What is the benefit of having a degree if it is not related to your career field?

[highlanderburial]

The BIGGEST benefit I can see is for military purposes, enlisted vs officer.

I would be lying if I didn't say I was expediting my degree just for the accomplishment of it. I have a promotion board coming up in Feb, and having a degree will put me over the top of the heap for sure.
As far as government jobs, the government REALLY doesn't care what your degree is in, as long as you have one. Points-wise, they only count an AS as a second high school diploma (no points). I met a supervisor in the DHS in the weapons detection development dept, and found out his degree was in archeology!
The biggest part of this is pride. I don't know of only a handful of enlisted guys on my base that have a degree. I spend some of my time during the day doing professional development with the lower enlisted, and have found it a little hard to stress education benefits when you don't have the coveted paper in hand.
Now it will be different story.
IMHO: Don't stress too much on the major, just get what you can. You can always transfer your credits if you find a better deal, or want to go a different direction.
-HB