I stopped going 5 classes shy of an associates degree. I was working part time, and a full time position came open. The money was great at the time so I took it. I also had some personal problems at the time that were keeping me from concentrating in class. It was only going to be a 6 month break but it's been over 4 yrs now. I'm still in the IT field, and make decent money. It's tough to say if I made a good choice or not. All my other friends finished school, and graduated after 9-11. One of them has an engineering degree, but works in the parts dept at a dealership. I would probably be in the same boat as him if I finished. Experience is better than a degree in my field, but a lot of IT managers don't know shit about IT, and they prefer a degree sometimes. Either way it's more about who you know anyway. The field is so saturated if you started out now, you won't make much. Not enough to justify a $30K-$40K student loan.