>I am proposing that a degree becomes more important later on in life
Hm. Why do you believe this? Because we are expected to move into management? I think most of the middle management I've worked under have had degrees, so that seems valid. But the owners? business owners very commonly have incomplete college educations. (and I've worked under more than one middle manager who has run (and failed) a small business, and then went and got a mid-life degree from something like the university of phoenix. The experience owning a business seems to carry some respect in middle-management circles, enough to overcome the shame of going to a school advertised on daytime TV.)
I suppose we half-agree then. I always figured that retirement was the perfect time to obtain a degree. Wise enough to respect the teachings and old enough to (hopefully) have the time and money to spend on such luxuries.
I wish that more schools had drop-in options for simply auditing courses... it is far less of an option now than 20-30 years ago. I'd much rather sit in on some history classes than take half of the classes required for a degree in anything relevant to my field of work. I'm not going to make more now, or in the near future... I've had my time in management, don't think I really want it again.
I see that a degree is really necessary for some.. and in some fields even more so... Most of the best programmers I've ever met are simply passionate about programming. Not about where their degree is from.
