One thing that every job application will ask you will be your level of formal education.  I always like to make sure that people know that while college is expensive, the level of median weekly earnings is significantly higher the more education that you obtain. According to this graph someone with a bachelors degree will make nearly twice what only high school diploma will earn.  When you look at that statistics over the course of 30 year career the results should be clear- college will pay off in the long run.