I went to TESST College... AKA, not a real college. found this out a few years ago. When we went in to sign up, they had a fabulous speech prepared about how great and respected they were. Went though, came out with a 2.8 "GPA" since a physics class teacher was a old fogey and taught poorly. All other classes i did great in; excelled, even.

22k of very real debt for a non-recognized Associates Degree.

1 -Got hired as a contractor with the US Army in 2005 straight out of college, left in 2008 due to contract end. Ending Salary 30k.
2 -Hired with another BIG Contractor in 2008. Left in 2010 due to 2hr commute. Ending salary: 45k.
3 -Hired with another Contractor locally in 2010 left in 2012 due to hardcore ethics violations. Ending salary: 38k.
4 -Hired on the same installation, different contract in 2012. Got to see the world. Left due to contract end. Ending salary: 75k.
5 -Hired in private industry at the end of 2012. Current position Salary: 92k with other benefits that bring it up to ~110k.

I have an "Associates" degree in "Network Information Systems". I'm not a system engineer for one of the shittiest Microsoft products ever created(aside from clippy and front page), SharePoint.

The point i'm making here is that even though i have a invalid degree in a IT field unrelated to what i do... I worked up(somewhat) and paid that debt. IT has one of the lowest debt to income ratios at the moment pertaining to school. If you just go for comp sci in school, of course you're going to be disappointed. Specialization is key. Also, i was told all throughout my school life the same old shit: go to college, you'll have a better paying job. It's bullshit. A better paying job isn't about the paper you have, but the people you know and the drive to learn. Self entitlement is the biggest job killer in the younger people i see coming out of school. NO ONE in my industry wants a kid who thinks they know it all.