It depends on which school you attend and the courses you take and the career you choose.
I screwed up and sent my son to college when I should have bought him a McDonalds.
Reform begins at the state level with one axiom, and some statistics that getting will be as hard to get as pulling teeth from the universities.
The axiom is that the state subsidizes universities *solely* for the purpose of providing better education for its citizens resulting in better jobs for them than they could get with a high school education.
The statistics are first a listing of all academic majors in the state, compared with a list of the number of their graduates who have obtained employment in that field within six months after graduation.
At the top of the list would be Nursing, Education, and Criminal Justice, with lots of placements. At the bottom of the list would be majors like race and gender studies along with basket weaving and counting to fifteen without taking off your shoes. A LOT of college sports would be at the bottom of the list as well.
Then, the state legislator who compiled this list forwards a bill that no state funds would be used in future to subsidize these losers. If students want them enough to pay full value, good for them.
Once this bill passes, state subsidies to universities might be reduced by a third. To reduce them even further, the state should examine individual courses, and refuse to pay for utter nonsense courses like “The influence of television lesbianism on society”, and “Why white people should apologize for living.”
My son just earned a full scholarship for his Doctorate at Penn State. I still wonder if the 6 years to earn the degree will pay for itself vs working for 6 yrs.
My coffee always tastes better sweetened with the tears of a philosophy major with $100,000 of student loan debt.
My ex was considering a sociology degree when she asked what that would qualify her for. I told her she would be qualified to pursue a masters degree in sociology.
Then, she asked what a masters would qualify her for. And, I answered that she could then work on her PhD in sociology.
She asked what could she do with a PhD and I explained that her PhD in sociology would qualify her to teach sociology courses.
“The world needs ditch diggers, too.”