13 of the listed positions prefer a degree...

I got an email from one of the job boards today that informed me that 13 of the listed positions preferred that candidates have a degree. And you know, I don't have one. But I'll tell you something else... if the best job I can get with a degree is "Receptionist" or "Administrative Assistant", then I don't see the point to getting a degree. Silly me, I thought getting a degree was supposed to keep you from having to do the lowlier jobs.

The New York Times recently had an article that had this to say:

One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools.

The article went on to say that the school make big promises and don't deliver and that the education provided isn't adequate to get a high-paying job.

The reality, for me, is that given my age, racking up a ton of student loan debt probably doesn't make a lot of sense. I watched the struggle my mom had, graduating from college at 50+. Sure, she had the education but she had to fight tooth and nail for jobs because they wanted someone younger to fill the openings. She was working for people she could have given birth to who were not, quite frankly, very well prepared for working with older, more mature workers (she had a boss who tried to tell her exactly what to do with her day, in 15 minute increments... my mother had probably 30+ years of work experience at that point and knew time management skills, thankyouverymuch).

I was thinking last night that I finally know the answer to "if you could go back to any time in your life, when would it be...?" I'd go back to the summer I was 19. I'd suck it up and stay with my Grandparents. I might have been able to score a scholarship or at least have gotten through community college. I don't know that my life would have been better. I wouldn't have had any friends my own age but maybe, just maybe, I could have done something extraordinary with my life. And just once in my life, I'd really like to do something to make my Mom proud (I have come to believe that there is NOTHING I could do to make my father proud).

13 of the positions listed may prefer a degree. Zero of them should require it. All of them should be happy to hire someone with 20+ years of actual experience. But that's not the way things work so I'll just keep on looking and eventually, I'll find something, right?