Locally (Kansas) you can get a certificate at the local community college in everything from Paralegal to A/C&R for about ($85 credit hour times 32 credit hours) $2720. Throw in about $100 a class for books ($1000) and you have the training to get a job for about $4000. If you want, or need, an associates degree then double the cost to $8000. If you want to try to be a professional or you have a job that requires a bachelor's degree then you head up to the four year institution for your last two years. That is going to cost you about $1100 a class and you need 20-24 more classes for $22,000 to $26,400. Throw in about $150 dollars per class for books and you have a little over $3000 of books. You can sell them back, rent them, or keep them. Anyway, four years have gone by (yes, it might be more) and you owe about $40,000. That could buy a nice luxury car. If you go to a private four year school then add another $5000 to the total. Okay, now it's time to find a job...with no experience, no resume, and competing with the graduates from the last four years. Don't worry, you get six whole months to get your feet on the ground before you have to start paying about $350 a month for the next ten years.
There was a local story about a young woman who wanted to get a degree in music but she also wanted a job. She did a lot of research and found that actuaries had a 98% hire rate after school and started at an average of $46,000 a year. So she took the math classes, the business classes, and made connections. She had a job before she left school and now she is working on her degree in music on the side.