I’m in the student loan “business” (per se) and I agree; some odd and unrelated degrees around here: philosophy, history, political science, psychology, sociology.
Nothing to do with student loans; we all really should have majored in something called “collecting” or “lending,” LOL.
Still, college degrees do ensure writing skills and some critical thinking ability, always beneficial on the job.
Also, I think people with college degrees might be more receptive to change and to what employers call “training.” The smartest high schoolers don’t always go on to college but they usually *are* the ones who do.
Useful things can be learned in college, they can also be learned outside of college. I think the big thing most of my high school mates learned in college was being in charge of their own lives, most of them lived in very strict households that didn’t give them a lot of self determination. I was given a pretty free rein growing up (”free to make my own mistakes” as mom always put it) so I didn’t really need that. What I did need was to learn certain CSC things, and develop good relationships with certain teachers that were well known and respected in the software industry in Tucson so they’d be willing to be references for me. I’m very results oriented.