7 High-Paying Jobs You Can Get Without a 4-Year College Degree

The change in expectation of college as education to college as job training is unfortunate. I think it's one of the main reasons we have a growing problem in the mainstreaming of ignorance and the death of critical thinking. Conversely, there is a conversation to be had about ROI and the explosion of tuition costs.

 

Meeting people from different walks of life and sharing that newness with each other is sadly becoming a thing of the past.

It's an incredible opportunity to break out and learn things that would've otherwise been ignored or unnoticed.

Nah, I'll just read Ayn Rand a few more times and look down on the wretched parasites...

 

It is unfortunate, but a necessity due to what you mention in your last sentence. These days, you just can't go $150K in debt just so you can learn to think critically. Ironically....that wouldn't be thinking critically.

I think getting a college degree is still a very worthy goal and can get a good ROI as long as you:

1. Go to an in-state school (ROI goes way down if you pay 3x what you would normally pay just so you can go to that out of state school your parents went to)
2. Try to pay as you go even if it takes a little longer (get a job and work your ass off - you CAN go to school and work, people do it all the time)
3. Get a degree that actually has value in the marketplace

I did 1 and 2 and ended up graduating with no school debt. #3, not so much for me. I got a degree in music....but now I work in marketing, so it's all good. But I had to start at the bottom and work my way up due to not having a marketing degree. Now I have people with marketing degrees reporting to me.

 

wow. this entire post could have been written by me, but substitute the word 'music' for 'history'. i graduated from UT 20 years ago and my entire college career was under $10k. a great investment for a liberal arts degree. if i was going today i would definitely have gone to business school though!

liberal arts isnt going to guarantee you a job out of college, but it does teach you how to be a good researcher, take large amounts of data and synthesize it into easily digestible reports, write and think critically. this is basically what my job is and i use these skills every day.

 

Highest paying jobs... how lucky are you at gambling? This one comes with some risk...

 

I spent $15k on school and have one of these jobs. I don't make what it says I do, though. Far from it.

Of course I live essentially in the rust belt where wages are lower.

 

Radiation Therapist checking in.

As I said, I don't make what the article states, but I live in an economically depressed area of the country, and I'm fairly young in my career. Those numbers are probably fairly accurate in Houston or larger cities, though.

But I know for sure the field is not overly saturated. There are jobs open for people willing to move, but they're not just handing them out.

Nursing, another field that doesn't require a ton of schooling to make good money, is still hurting for people. My wife is a nurse. She slecializes in working in the operating room. They're essentially handing out jobs.

We absolutely took cost/length of schooling/income into account when choosing our careers. Neither one of us came from money. I for sure could not have survived at a university for many years, even though I had a full ride to any in state school I chose (grades). Coming out of high school, my family was essentially living in poverty. I worked my way through college, and had $2 in my bank account before I cashed my first real paycheck.

Part of me still wishes I had just but the bullet and gone to medical school, but then I realize I would have nothing that I have now, and at 32, (my age now) I would just be coming out of residency most likely. That all taken into account, we have minimal student loans left. We're sitting in a pretty good spot.


Articles like this are great in giving kids in situations such as mine a good idea of what is out there. The problem is, as others have stated, they can lead people astray when it comes to what types of jobs are actually available.

 

We were so poor that the government paid me 2k every semester for college. Where my Longhorn lonestar community college peeps?

 

you thought kanyes video actually had Trump and Taylor swift naked in it.

You are one of the most gullible people alive

 

Certified RT with bachelor degree start from 36$ for those barley tell apart kv from Mv, to 47$ within 6 years. Perfusionist makes double that

 

Wtf man, I'm in he wrong area.


Are you an RTT?

I'm an associates with an (r),(CT), and a (t).

I'm 32. I'd love to go back for dosimetry, I just don't know if I'm in a position or have the want to relocate.

Curious as to where you get those numbers (or at least what part of the country). You can send me a message through the board if you don't want to post it here.

Thanks.

 

I work closely with them, salaries (75k plus) are publicly published so everyone aware of how much each makes within the hospital

4000+ jobs on LinkedIn and I believe that to be true
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/radiation-therapist-jobs/

Varian operations is pretty much what you will learn, like our RTs ,won't be long before you propagate your self between offers, nurse practitioners don't come close to this job rewards

 

A starting doctor is making 250k-400k. If you work out the math it makes more sense to go to med school. That is why is so many people try to get into medschool and why admission rates are so low. You will have no problem getting a loan. Even with 500k in debt it shouldn't be too hard to service that debt.

 

Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Outlook Handbook is your friend when looking at career paths.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

 

Yep, I'm definitely glad I got my degree even if I'm only technically using it on the weekends. But yeah....college was a lot more affordable 20 years ago.

I choose to put my ego aside and go to a smaller in-state school (SHSU) that offered me the biggest scholarship since I was paying my own way and had a goal to finish school debt-free. Once my scholarship ran out (after 4 years....) I had to get a job and cash-flow the rest myself. That's why it took me so long. Well, that and I may or may not have partied a little too much....

Got an entry-level job at my current company 17 years ago and just wormed my way through the company from position to position until I finally got the one I'm in now, making 3 times what I made when I started.

If you don't mind "servicing" it for the rest of your life. Be sure to wear knee-pads.