It truly depends. I have hired many people and what a college degree from an accredited university tells me is that they can stick to something and finish it, even when the going gets rough, think work ethic. That being said, depending on the field, college education is required as it is almost 'job' training, ie many engineering positions require lots of math knowledge, something that only the most diligent and driven people would be able to learn outside of a school.
A college degree is usually indicative of an ability to "stick with it" and will usually help someone land a job when the alternative is someone without one unless the market is flooded.
Sometimes, though, it is not the best choice.
I worked at a production plant that had an in-house tool room with a handful of toolmakers (of which I was one) to repair/polish/sharpen stamping and forming dies in the presses. Some were single operation, but most were progressive dies. We scratch-built the occasional die on a whim from our engineers to try something to see if it would work, but the majority of new dies were farmed out as most of our guys had their hands full maintaining the ones out on the shop floor. Someone (above the level of the toolroom foreman) had the bright idea of hiring a "green" (fresh out of apprenticeship) Journeyman Toolmaker because he would be "current on the latest trends" in toolmaking. Conversely, most of the guys already in the toolroom had at least 10+ years of hand-on experience. To be short, this new guy could make a very pretty looking die from a blueprint and, to his credit, he was fairly quick at it. When it came to the meatball surgery of pulling a broken die from a press, diagnosing it and getting it back in the press making parts, he was utterly useless. Because of his "credentials", he got paid more than most in the toolroom and when the guys found out, they had a fit. This new guy, however, felt entitled to his wages based on the fact that he served a 4-year "apprenticeship" but the fact was, his experience during the apprenticeship was based upon working in a shop whose product was new dies, not in a shop where they repaired broken dies as quickly as possible. He had the book knowledge, but lacked the experience commensurate with the pay he expected. We all eventually got raises to reflect our experience as compared with his...
Have a degree does not automatically entitle these college grads to an instant, massive paycheck. I don't know where they get this notion, but it is entirely wrong and ludicrous. What it does entitle them to, if anything at all, is a foot in the door to a business where they can start doing the job that they were educated for. That is all. From that point on it is up to them to prove their worth and adeptness at their profession.
It is called paying your dues. Going to college and getting a Bachelor's degree is not "paying your dues". It is only just the groundwork needed in some fields to be able to start a career.
