> if your personal goals include having things like PTO and health insurance you're going to want the degree.
Only ~40% of Americans have completed some level of post-secondary schooling, and only ~30% have a college degree. ~60-70% of jobs do not offer PTO and health insurance? That seems a little hard to believe. The BLS indicates that 79% of jobs offer PTO.
Sure, but that PTO is pretty... not great outside of salaried careers. For instance, for 5 years of work at Starbucks, you can get a maximum of ~2 weeks paid vacation across those 5 years in California (which has specifically friendly legislation to encourage this).
Only ~40% of Americans have completed some level of post-secondary schooling, and only ~30% have a college degree. ~60-70% of jobs do not offer PTO and health insurance? That seems a little hard to believe. The BLS indicates that 79% of jobs offer PTO.