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I mean I agree with you until you factor in the debt load. If it was just the loss of time but both time and being weighed down by debt as you try to support yourself. The system is screwed up.

I agree with you, however as always, context is key.

I'm speaking from the other end of the usual timeline - I wrapped education up after getting fucked about at my further education college. I'd lost interest and continuing my studies in my youth would likely have resulted in extra debt, burnout, or failure (or even the triple crown if I'd stuck it out). I went into employment instead.

Twenty years later, I'm back in part time study and I'm in year five of a six year degree programme - literally taking twice as long to do a normal BSc pathway because of the part time element.

I'm doing it for funsies. I felt like I had unfinished business with it, I really wanted to continue the study at least through undergraduate level, but I've done it for my own reasons rather than for a job or extra coin. The skills I've learned along the way - critical thinking; how to credit people for their work; and the general study material have been more than enough to consider this decision to be a success.

That said, I know I'm in an incredibly privileged position to do what I'm doing, and I'm quite sure that a lot of folk couldn't spunk £160-180 per month for six years, particularly when wages are stagnating and cost of living keeps rising. I've gone in to this wanting to learn about the field I'm studying, and not to hang my hopes of a job on that bit of paper the hopefully comes at the end of it. If nothing else, this course has shown me how little I know about the wider field and the world in general; and also how easy it is to game most systems including educational establishments for the most part - so in terms of employment, I can see how postnominals or a fancy certificate mean fuck all to employers.

I look at it as another formative stage in life - I've learned, I've developed, I'm a few grand lighter, but it opens new exciting doors to be able to get closer to the cutting edge in my current study field, or even pull the handbrake up and turn the wheel at the same time on my study career and pick another topic to read with more confidence.

I think the key is to at least enjoy what you're doing in general. If you hate your field or you're doing it because your job's pinned to it, then you're going to have A Real Bad Time™️ and I can see why people would be bitter about it when things go sideways after all that work.

I got a software degree and graduated right before chatgpt was made public. It changed everything.

I've done a few side projects and stuff since then, but everybody only wants AI work now and my education, while really fun and useful to me, was apparently not useful to anybody else the second AI was an option to investors.

I'm a bit bitter. I just want a job.

I wish that too, but you'll have to convince companies to stop making it a hard requirement first.

I personally think I would greatly enjoy college, gaining knowledge for the purpose of just gaining knowledge (after probably a couple years of remedial... everything.) In the unlikely event that i get to enjoy a retirement, that's likely what i would want to do with my time.

Unfortunately, it is financially untenable for me to even consider higher education.

The problem is that most colleges, at least in the US, aren't really about expanding knowledge, they're about checking items off a list. The vast majority of your required coursework isn't supposed to be teaching anything, it's to pad out your hours and inflate your tuition. And for that privilege you'll be paying enough money every year to force the average person into multiple decades worth of debt.