In your opinion, who should not earn a degree from the Big Three?

[ChilliDawg]

Well, everyone else has done a great job of answering your question.  I have an applied example for you.....

I have worked in I.T. for a long time without a degree.  Many others here have done the same thing (Merlin, Quignogene and a few others).  Most of my buddies in the I.T. field do not have computer related degrees.  A lot of us kids from the 1980's came out of high school or maybe the military, already programming in ADA, Cobol, etc.  We were building Lantastic LANs in our homes when we were kids.  It was a different time and place for sure. Employers would snap us right up.  Once we got into that first job, we started building professional social networks and accumulating Industry standard certifications.  Those things helped us to stay in the industry for a long time and climb the payscale without a degree.  In the past decade, I have been starting to fear my advancing age, and am seeing a lot of hiring managers with degrees, that demand degrees of their applicants.  So, I took advantage of tuition reimbursement and started collecting credits from here and there.  Then, I discovered this forum and all of the really smart people here and they guided me right into two Associates degrees and a BALS(Thank you, all).  I proverbially "checked the box".  I am having so much fun with it, I will probably go on to a second bachelor and then a grad degree in C.S.  Obviously, I am the type that it works for, and it works VERY WELL.

Last year, my oldest son gradauted high school.  He won a scholarship to a Liberal Arts college, but I ushered him away from it. He wanted to follow in my footsteps and do the TESU thing.  I adamantly discouraged him.  Especially, with aspirations to be an Engineer.  He narrowed his choices down to UNF and Embry-Riddle, and eventually settled on UNF School of Engineering.   There is no way he could pursue those dreams following my path, and no way I would encourage it.  I think he just wanted to sit around home and do things "online" while splitting his time playing games.  Another example of how age and focus can play a role in why we select methods of earning credit.  I am old and bored with TV and games.  Learning is fun.  I tend to focus better at this age.  He needs to go to class, socialize, and most importantly.....be in Engineering labs, etc.  He is now entertaining getting more into Nuclear Engineering.  He pointed out that TESU has a Nuke Engineering program.  How does that work?  Will he be in the shed building Molten Salt and Breeder reactors?  Turns out, TESU works with the NAVY on that program, and much of the applied experience comes from Navy schools.  He plans to stay in brick and mortar institutions.

My wife has her BBA in Accounting from a Brick and Mortar college, and is presently a Finance Admin for a State College. She went to school the old fashioned way. Dorm rooms, 4 years straight, and out with a student loan. She wants to go back to school for a Grad Degree, and do it the TESU way. I call her approach "The Hybrid". LOL

Three scenarios from the same household.  Vastly different needs and requirements to succeed. Big 3 are definitely not for all.