by Michael Kling

You don't have to go to college earn a decent living. Some professions pay good salaries without requiring post-secondary schooling.

A college degree can be a great path towards a well-paying, satisfying profession, but a bachelor's degree isn't for everyone. In fact, some see advanced education as overrated. A surge in the number of college graduates have dampened the value of a college education. College comes intact with high tuition, room and board, and supplies fees - and that's not even factoring in debt payments that usually last for years, if not decades.

by Tisa Silver

Who says hard work doesn't pay? These 10 blue-collar jobs show that the color of your collar doesn't necessarily dictate the level of your income.

What Does it Mean to be a Blue-Collar Worker?

Blue-collar jobs are typically classified as involving manual labor and compensation by an hourly wage. Some fields that fall into this category include construction, manufacturing, maintenance and mining.

What it Does Not Mean

Do not mistake blue-collar jobs for easy to land, easy to keep or low-paying ones. Although some blue-collar jobs do not require a four-year degree, many of them require additional education by way of specialized training, a certification or an apprenticeship.

There are several blue-collar jobs that offer competitive packages, relative to their white-collar counterparts.

Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

To continue school or not continue school? That is the question for many high school graduates.

Although college can improve your career opportunities and increase your lifetime earnings, it also takes four years (or more) of your life and a lot of money. Plus, few majors can guarantee a financial return that will offset the financial debt many students will accumulate during college.

Two-year degrees, of which an associate degree is the most common, provide training and education for a variety of fields in approximately half the time as a bachelor's degree. Plus, you can earn an associate degree from a local community college for a fraction of the cost of a four-year degree at a university. Also, for most areas of study, an associate degree puts you halfway toward a four-year degree should you decide to pursue later.

By Carol Tice

A good salary and a rewarding career doesn't have to mean a four-year slog through college. There are plenty of jobs that pay nicely with less education, ranging from certificate courses just a few months long to two-year community college programs.

Education costs for most of these careers are modest -- you might even pay nothing at all. If you're from a low-income family and between 18-24, you may qualify to receive up to three years of free job training, housing and support services through the federal program Job Corps (http://www.jobcorps.gov/home.aspx). National program director Esther Jacobs says Job Corps serves roughly 100,000 students a year.

"We're the best-kept secret in this country," she says.

By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

Have you ever seen "CMP," "CQM," or "PMP" behind someone's name and not had a clue what it meant -- or if it meant anything at all?