Is a college degree worth it? An experiment (Concluded, with results)

And we're done!

https://i.ibb.co/CB7QX3v/we-did-it.png

Cute storytelling in the spoiler, final results below.



Truffle enters the Computer Engineer career at level 8, Processor of Processors, earning S310/hour, 8 hours 4 days a week, with a S2,340 signing bonus. She got that job even though she didn’t have the Robotics skill level for that job. (She does need to get to level 8 for her promotion to the NEXT level, just like anyone else.) This job without a degree is normally paid S220/hour, and the promotion bonus is normally S2,200.
Bargain enters as a Computer Constructor, level 7, which is exactly the same level as Duck is now, but paid S197/hour with a S1,980 signing bonus. Duck's rate of pay without a degree is S145/hour, promotion bonus S925.

At current levels, Truffle earns S2480 per day, Bargain S1576, Duck S1305.
So it looks like the distinguished degree is worth it by a lot, and the regular degree by a nose.
Their skills ended up pretty close to one another actually, which surprised me.

But what if you take into account all the money Duck earned while the other two were in college?

By my count, Duck earned S13,063 before the others graduated.
It will take Truffle just 5 days to earn that amount at her current career level. In 12 days, her lifetime earnings will overtake Duck’s, if both stay at their current level.
It will take Bargain 8 days to earn S13,063. His lifetime earnings won’t overtake Duck’s for another 51 days, otherwise known as “never” on normal lifespan.
This could change a little bit depending on promotions. the limiting factor on all three for further promotions is Robotics skill, and Truffle has farthest to go, so it’s possible the others might catch up to her career level. Even then, though, they won’t be earning what she is earning.

(I haven’t included tuition costs in this calculation because with a little more organizing than I did, it’s pretty easy to get a full ride or close to it.)

So, if you can get a distinguished degree, it will really pay off in the long run.
If you get a regular degree, you're doing the same workload for a fraction of the benefits, and you might not ever catch up earnings-wise to where you'd be if you just entered the career track when you became a young adult.

The only reason I can think to do a regular degree is for storytelling reasons, wanting to keep a household together in the same university housing, the social benefits of meeting lots and lots of other young adults. Or if you happen to need some skill that's easier for you to build by doing university homework instead of using the actual skill object. Doing university homework seems to build the skill faster than reading the regular skill books.