I started college majoring in Civil Engineering, because that's what my father convinced me would be a "financially solid field". I had no desire to be an engineer, but at that point in my life, I was kind of beholden to the parents. I had always been a very creative person, and always interested in lighting and computer stuff, and theatre.
So, I went off to school to study engineering. I lasted less than a year. Once I started Calculus 3, I realized that this is not how I wanted to spend my life. So after some talking with the college advisor, and a highly emotional call to my parents, I switched my major to Theatre Design and Production, in which I received my BFA. My father was petrified that I would turn out to be a starving artist delivering pizzas for a living.
However, since the day I graduated, I have been gainfully employed doing all sorts of different lighting jobs in the entertainment industry. The only times I've accepted a dollar from my parents since graduation was when our special-needs son required a procedure that insurance did not cover (15 years after graduation).
Besides theatre, I've also been active in concert production, large-scale corporate events, touring ice shows, large-scale museum exhibits, television shows, and feature films. I get to create not only with my passion for lighting, but also with the computer stuff (drawings, 3d models, databases, networking, etc). I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do since I was a kid, and making some pretty good money while doing it (had one six figure year). During the height of things, I was doing well enough that I only had to work outside of the house about 6 months a year.
Contrast this to my siblings who both went to high dollar schools, and one who followed with law school. One was bankrupt and debt-ridden within ten years and had to sell her condo just to get out of debt, while the other just couldn't seem to find himself and is currently job hunting in a new city.
Having the "right" degree is no guarantee that you will make good money, just as having a so-called "useless" degree, or no degree at all is no guarantee that you will be forever poor. What matters is your knowledge and passion for what you want to do.
