Originally Posted by
boozehound
Yep. You still need the degree to get most good jobs though, so you are kind of screwed. It's the definition of a racket.
There are cost effective ways of doing it, but it requires some effort. I have a buddy who is now a Director at a big local company in his early 40's, so fairly successful. He want to community college for 2 years and then got in the door as a Coop. They then paid for his undergrad degree, and his MBA. He obviously worked very hard and had to go to school nights and weekends while working full time and starting a family, but now he has a great job and no student loan debt.
His story is very practical, and kind of the opposite of paying $50K per year to go to a Private School to pursue a degree in English Literature or Marketing or something.