Is a University Degree Still Worth Anything?

[@nn@_pen9]

University degree is still worth a lot in our time despite the fact that one need to go beyond a degree to be productive and competitive in thus tech age. The conventional job system still adore university degree as the gateway to your dreams. In other words, you need the degree to be eligible to showcase what you can offer. It's only in some instances and specialised types of jobs that they look at your relevant skills and not the degrees.

Indeed, the impact has not been felt in the present era, but there are several cases of how robots replace other people's jobs with the same job status as waiters or delivering food to customers and will soon take over other jobs such as drivers or jobs based on data robots designed by AI intelligence are very easy to master this job. And of course the company sacrifices expenses only once and the impact is to make the expenses incurred by the company more efficient.

[Leahized]

University degree is still worth a lot in our time despite the fact that one need to go beyond a degree to be productive and competitive in thus tech age. The conventional job system still adore university degree as the gateway to your dreams. In other words, you need the degree to be eligible to showcase what you can offer. It's only in some instances and specialised types of jobs that they look at your relevant skills and not the degrees.

According to my country, I think university degrees are very much needed for skills. Currently I am studying university but wherever for the job appeal, the first certificate wants skills as well. But one thing I am noting is the most evaluated of the skills compared to the certificate. That is why many people do not have the job due to lack of skills. Yes there are many multinational companies where the job is provided by the educational qualifications. However, I think skills is most important. Because I see a lot of people, they have no education certificate but many have moved forward for skill.

[libert19]

Is university still worth it today? Are “extra skills” and certificates just another money-making trick? Has anyone here found success without a degree, or by learning something new outside of school? Is this the start of a new way of working, or just a big mess?

I wouldn't know because I don't have degree, I dropped out.

I don't know if I attained 'success' but let's just say, things worked out just fine largely due crypto, without crypto I might have tried my luck on blogging and YT. I find that I have learned more from Internet than anything with education, even though I don't have certificate to show for it.

Today, I don't care about degree at all, and don't have regrets about not completing it. I see people with degrees, doing their jobs — some with good pay, some with not so good pay, but I am just glad to be not part of it.

Edit: Typo

[mich]

For me I do not think it does really matter in todays world. I have started a small fund for both of my nephews to attend university if this is what they want to do when they are older.
It really does only matter for what you want to become for a profession. There is alot of people that are doing very good for not have university degree.
You can just learn a trade and be so good at it you do not need to attend the university. For me I do think it is a different way for people.

[dezoel]

There are two ways of going to college, and in both cases it is worth it (depending on how much financially it will challenge you of course). One is going to a college to specialize in something that requires college, so if you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, then yeah you need to go to college, you can't be one without going to college. In that case it works and it is worth it and should be going of course.

Second one is not having any graduation mean anything to you, if you go to some silly major, and have no use for your diploma, then it is still worth it, unless financially it hurts you a lot of course, because I know American's pay a lot of debt, we didn't, so it was worth it for us. Because the point of college, unless you study to be a lawyer or a doctor or engineer, the point is to go there for four years, and be a kid, no more tests, no more acceptance, just classes, beer, girls and fun.

[White pawn]

Depends on where you live.

If the jobs vacancy require degree, pretty sure university degree is important.

If you live in a country who choose experience over degree and other theory thing, university degree isn't important anymore.

Many people that I met usually say this to me "the most important thing of school is you can make friends and relationship, they will help you in the future". So, I think university is important for the social benefit than the thing you learn since you can learn in work.

For me I think that university degree is still important,firstly because going to the university is not just for studying and getting certified but also for , influence, exposure, and self development and socialization because all through the process of studying you get to meet new people and it as well paves way for these very tech skills that are now job opportunities for people so I think wether u go to the university and get a degree or not shouldn't be a limitation for job opportunities,it all depends on the privilege you get as a person

[Arenga pinnata]

Is university still worth it today? Are “extra skills” and certificates just another money-making trick? Has anyone here found success without a degree, or by learning something new outside of school? Is this the start of a new way of working, or just a big mess?

Universities still function if the aim is to increase knowledge and not just to pursue a degree and not just to pursue a job. Because if the goal is a job or making money then I think it would be better if someone spent their time building a business from a young age or developing skills that are needed today. The aim of universities or colleges has remained the same since the past, namely to make people who enter there educated and also have broad insight. But they don't promise a good future and job. About studying at university to get a good job is just a growing assumption. Which makes it a habit and they forget the function of higher education itself.

Many in my country have bachelor's degrees but they don't work according to the degree they have. And there are even many people who manage to become successful or rich people but they don't graduate from college. So yeah if you are relying on a college degree and so on to expect a good job and make more money then I think that person is going the wrong way. Because if the goal is money from the start then it is better for him to use the capital he uses for school to build a business or business from the start. And look at the development in 4 years. However, if from the start someone enters college with the aim of expanding their insight and increasing the knowledge they will use to live in society and to achieve their dreams which require insight from a particular major then they are on the right track. And people like this will usually be successful in the end.

[Synchronice]

Has anyone else noticed that these days, having a university degree does not seem to guarantee a good job anymore? In the US, more than 40% of new graduates are working in jobs that don’t even need a degree! In the UK and Canada, youth unemployment is even higher, and entry-level jobs are much harder to get. Now, for each job, there are more than 100 people applying

A lot of people blame technology (especially AI, robots and automation) for stealing jobs. But the truth is more complicated. Companies are using AI to get rid of simple tasks, yes, but they’re also sending jobs to cheaper countries. And when there are jobs, many companies do not care about your university name anymore. They want to see if you really have the skills or special training for that job. That means people have to pay even more to get extra “certificates” after graduating

Meanwhile, graduates are stuck with debt and stress. Many young people feel lost, frustrated, and even angry, like society promised them something it can’t deliver. In the past, too many frustrated young people has led to big changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. Do you think the old way of working (one job, one company, climbing step by step) is over? Now, I see many young people having several jobs, working on short projects, or even starting small businesses on the side. In a recent report, more than half of workers noticed more people working two or more jobs

Is university still worth it today? Are “extra skills” and certificates just another money-making trick? Has anyone here found success without a degree, or by learning something new outside of school? Is this the start of a new way of working, or just a big mess?

University Degree no longer guarantees a good job because there is a huge competition, less good jobs and more physical jobs, which people don't want to do. We don't need too many lawyers, we need many people in warehouses, delivery, on trucks but people don't want to do these jobs and everyone wants to comfortably sit in a cool office and since modern standards gave every family to attend University, the competition is high and only the best people manage to land a good job.

By the way, University Degree is a very good way for people to escape poverty if they live in a poor country. They can visit any country, enter the university, get a degree there, then get the job that matches their degree and then get a permanent residency. Too many people do that here in Europe and live a good life. The competition is high and tough but degrees aren't useless.

[CryptoBuds]

To be fair, education and degrees are still very important, they still give us useful knowledge and great value in life. But as competition became increasingly fierce and corruption invaded the education system, the quality of education declined significantly. That makes many people start to doubt the degree. But I believe that if we are serious, hard-working and try to get a degree from a reputable school, the degree we receive will not disappoint us.

Maybe a degree no longer guarantees us a good job or a good future, but at least it will open up and give us more opportunities than those without degrees. Especially for those born into poor families, having a degree is extremely important because we don't have many ways to escape poverty.

[Pi-network314159]

Is university still worth it today?

I must say yes, despite university result does not guarantee employment but at least education is the foundation and the bedrock of our basic knowledge. Hence without it we wouldn't have been able to read and write. I have once created a thread similar to this and trust me, I learn a lot from it. Education is the key to success. It is just a system that enlightenes you up to chase your dreams. People always thinks that they must work with their degree. but fail to understand that life don't work that way. Everybody must not work with their degree. But look Upto finding other alternative to succeed in life. Besides the most richest men in the world didn't work with their degree but was creative enough to discover things that are useful to man.

Are “extra skills” and certificates just another money-making trick?

I think so, being educated and having skill is a fast way to succeed in life.

Has anyone here found success without a degree, or by learning something new outside of school? Is this the start of a new way of working, or just a big mess?

I must confess my success today is not about my degree but the skill I learnt outside school. But it wouldn't have been possible if I was not educated. So we can not deny the fact that education plays an important role to the society.

[Findingnemo]

A degree is pretty useless, not just now but for a while. Companies prefer candidates with actual knowledge and skills about the tasks they are recruiting for. In the past, they used to hire top scorers and provide the necessary training for a while at their own cost. But students are not aware of it yet, they spend hundreds of thousands to get a degree but they realize about it's worth only when it's too late.

A degree isn't completely useless if your goal isn't just to be a low-level employee for life. Have you seen any company hiring CEOs, HR directors or assistant directors without requiring a degree?

But the CEO of big companies hire CEO's for their skills or just for the degree? A degree is an added advantage and we are already entered into the phase where tech giants like Google hire employees for their skills even if they are school dropouts.

Depends. Healthcare is always high in demand. Dentists, nurses, medical doctors will have no problems with getting a job no matter what happens. Even AI cannot take their jobs away.

But now we have technology where surgeries can be done remotely, a surgeon doesn't necessarily need to be present at the location. If I am not wrong, China has already demonstrated a surgery using robotic hands that was operated from a different location so it got some risks too.

But it only applies to minor surgeries, not to invasive surgeries such as opening the chest, opening the abdomen to intervene and treat diseases such as heart disease, childbirth...More complex surgeries still require direct intervention by highly qualified physicians as well as support from other medical staff.
Not to mention, after surgery, monitoring and caring for the patient's recovery is very important and only humans can do these things.

I am not a medical professional so I can't comment on the severity of the surgeries but my point is even medical field is in danger and you said that it needs experienced doctors means the new ones will have hard time surviving for years to reach the stage of irreplaceable and I too agree that humans can't be replaced due to AI but it poses the risk for many users to lose their job because it can be taken care by automation.

[Apocollapse]

University Degree no longer guarantees a good job because there is a huge competition, less good jobs and more physical jobs, which people don't want to do. We don't need too many lawyers, we need many people in warehouses, delivery, on trucks but people don't want to do these jobs and everyone wants to comfortably sit in a cool office and since modern standards gave every family to attend University, the competition is high and only the best people manage to land a good job.

There are still people who want to work in warehouses, delivery, driving trucks etc, as long as they offer higher salary, people will want. It's not about they want to sit comfortable in cool office, but working in such jobs have no career path.

Do people want to deliver packages for their whole life? nope.

If you work in a company, you will start as a junior, staff, senior staff, supervisor, manager etc depends if you want or not.

[Unknown Op]

To be fair, education and degrees are still very important, they still give us useful knowledge and great value in life. But as competition became increasingly fierce and corruption invaded the education system, the quality of education declined significantly. That makes many people start to doubt the degree. But I believe that if we are serious, hard-working and try to get a degree from a reputable school, the degree we receive will not disappoint us.

Maybe a degree no longer guarantees us a good job or a good future, but at least it will open up and give us more opportunities than those without degrees. Especially for those born into poor families, having a degree is extremely important because we don't have many ways to escape poverty.

If you will search about degrees then we will get thousands of degrees and thousands of professions in which we can enter but which profession is best for you , that should be your choice. Many people have a dream to take car and buy a luxury apartment but they have no resources and they have desire . They can't do business because that could be risky, firstly they should work on education and should get any degree in which they are interested and then they should start part time business and they could be successful by doing side business.If they will spend all time for the business it could be more risky because if down in the market happens they have no backup . There should be strong backup if any unexpected situation happens.

[GiftedMAN]

To be fair, education and degrees are still very important, they still give us useful knowledge and great value in life. But as competition became increasingly fierce and corruption invaded the education system, the quality of education declined significantly. That makes many people start to doubt the degree. But I believe that if we are serious, hard-working and try to get a degree from a reputable school, the degree we receive will not disappoint us.

People should forget about the rate of unemployment and the corruption that has entered the educational system and still get a degree because it helps in the personal development of a person as well as helping someone to increase in knowledge and understanding of so many things in life, you may not be lucky to get a high salary paying job after school but the value gotten from having a degree can as well help you to secure a better job in the nearest future. The level of knowledge and exposure one gets in higher institution is one of the reasons people should consider getting a degree it may not be helpful now due to corruption in the economy but things may get better and the degree will become more useful.

[Wiwo]

For sure university degree is the basic starting point forbany young person and what we advice most times is that, aside your university degrees try having other skills that will market you in the contemporary world.

AI is controlled by human programmers so we cant blame them for lack of jobs, what i believe is that, there is jobs but there is no relevant skills to fit into the opening, so there seems to be a big vacuum here.

[ndutndut]

It depends. If you are thinking of becoming a university graduate to attain a degree or certificate for jobs, then going to university may not be worth it because there are fewer jobs, especially in fields outside health science. But if there are other reasons to be a university graduate not just for the sake of having a job then going to university to study is really worth it. The world has really changed; this is not the time when people go to school to get certificates to secure jobs. Even if there are no jobs, there are still good reasons why one needs to go to school. The university is a place for exploration, and it is a place where one can even get good life opportunities from the people you meet.

Yes, I agree with you. It all depends on the end goal of each individual.

If you want a definite career path and a definite salary, it's a good idea to go to college because such job vacancies usually require you to have a degree in a certain field, such as a doctor, lawyer, and so on.

However, if your end goal is to build a business, do freelance work such as trading and so on, I think college can still help you provide career provisions but may not be mandatory for you.

By going to college, it is to open your mindset to face the future. By going to college, you can get information at least one step more than not going to college, besides also honing your hard skills and soft skills. So back to each individual, college does not guarantee a successful life, but by going to college you can be one step ahead towards success, even though today's world has experienced a lot of technological developments such as AI, but not all jobs can be done by AI. So in my opinion, a bachelor's degree is still very important.

[Victorybit1]

The situation of my country has made it look like a degree is no longer worth chasing because those that are graduates are even the ones struggling than those that haven't been in the forewalls of a university. But even with all these it still doesn't undermine the importance of education and having a degree it's just that the government and leaders are heartless and corrupt. The best thing you can do for yourself now is not to focus too much on your degree, learn a high income skill while waiting to get a job in your profession which you might not even need

[Agbamoni]

Depends. Healthcare is always high in demand. Dentists, nurses, medical doctors will have no problems with getting a job no matter what happens. Even AI cannot take their jobs away.

There were 25% of registered nurses and Doctors..Medical sector in general, back in 2015. In 2024-2025 it fell down to 6%. What happened to the remaining 19%? The 19% are jobless and we can see that the number of graduate in this area of specialization increases by numbers while the opportunities are low.

In my countries, most nurses dont earn much, their pay is slightly higher than the minimum wage which cannot give them a good life. It will take them 20 years of service if they save 50% of their salary to be able to own a home, talk more of getting a car. I'm avoiding going deep on this subject but the healthcare system dont pay much.

[justdimin]

To be fair, education and degrees are still very important, they still give us useful knowledge and great value in life. But as competition became increasingly fierce and corruption invaded the education system, the quality of education declined significantly. That makes many people start to doubt the degree. But I believe that if we are serious, hard-working and try to get a degree from a reputable school, the degree we receive will not disappoint us.

Maybe a degree no longer guarantees us a good job or a good future, but at least it will open up and give us more opportunities than those without degrees. Especially for those born into poor families, having a degree is extremely important because we don't have many ways to escape poverty.

I can't say everyone actually "gets it", but the point isn't to actually "learn" that thing, it's about learning how you can learn that thing. For example, if I teach you how to code in phyton, versus if I show you a youtube series that teaches you how to learn.

So basically, at college, you are going to have bunch of teachers who will teach you something, but what you need to focus is to learn how you can learn, because if you learn how to learn, then that means you can do something totally different as well, and still learn it pretty quickly. Like I never did design until I was 30 years old, now I am working on a game and making its own design myself, and even selling a few stuff at unity store, albeit not selling much, but I did it, how I learned? Well thanks to college teaching me this life skill of learning how to learn.

[doomloop]

There were 25% of registered nurses and Doctors..Medical sector in general, back in 2015. In 2024-2025 it fell down to 6%. What happened to the remaining 19%? The 19% are jobless and we can see that the number of graduate in this area of specialization increases by numbers while the opportunities are low.

In my countries, most nurses dont earn much, their pay is slightly higher than the minimum wage which cannot give them a good life. It will take them 20 years of service if they save 50% of their salary to be able to own a home, talk more of getting a car. I'm avoiding going deep on this subject but the healthcare system dont pay much.

I think Covid is one of the reasons for the decline, as we know how deadly it is. We can as well add the economic problems such as the recession which results to lay-offing of workers. It is still nice to see that many are still aspiring to become one. Being a graduate is not enough because they still need to take and pass the exam for them to be officially qualified to be called as medical professional.

I feel sorry for the nurses in your country. With how hard and expensive it is to become one, that seems unfair but they can always apply on other countries which offers a better paying rate but this should be one of the reason on why the numbers have declined. In terms of owning a thing, they can as well get a loan to get it immediately.