My daughter attended 4 years to get her double major in economics and political science with a minor in history. As well, during her senior years, instead of electives, she became a licensed Emergency Medical Technician. She has already turned down jobs in the state auditor's department auditing construction contracts and as a safety supervisor with the VA.
Now in grad school studying Transportation Management she has won a fellowship and this fall, for three months, she will be reviewing state and municilal applications for stimulus money to make sure they only approve the projects that create the most jobs. The Army corps of Engineers wants her to do co-op with them while she gets her doctorate. As well, as a grad student she gets a GA which pays all her tuition in return for teaching two sophomore level engineering classes.
She figures, she will spend a total of 9 years in college and step into a $100K+ salary to start and it will be well worth it.
She borrowed 1/3 of the cost of her undergrad degree and my mother and I paid the rest. However, she would have paid for it all herself if she had to.
It will be well worth it. While a college degree is no guarantee of success, it makes the odds against you a lot smaller. She says it is as important what you do outside of classes, especially the networking that makes the difference. For example, she made her connection with the Army Corps of Engineers in a bar at a convention.
Myself, I am an electronics engineer and they pay me to do my hobby. I design electronics for the professional music industry. I give it all for Rock and Roll!