Quote Originally Posted by complich8
Don't be fooled. It's worth more, but you've gotta have the degree first. No paper and like 90% of the time you probably don't meet the minimum requirements for them to talk to you. If they aren't willing to hire you, they're definitely not gonna shell out the 15-20k it costs them to sponsor you .

[Lots of good information.]
I've worked overseas for the government before and dealt with a lot of guys with security clearances. They were making $150k-300k/yr without a college degree. Of course, that's typically working for 70-80 hours a week in Dubai/Kuwait/Iraq/Afghanistan, but it was generally light duty work.