Most universities have really bad graduation rates. Meaning, lots of "students" show up, get saddled with debt and don't finish their degrees. By "lots" I mean numbers above 40% for many schools. I think VCU used to have numbers that showed by year 6, only 62% of incoming freshmen obtained a degree. And they are by no means alone.

Anyhow, paths to useful education include:

- Community College for 2 years, then off to big school ( you can actually do this and get into McIntire)
- Community College for a trade cert...work for a few years...then pursue an additional cert (truck driver cert is less than 5K. Long haul truckers make >$100K a year)
- Go to a 4 year, and pursue a degree that has value (STEM)

I hope you aren't telling the people who clean your teeth, those who fix your HVAC, or who built your house, or draw blood, etc that they are "scrubs". Plenty of trades people make good bank. Really good bank. I'm a little older, I have a very good friend who never attended college....started off working in phone company, but had a thirst for knowledge. Became expert at a few things....went to startup.....extremely wealthy....and not a day of college. Makes $200/hr these days consulting (as a retiree). More down to earth example, a dental hygentist (think you can get education in 18 months) makes $35-$45 per hour. When you are working 50 hours a week, that's almost $100K a year. The HVAC guy that replaced my home unit had investment properties.

You want to be a "Scrub", go to school, spend a few hundred grand, and pursue some BS degree that pays slightly higher than a Walmart worker. Do that, and you've nailed it.

FWIW, I'd be really interested in what the $$$ over a lifetime numbers would be for those studies that always claim.."those with a college education make xxx more than those without over their lifetime" if you were to

- remove the top 1% and
- remove those who never received a HS education
- take out those who went to grad school.

I've always wondered how those segments impact those numbers.