Perhaps this is rude....

[TrailRunr]

I'm an all numbers person. I do get personal gratification from learning, but there are much cheaper ways to get that other than classes.

I think it's very appropriate to tie a number to your BA when your HR requires a BA in CS/MIS/IT to get to the interview. Without HR requiring the degree, maybe I could have gotten the promotion or salary increase anyway with a high school diploma. I think office politics, experience, and skills matter way more than anything else. If you could have gotten the job as a high school grad, I would be reluctant to give any value to the degree.

In my case, my HR didn't care until the past few years. Now I'm senior enough and my HR clamped down so my general BA wasn't worth much more than a high school diploma due to having the wrong major even though it's from a public Ivy. That's why I don't think liberal studies or other general majors are a good idea. Business administration is sort-of a generalized broad major, but it's very useful for getting past HR in many positions like management and marketing.

I'm reluctant to provide a number for my last promotion, but it will pay for itself shortly since my cost for my double major was under $8k all-in. That's expensive for this forum but a lot better than going to UCLA as out-of-state for four years and ending up $200k in the hole for a BA.

Now that I'm looking at master's programs, I'm looking at the jobs I could promote to next. There are far fewer positions that require the MA/MS but that could change shortly due to an ongoing massive reorg. Many of the jobs require the ubiquitous MBA. There was an onsite MBA program at my employer, so that means tons of competition. The WGU MBA looks easy while I feel I am unable to complete the GA Tech OMSCS. The WGU MBA is just $3k and I could get it for free thanks to my employer, so the only cost is time. In the end, I'd have to be convinced that it's likely I will recover the time and money spent on a master's degree.