How easy is it to find a job with a degree from Big 3?

[dfrecore]

If I was giving advice to a young person (even my own kids), I would not advise them to go to one of the Big 3, for many reasons, including the one you are asking about.  Many people beginning their life don't know what they want to do, so there is not a huge rush to get just any degree; I'd rather they spend time taking courses, investigating majors/jobs, working, volunteering, etc.

For anyone else, especially if you need a check-the-box degree, I would highly recommend the Big 3, WGU, and a few others.  Get it done as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Sure, except that most of us don't have the cash to send our kids to a state school costing $20k/year much less private college at 3 times that, just to let them take courses and figure things out. That worked when I was in college 25 years ago, but not now. 

Maybe my kids is weird but she's a super motivated homeschooler. She wants her bachelors out of the way so she can do the real fun stuff of a masters and PhD. Big 3 is great path for her. Her chosen field requires a masters so she won't have to worry about networking until that level anyway.

Not only that we are seeing the sob stories of so many young adults graduating with a boatload of debt and no job.  The degree doesn't guarantee anything no matter where you went to school.

First, obviously this doesn't apply to YOUR kid, as she already knows what she wants, and wouldn't be asking my advice in the first place.  Second, our local CC only costs $750 a semester for a full load (and the local 4-yr state school costs $3,750 per semester).  So nowhere even close to $20k a year.

But as I said, for young people who don't know what they want to do, and asked my advice, I wouldn't tell them to just get any old degree and hope for the best.  I would want them to have some more direction, and that might not come from school but from the other things I mentioned like volunteering or working, or a variety of other things.  CC is a great place to figure out what classes interest you as well.

For a young person who DOES know what they want to do, and can live at home and work and go to school, then I would highly recommend a nearby 4-yr school that is reasonably well priced, and where they could network.  That implies that there is a school nearby, that they're willing to work their way through school, that they're going to be networking, etc.  Again, obviously this doesn't apply to everyone on earth, but it's the advice I would give if asked to an 18-yo where I lived.