Yeah, but you also don't have to be in school, & debt for 8 years of school from that, plus lost wages for that time.
You want to know the smartest son of a bitch I've seen recently? He's 35 years old, started in a factory at 18. He learned all he could about the place and finished a degree in business with a minor in engineering through night school, learning all he could about inventory and machine operations, and logistics. It took him 6 or 7 years part time but he did it by the time he was 24 or 25.
Then he got promoted to production supervisor, and he also got a second job on a different shift.
Now he's the plant manager and has been for a few years, plus he occasionally does some stuff on the side by picking up partial shifts at another place he worked at.
The son of a bitch is bulletproof. He can walk into pretty much any shop and get a job whenever he wants. CNC, Machining, Stamping, warehousing, basic accounting, metalwork, wielding, you name it, he does it. They know he knows his stuff at his job. He as several other places he's worked at an occasionally works at now and then as a sort of side gig when they need him. He could walk off a job and get one in an hour. He works a lot, but he clears 80K to 100K (adjust for cost of living in area) easily with no debt and owns his own home. If he wants extra money, then he can work more. Plus he's smart about being a utilitarian.
On a personal note he has that totally handsome as hell rough look about him and I wish he found people like me attractive, but he goes for the more manly men. Go figure. [sigh].