Do you regret not going to college

Three in every four billionaires have no third level formal education.

I don't know were you're getting this from

"The vast majority of the 234 U.S. billionaires whose education level is tracked by Forbes magazine through 1999 finished college; 100 have some form of advanced degree, but 41--that's 18%--never got their college diplomas and two never even finished high school." (Forbes)

One of the most prolific James Dyson is in that camp

"James Dyson attended Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, from 1956 to 1965. He attended the Byam Shaw School of Art from 1965 to 1966. He attended the Royal College of Art in London from 1966 to 1970, and studied furniture and interior design. He went on to study engineering." (Wiki)

Of course there is a need for a certain number of economics courses (slightly more than demand say double) but the sheer number of places available throughout the UK and Ireland must be in the tens of thousands of places on a yearly basis without the needs within the economy (which in economics is ironic in the most extreme, with supply and demand).

What? That depends on the institution. Good unis will have a surplus of applicants to a course.

What’s the point of someone doing a degree course in economics and learns that mathematical minutia of micro and macroeconomics and then ends up working as a department manager in Car Phone Warehouse or Toys R Us (very few work in the discipline and in a matter of years forget almost everything they've learnt).

Well my answer to the first part in bold is that it teaches you discipline and how to think/problem solve. The second part - what's the point of some doing quantity surveying (in construction field as you mentioned) and working as a department manager in Toys R Us. Is your point that people study degrees and then do something completely different? Hardly matters if the person enjoyed the course and subsequently enjoys there job, so it's all relative

The same with marketing and business related courses, there's a huge spike in the number of places offered by colleges but not the same demand from the work environment. Marks and Spencer has less than 20 in its marketing department.The amount of marketing places on a yearly basis to marketing graduates, there must be 50 grads for every one place and that’s optimistic, even in a good economy.

Fair enough, that can be true enough.

Re: being able to study accountancy with afirm with any degree, if you're that way inclined

That’s the problem, its lunacy.

Why? They train you up so you don't need to have studied accountancy. Think their idea is they get a varied bunch of staff from different disciplines.

Look my main beef is the sheer scale and growth of third level educational policy in the UK and Ireland and the cost to the exchequer. Third level in a lifetime (due to so many people having it now) is beginning to offer less and less salary advantage over those without, but gives them a huge drag on debt.

Fair enough, I agree with you here. Should be more like Germany really. More apprenticeships trainee-ships for a better balance etc

-most (not all) are padded out with rubbish that could be condensed into 12 months or 24 months at most without losing any relevant subject matter. Hence less government salaries, cost to the exchequer and less debt for student to be burdened with.

You're spot in here tbh. I think we kind of agree with each other in general but are arguing about details. I know plenty of people who have studied subjects that they're not working in now, and it seems like a waste, but a lot of those guys realised they couldn't give a toss about their field of work, and others just couldn't find the jobs. Some degrees will give you applicable life skills, others won't I suppose.

A Degree ISNT all that. I have being study full time a medical science degree in a university the past 3 years and have no job prospects, I cant even get work experience unpaid anywhere. The amount of money, work and study I have put in and yet it seems after 4 years i get my degree and have to go on and do masters and even then i might still not get a job!! I know people who never went to college, some who did a 6 months PLC course and now have full time jobs!

There are pros and cons to be in collage. You meet new people there, develop your social life but on the other hand you could learn a lot of things alone in home. There is so much information on the Internet and so many courses which brings you certificates in so many and different specialties. It depends on you to have power over you and not to be lazy to learn alone