As a headhunter for CNC manufacturing and machining professionals since 1981 , my thinking on the importance of  a four year degree as a guarantee to financial independence has started to evolve. I still feel its wise to get degree if possible for a myriad of reasons, especially for the emotional growth and social skills one attains in college. However, for those getting ready to go to a four year school, I can’t impress enough on those individuals that if you’re going to make that investment, or , better yet if your family is going to, that you seek a degree that immediately translates to the job market. If anywhere from 80k to 240k Is outlaid for your education, you better make sure there is immediate payback for that investment. Make a concerted effort to avoid picking a college because your friends are going there or the Greek scene is fun, or they have 88 different football uniform combinations, and seek one that has a degree that segues to the job market. Whether it be engineering, banking, finance, Industrial design, Insurance/Risk MGT; , cad drafting /design, manufacturing engineering, genetics , Education, Routers, Sheet Metal, Health administration, Physical therapy, Finance/MBA, computer science or coding, electrical technology , construction technology , building science, accounting etc. Education is a great degree  and noble profession, and Lord knows we need good teachers but its not super lucrative, at least in the Carolinas. Social work degree?  Also a very  noble profession and difficult  one but might as well apply for food stamps now.   These are an example of some of the degrees that will better position you to easily find employment immediately after college. I place a lot of Mechanical /Electrical Engineers  and its fantastic degree but be careful in that just because your good in math in High School, doesn’t always translate to Engineering. Some of the previously mentioned disciplines will probably involve geometry and trig but at least those courses make sense and true engineering courses like Differential Equations, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Thermal Dynamics, FEA, etc can be a  whole different ball of wax. If you can handle that more power to you. No way I could have. Don’t get me wrong Engineering is great degree but can be hard. One engineering student said to me and my son once while visiting an engineering school   “Its like drinking water from a firehose. The first 2 yrs are all math and the 2nd two yrs are applying the math”. If you choose a degree in something less “marketable” or “specific” like Humanities; 8th Century Mesopotamian Philosophy, Modern Dance, “General Business”, Theoretical Equestrian Studies, Sports Management (oversaturated), Left Handed Puppetry, Conceptual Clogging  etc. ,you better have a good personality and predilection for assertiveness as to “sell yourself ” into entry level positions in other professions, which many of course do.. I like to call these degrees “POLR” degrees, or “path of least resistance”. However, if you fork out all that money for a degree that will meet with resistance in the job market, you may want to rethink that investment. This brief window after college must be well utilized for although hard to see that at the time, that’s the window to get that training for many find that once straddled with financial commitments such as car or rental payments or even a family, its hard to give continuing studies your full focus at that point. A college education boils down purely to being an investment, and a very costly one at that. One must utilize that time and money to be trained in something marketable. It’s an investment for one to able to secure employment and gain financial independence within a short period of time.
If a person makes 45k after college vs 85k and you compound that differential year after year there’s a significant difference in the lifestyle and financial independence one will enjoy. Granted it’s often hard to know what you want to do by your freshman year and that’s an understandable not to mention a very common situation. For instance I picked a BS in Hotel Restaurant Management because it looked like a path of minimal resistance at the time, not to mention the department head took us all out drinking on orientation day and we were “sold”. I attended Webber International In Babson Park Fl because I had a very specific prerequisite that I be accepted by the school I attended and that’s how I ended up there. I evidently had a high bar. However, even though a Hospitality degree is in fact a very marketable degree , to this day I’ve never worked in that industry and couldn’t “buss” a table if I had to as my wife can attest to. However, I got lucky having the guts to knock on every door in every single industrial and office park in Charlotte in 1981, something to this day I’m still surprised I had the nerve to do and would never have the stones to do now.. There are many A.S. degrees or even certificates out there that make one extremely marketable in the workplace such as HVAC, Electricians trade, plumbing, carpentry, welding, cabinetmaking, plant maintenance, which incorporates electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics and PLC programming; CNC machining ; CAD/CAM and drafting; and the list goes on and on. These skills are always needed and will never be without a job. There are shortages of skilled people in almost every aforementioned disciplines. There are 3 month condensed computer “Full stack” script coding courses , such as UNCC downtown campus, out there that can be very lucrative.(mind numbing, but lucrative) However if one determines that an alternative to the conventional 4 yr onsite degree is the road they want to go, segueing the A.S. degree into a related 4 yr degree would be all the better and a great idea if one is able and so motivated, even if it takes you 5 yrs to get BS degree, its worth it in the long run. Its hard to see that at the time I realize. Yes, by going to a technical school initially you miss the camaraderie often experienced gained by living onsite at a college your freshman year, but one must look long term – making a living and not living off cans of Farber beans in your parents pantry. That concept, “developing a career” must trump all else, even if it means going to a college or trade school you don’t know anyone..The time will go by quick. . If during a four year degree you have the chance to take an unrelated elective, avoid that course in “Beginner Cummerbund Design” Or the “America Sucks 101” course that seems to be popular now, or where the online site rates the teacher as an “easy A” and take a course where you actually learn something, even if it’s something as rudimentary as “Basic Personal Finance” or Excel. During summers, instead of waiting tables, seek a job where your exposed to a company that’s related to your degree even if it’s doing grunt work and sweeping metal chips off the floor at a machine shop or whatever so you get a feel of how the business works even if the money isn’t so great.. You have to develop the mindset that everything in that post- high school period must involve “moving the chains downfield.” Another idea is to learn a secondary skill such as carpentry, brick masonry or bartending or what have you so one can pay the bills and not build up debt while you pursue a career in their expertise. Although eager to dive in after graduation, don’t hesitate to consider additional technical training in your niche, even something like advanced Excel or Oracle etc… It’s unlikely that those skills wouldn’t come in handy. There are “For Profit” organizations in every town that offer condensed 1 or 2 day courses in anything from advanced Excel to CRM or Database software like Salesforce.. I know folks that are Oracle and Salesforce admins where they leaned as much about the software as they could and made a career out of it. It’s rare to see a job description where some sort of CRM or the Microsoft suite is not preferred. Even a 2 year stint in the military would garner one very marketable technical training not to mention being appealing to prospective employers. I know candidate that spent 4 yrs in AIR FORCE after high school studying electronics and now makes over 6 figures at age 26 repairing machine tools and PLC’s.
However, when it comes to the military, to my knowledge, there’s no WI-FI in foxholes and explosions might trigger a microaggression so that might be a turn off for the majority of the current generation. If one is fortunate to have someone else pay for their education, you may want to make it a point to reimburse the financier for every dollar spent after the 8th semester of college provided it’s still in the pursuit of the undergraduate degree, sort of an incentive to “get it done expeditiously ” Block everything else out and focus on your career.  Your there to learn and study at an unbelievable cost per day , not there to “find Your way” and stay baked 20% of the time. The recent college admissions scandal at USC where celebrities paid to get their kid in college blows my mind for one celebrity forked out 500k to get 2 kids into USC, a school that would have cost less cumulatively  than the amount she had to fork out to incentivize individuals to gain admission. Seems to me it would have been more cost effective to just give both kids 250k each and tell them to be on their way and get the heck out of the house and let them “Instagram away” their lives. After all wasn’t the education, in theory at least, a method to give them the tools to make them able to make money ? Would Cal-Davis or Long Beach State have been that bad VS Southern Cal. ? I discovered a college in Williamsport , PA called Penn Tech that has BS degrees in very specific areas like machining or welding. The welding degree includes like 16 different types of welding for I had no idea there were that many different types of welding?.. These folks will make $ from the outset and never be without a job. There are a myriad of colleges up north and in the upper Midwest that have even more and very specific and marketable programs of specialization one can explore, some programs and disciplines one can’t even imagine and would send a child on a path that’s rewarding and lucrative. . I know it’s hard to see the long term picture when your 18 years old but the college years go by quickly compared to the 45 to 50 years you’ll be working and believe me, when your back home making good money while your best friend who majored in Serbian Art History is still “ between jobs”, you’ll be glad you went that route. Again, remember, college is a brief window in time to train you to be self-sufficient and make a living, not a Summer Camp. “Someone” is paying dearly for that education. For those who are lucky enough to have a family member pay for it you must realize in some cases its large chunk of their net worth or their retirement funds so best not to piss it away. It’s almost like putting money on a horse at the track and hoping it hits a payday. It’s difficult to see that at this point, but its worth at least making an attempt to see the bigger picture and focus yours eyes on the prize, not which Greek house is more fun. You will not regret it down the road.
-B. Wright     bw@cadcamrecruiters.com

Machining BS degree at Penn Tech  (simply an example of a degree that’s “more focused“)
• Mill Applications (MTT128)
• Lathe Applications (MTT129)
• Introduction to CAD/CAM (CIM102)
• CNC Machining & Programming I (CIM104)
• CNC Machining & Programming II (CIM124)
• CAD/CAM (CIM220)
• Quality Control with GD&T (MTT131)
• Machine Tool Applications (MTT213)
• Fixture Design & Fabrication (MTT222)
• Advanced Multi-axis CNC Machining & Programming (CIM228)
• Electrical Discharge Machining (CIM205)
• Abrasive Machining & Heat Treatment (MTT216)
• Robotic Applications (CIM222)
• Introduction to Metallurgy (MSC106)
• Material Handling/Fluid Power (CIM227)
• Lean Manufacturing & Quality Control (MET319)

Welding degree at Penn Tech

• Shielded Metal Arc Welding (WEL119)
• Flux Cored Arc Welding (WEL133)
• Gas Metal Arc Welding (WEL142)
• Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (WEL146)
• Welding Blueprint & Layout (WEL102)
• Advanced Semi-Automatic Processes (WEL209)
• Advanced Shielded Metal Arc Welding (WEL216)
• Basic CNC Programming (WEL240)
• Gas Tungsten Arc Pipe Welding (WEL244)
• Advanced Shielded Metal Arc Pipe Welding (WEL264)
• Welding Blueprint & Layout II (WEL252)
• Non-Destructive Testing I (QAL241)
• Introduction to Metallurgy (MSC106)
• Robotic Welding (WEL249)
• Parametric Modeling & FEA Applications for Welders (DSG328)
• Industrial Project Support Systems (WEL401)
• Design Statics & Strength of Materials (DSG323)
• Advanced High Energy Density Processes (WEL302)
• NDT Quality Assurance (QAL301)
• Industrial Weld Design (WEL410)
• Fabrication of Alloys (WEL400)
• Engineering Ethics & Legal Issues (MET321)
• Welding Codes & Procedures (WEL420)
• Welding Internship (WEL495)