4-year college degree?

[WorkFE]

(for my Air Force service) to which I am eternally grateful.

And we are eternally thankful.

 

[rktect1]

Yes I do.

Ba in architecture from UIC Chicago

Paid what loans I had off within five years. Not much really as the Illinois Veterans paid my tuition plus GI bill plus Pell grants. So loans were for living money even though I also had a 20-40 hour a week job.

 

[Maricar19]

do you have a 4-year college degree?

optional: school, major, year, additional education such as master's degree, student loans, etc.

BS General Science (Pre-Med) - 1979 -University of Santo Thomas
BS Accounting -1981 (De La Salle UNiversity/Laguna College of Business and Arts)
MBA-1983 - De La Salle University
Never had student loans

But now I have my children's student loans.

 

[wavecoder]

BA in Computer Science, AS in Comp Science (Network Support Specialist)
University of Hawaii @ Manoa (AS from Leeward CC)

No student loans, I had the GI bill that paid everything and then more. The post 9/11 GI bill paid a nice $2300 housing allowance tax free on top of the 100% tuition and book stipend. Also got some help from the Pell grant. All that was nice, I was making more money as a part-time student intern GS-7 than I am now as a full-time GS-11 :laugh:. Instead of being in debt after graduation I had like 20k in the bank because all that money + no time to party = a lot of saved $$

Serving in the military has its perks!

 

[Frixxxx]

BA in Computer Science,

You are the second person I know with a BA in CS (also from Hawaii). It is so unheard of in the community. Has it held you back in your career endeavors?

 

[MrBowl]

BS in Meteorology from Texas A&M in 1990. This was after I was invited to leave electrical engineering after my Junior year. I didn't quite have enough EE credits to call it a minor.

I only had $2500 in loans and paid them off by 1993. It was a very affordable school in those days for in-state residents. Plus, I had part time jobs along the way.

 

[wavecoder]

You are the second person I know with a BA in CS (also from Hawaii). It is so unheard of in the community. Has it held you back in your career endeavors?

nope, I was an intern for the USGS and they said they'd hire me on fulltime as a IT after I graduated. I was originally going to go for a BS, but the program had a BA degree that was more focused on IT, so we thought that'd be a better route to go for the job I'm doing. Got hired on as a GS-9 and permanent shortly after graduation so I don't think it held me back at all

Now with about 6 years of experience in the field, I'm sure other employers (if i were looking) would be more interested in my work experience than my degree.

 

[Frixxxx]

nope, I was an intern for the USGS and they said they'd hire me on fulltime as a IT after I graduated. I was originally going to go for a BS, but the program had a BA degree that was more focused on IT, so we thought that'd be a better route to go for the job I'm doing. Got hired on as a GS-9 and permanent shortly after graduation so I don't think it held me back at all

Now with about 6 years of experience in the field, I'm sure other employers (if i were looking) would be more interested in my work experience than my degree.

NAVSEA and SPAWAR frown upon BA's for engineering positions. Difference between 2210 and 1550, and about $30K/year difference in pay.

 

[burrocrat]

whoa, there are lots of credentials on here, heavy thinkers, probably got socialized somewhere along the way that folks collaborate in teams, contribute to groups, accept other different opinions and stuff. way to go tsptalkers, a smart bunch.

 

[gegor1957]

S.U.N.Y Binghamton, B.A. Poli Sci/Psychology. Loans paid off many years ago, took about 5 years to pay them off.

 

[wavecoder]

NAVSEA and SPAWAR frown upon BA's for engineering positions. Difference between 2210 and 1550, and about $30K/year difference in pay.

For engineering I'm sure I would have went the BS route, math reqs are a lot more important for that field. For comp science it's not as math intensive, more dealing with logic and algorithms, which are much more covered in the ICS focus areas rather than Math courses.

The IT guys I work with both never attended college, they're military vets with experience in the field. Generally in the IT field, experience is what matters more. Majority of employers looking for programmers don't care if you have a BS, BA, or graduate degree, they generally don't want to hire anyone with under 5 years of experience in the field. The degree is mainly just a foot in the door for entry positions, but for the good jobs, experience is king

 

[skycophigh]

B.S. Western Michigan University class of 1980
Major. Flight technology
Minor. Business
Pilot with instrument and commercial ratings
No loans, college was much cheaper then.

 

[nasa1974]

No. Graduated high school and my draft number was 26. I joined the Air Force soon after. I spent 2 years in Civil Air Patrol so it was kind of a no brainer. Basic training, 9 months Tech School and 2 years 71/2 months working on Minuteman Nuclear Missiles. Discharged April 16, 1974 and was hired by NASA May 20,1974. Spent 3 years in an apprenticeship program and retired May 3, 2012 as a GS12-9 and 42 years of government service. It was a great experience.

 

[FogSailing]

do you have a 4-year college degree?

optional: school, major, year, additional education such as master's degree, student loans, etc.

BS - Business Management - SNU 1992
MBA - SNU - 1997

Student loans were paid off in 5 years. Received my letters of recommendation for my doctorate in economics at Univ. of Oklahoma and wanted to pursue....BUT that got squished by the real boss in the house

FS

 

[Maricar19]

No. Graduated high school and my draft number was 26. I joined the Air Force soon after. I spent 2 years in Civil Air Patrol so it was kind of a no brainer. Basic training, 9 months Tech School and 2 years 71/2 months working on Minuteman Nuclear Missiles. Discharged April 16, 1974 and was hired by NASA May 20,1974. Spent 3 years in an apprenticeship program and retired May 3, 2012 as a GS12-9 and 42 years of government service. It was a great experience.

NASA, I think this thread is burro's trick to find our ages. :cheesy:

 

[Cactus]

NASA, I think this thread is burro's trick to find our ages. :cheesy:

Good luck finding my age. All the paperwork on my enlistment was burned to keep warm at Valley Forge when I served with General Washington. :laugh:

 

[jpcavin]

B.S. Business Management - Human Resources (Park University).
Minor - Social Psychology (not completed)
Attended their extended campus in Camp Pendleton, CA and Austin, TX. It took me about 10 years to complete because I kept skipping classes or not taking full terms. Technically should have taken me under two years due to previous college credit, CLEP exams and military experience credit. All courses at Park University were paid by military Tuition Assistance so no student loan debt. I had started the major and minor in Camp Pendleton but when I got to Austin, the state does not allow you to do double majors so I could not work on the minor. A second major requires more time and more courses. That was not as appealing as being 5 classes short of a minor so I didn't bother with it at that point. I could have remained with Camp Pendleton and just taken the rest of my classes online but that wasn't very appealing to me at all. Online classes may be convenient but it leaves a lot to be desired...and online teachers aren't very flexible either.

 

[burrocrat]

i can think of a few times in my life it would've been smarter not to bother with minor a too, but that is a subject best left for another thread.

 

[PessOptimist]

No. Graduated high school and my draft number was 26. I joined the Air Force soon after...

NASA, that brings back memories of a life changing event. Ever think there must have been something odd about the lottery number matching the day of the month?:suspicious:

No CAP for me, same length tech school but no pocket rocket for me. Common question asked at the time was "what the h3ll are those guys going to do when they get out?". Guess we know that now. :laugh:

It WAS a great experience.

PO

 

[Boghie]

Me thinks you will all be kinda surprised...

University of California, San Diego

• B.A. in Sociology
• Minor in Math/Computer Science

Hated the two years of calculus, physics, and the first minute onward of assembler.

Additional education has been a bunch of extension classes at UCSD, computer language courses at Mesa College, tax preparation courses at City College, and for some reason a real fun Jewish history course via adult education. I am planning on getting the certifications for financial planning.

And, by the way Burro, my two favorite fields have always been architecture and computer programming. Kinda odd, but about a decade ago I took a Myers-Briggs test and I still strongly favor architecture and computer programming. An oddity in my life was that Cal Poly San Louis Obispo denied me in their architecture program with what they tried to pass off as a hand written letter - but it had underlines with computer typed numbers in it. UC Santa Barbara accepted me as a commuter. Too funny...