[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by driveway

I was talking about this thread with a friend and I realized there are really TWO questions being asked.

The first one is "do you use the skills you learned in your degree?"

That is a different question to the one posed. Do you use the "skills" is different that do you "use" your degree? Skills is wide open to interpretation. If you have an engineering degree that may mean that you are using the specialized education from that program to do work on a day-to-day basis, or to obtain and maintain your stamp. It could also mean that you are leveraging the critical thinking and methodological skills you developed in your day-to-day life.

Using your degree could be as simple as having it to meet minimum qualifications for a position you are in or applying for. Without a degree, especially a baccalaureate degree, you may not have the qualifications to even earn an interview. My job is heavily predicated on my having a doctorate. I may not be leveraging the subject matter expertise that I earned the doctorate in, but the reality is that without that terminal degree I would not have had opportunity to be considered for the job I currently hold.

So the questions are very different.

And the second is "Did you get your money's worth?"

This is impossible to determine, as people don't understand the true value of education for years, or even decades, after they complete their degree. There is always buyers remorse, especially when the student debt becomes concrete and the payments start being made. People many times do not appreciate the changes that come with education. They don't appreciate the social mobility it provides. They don't appreciate the opportunity it provides and the advantages it grants, just by earning a degree. They don't appreciate the networks their education opens up. They don't appreciate the better person they've become because of exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking. These are benefits and measures that people many times over-look when they take on the process of evaluating whether they got their money's worth. They also don't appreciate the life long access to improved earning they have just by having that piece of paper. The realization of all of these benefits does not come quickly. It takes years to understand the benefits.

Most people won't get it until they are well into their post-education lives, have had a couple decades of work behind them, and have seen the benefits first hand. Many times this realization doesn't hit home until they have their own kids and are trying to help them decide the biggest decision of their young lives - where to go to college/university. At that point the realization of the value of that degree and the many opportunities it afforded them hits home.