Let me give you my story, because you sound to have a similar situation to where I was at. I got my associates in networking security, and started for my bachelors. For me it was like ok, goto a major 4 year and start over in CS because around me the main schools didn't really offer anything specifically for networking. It was pretty much CS or bust. I started at a for profit college called Davenport and as far as FP colleges go, its not the worst, but was still pretty much shit. There goes 10 grand for a year. I got hired in at a local webhosting company so I decided to bail on school. I was 23. 29k a year a paid health. At 26 we just got bought out and I lost my job. 37k a year and paid health. Over three years, I worked to actually be good at my job. I have my redhat cert, and I have a pretty solid operationsesq skill set. Its been 2 months since I lost my job. Right before the new year is rough because no one is hiring until after, so Im still waiting to hear back on a number of roles, but im nervous. I see a lot of questions pop up like "Google or Microsoft, 90k vs 100k" for kids coming out of a CS degree. Its like man, I wish thats what I have to worry about. My skill set is far, far from trivial, but I'm worried not having the BS is going to fuck me. Idk man. If can get into CS at a major 4 year, and actually do the work, that degree will be worth it. People don't tend to understand the value of work. Even if you put it right it front of them. The degree says "this is what im worth" to the uninitiated. Regardless of what it's actually worth. Interesting like that. If you want money, success, you're going to follow an arbitrary road map and sometimes do tasks that are trivial that will be judged at times by people that are significantly under qualified. Real life training. Get back at me in a couple months, but I say suck it up, spend the money, get the cs degree. Im on mobile and a sour grump right now so pardon and errors or assholishness