The status problem, named honestly

The strongest argument against this route is usually social rather than economic, and it is rarely said out loud. It is that a diploma is harder to announce at a family gathering than a degree. That is a real cost and it is worth naming, because a cost you have not named is one you cannot weigh.

It is worth weighing against the alternative honestly: three or four years and a large fee for a general degree with no specific work attached to it, in a market where employers increasingly ask what you can actually do. Neither answer is automatically right. The mistake is deciding on status without ever looking at the outcomes.