I can't believe I'm paying for a useless degree

[sv2007]

I was only referring to learning as a hobby and not using a degree for a real career (since you know it's useless to begin with). I would think you are allowed to learn whatever you want since your career is not depended on it.

I am equating paying for a degree in something you know is useless to learning it for free on youtube..and picking your own curriculum. Since no job will be the result of either one, and the end result is to gain knowledge..then I find them to be equivalents.

Well, each person thinks differently about the usefulness of education -- and whether education should come with some type of certificate/degree/diploma. I believe that as long as one learns what needs to be learned, any other recognition is more or less unnecessary, but it doesn't mean I don't want it. Why not? At the least, a degree is a succinct way of describing something about oneself, e.g. "oh, I know math" vs, "oh, I have a math PhD".

Some things are suitable to learn on youtube; just like I took a bunch of Stanford TV classes years ago (learning over CC TV using telephone to call into classroom to ask questions during lectures). But I wouldn't want to learn, for example, piano that way; certain things are more interactive. And I think each person's level of comfort WRT what subject/content needing certain level of interactivity is different, but there are areas where distance learning just isn't optimal. Youtube is even a bit worse, you can't even ask questions.

But for things like, how to fix things around the house, youtube works great. But so is a fix-it-yourself book/video.

Certainly, the Internet has helped disseminate knowledge, which is a great thing; but youtube isn't the be-all-and-end-all in learning of all things, at least I hope not for most people. They say bad habits die hard; bad knowledge can kill : )

[sv2007]

I've looked into taking classes just for learning. If I had more time. AA are a cheap way. I'm still looking to get into something different.

I will say I've met more than a few moms who stayed at home and went back for nursing AA degrees and got jobs that way. Small investment for big returns.

So it's not always what you spend or why you spend it but what you get back from it.

AA and AS degrees are definitely geared towards working/immediate skills.

I've only taken 1 summer community college class, but I think all the students want to transfer to a 4-yr college so their end-goal is a BA degree.

But I don't know how useful an AA/AS degree is in finding jobs; I know in the software industry, the companies I've worked for will not consider them.

[TexasHusker]

College isn't a vocational school and never was intended to be.