I think it depends on what you want to do. I've seen lots of jobs that "require" a bachelors degree. The actual job may not require one but the employer is using it as a filter to reduce the amount of resumes they get. A bachelors degree opens up these jobs to the holder.
If an 18 yr old has no idea what he wants to do, college could be a way to experience different courses and topics and they might find something that really interests them. Without any experience at all, it would be a bit difficult getting hired as an entry level person in many white collar jobs. Choosing the right degree is also key. Taking on a ton of debt and graduating with a BA in Liberal Arts is not the road to the $1 mil dollars.
As for the $1 mil number, that could be made up but there are lots of higher paying jobs that are more difficult or impossible to get hired in w/o a bachelors degree. Teachers, Librarians, etc. all require at least a bachelors degree. Lots of finance industry, business analyst, and similar jobs have high barriers to entry w/o a bachelors degree.
Will one make more with a bachelors degree for sure? Maybe. It all depends on what job or career you get into with that degree. If you get the degree and then take a job as a manager at a department store hoping for a big raise, it's probably not coming. If you want to break into one of the fields I mention or others mentioned above, then yes, you might. At the least, it gets your foot in the door.
It'd be interesting to see if they lump in jobs that require HIGHER than a bachelors degree to come up with the $1 million number. Technically, a surgeon making $500K a year needs a bachelor degree.
If an 18 yr old has no idea what he wants to do, college could be a way to experience different courses and topics and they might find something that really interests them. Without any experience at all, it would be a bit difficult getting hired as an entry level person in many white collar jobs. Choosing the right degree is also key. Taking on a ton of debt and graduating with a BA in Liberal Arts is not the road to the $1 mil dollars.
As for the $1 mil number, that could be made up but there are lots of higher paying jobs that are more difficult or impossible to get hired in w/o a bachelors degree. Teachers, Librarians, etc. all require at least a bachelors degree. Lots of finance industry, business analyst, and similar jobs have high barriers to entry w/o a bachelors degree.
Will one make more with a bachelors degree for sure? Maybe. It all depends on what job or career you get into with that degree. If you get the degree and then take a job as a manager at a department store hoping for a big raise, it's probably not coming. If you want to break into one of the fields I mention or others mentioned above, then yes, you might. At the least, it gets your foot in the door.
It'd be interesting to see if they lump in jobs that require HIGHER than a bachelors degree to come up with the $1 million number. Technically, a surgeon making $500K a year needs a bachelor degree.
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