, taking 20 credits a semester wasn’t that onerous. I was still able to work 20 hours a week and earns A’s.