Is it really worth it?

Chris and I own some pretty expensive things.  TVs, computers, cell phones, jewelry.  But nothing is as expensive as the two pieces of paper that are currently still in their original holders from Ball State: our degrees from college.

I was very lucky and blessed that the only debt I had out of college was of my own decision.  A couple small credit cards (and one stolen which was a huge mess, but has since been taken care of) and that's it.  Chris wasn't so lucky.....we'll leave it at that.  Suffice it to say that thank GOD we both didn't have student loans coming out of college; we'd be living in a box.  Student loans, college, all of it - is a really frustrating situation.  Here we sit, and friends of mine sit, thinking we did the right thing - going to college, getting our degrees, getting "ahead."  HA.

I started seeing the effects of my decision to "get ahead" shortly after I graduated........I was passed up for an Assistant Manager position at a bank - the girl who got it ahead of me didn't have a college degree, but while I was sitting in classes for 4 years about business calculus, fundamentals of accounting & finance, marketing, management, history, art history, math, gym, IT, auditing, tax & nonprofit accounting, she was busy working 40 hours a week, getting that invaluable experience, and lo and behold - she ended up ahead of me.  I know friends who have faced the same thing since we've all graduated....working jobs that are entry level or barely above.........watching our degree-less friends advance within their careers and make double (or way more) money than we do.  And it frankly pisses me off.

We're going to have to make some pretty big financial decisions and moves in the next couple of months, and those are scary.  I know we're both fortunate to have good jobs (with only decent-ish pay, but whatever) and we could be a lot worse off than we are.  We've been careful in our planning of house buying/ baby making/ big purchase deciding since we've been married and it has, for the most part, paid off.  So far this year, we've paid off 3 credit cards and I'm now in full "snowballing" mode on any and everything else that I can.

But the question remains: were those 2 degrees worth it?  Worth the "experience" we traded in for them while in college, worth the seemingly insurmountable financial challenges they brought about the day we got those pieces of paper?

Right now.......I say no.