Should DOD create a payscale for Enlisted with Degrees?

No!

No!

There already is. If you have a Bachelors Degree (BA/BS) you come in at SPC/E-4. That's what I did. Also got a $6K bonus for it as well. That degree also maxes you out on Civilian Education promotion points.

Why? Their degree doesn't result in greater responsibility. I certainly hope you're not suggesting that the only thing separating officer and enlisted is a degree. Most military members are not officers because most military members completely lack the potential to perform as officers. A degree doesn't change that.

No, but give them incentives that will help them get more out of their degree. Maybe pave better roads to the Officer's Corps after getting a degree.

No, most guys with a college degree enlist to get their student loans paid, because the OCS path does not allow for that. I knew a lot of guys who had guaranteed OCS in their contract after some amount of years. I knew three guys who took their guaranteed OCS and commissioned and another who said no thanks and EASd.

A lot of the guys I knew who enlisted often times had a chip on their shoulders about having a degree, but they fail to realize they enlisted for the student loan repayment plus 60% of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Have two guys in my MBA class who enlisted with a degree for that reason and said they are glad they enlisted as Marine 0311 because they never would have been able to pay of their student loans.

Also guys who have a degree go in as a higher rank and are typically older so more is expected out of them.

Rather than adjust the pay scale I would say better retirement

Having a degree doesn't equate to higher pay in the civil side automatically either...when I first came out of the Navy, I got paid exactly as much to dig a ditch as the next ditch-digger, even with a B.S.

An education gets you two things that matter: the "license" to seek higher employment, and the connections to find it. If an NCO has his/her doctorate, and finds it more fulfilling to continue in their current role, it doesn't mean they couldn't find a path to higher pay-or that they are any less appreciated because they retain the same salary with the advanced degree. I had a Chief once in the Reserve who flew airliners in his "day job", and a Senior Chief who owned several patents.

Trust me, we all get "out" someday, and out here...an NCO with a masters is soon going to be earning a great deal more than an O-4 with a bachelors.

It will never pass Congress.

No. Military leaders are built in the field with practical experience. A degree in basket weaving does not now, nor will it ever, make you a better Soldier.