How much is your college degree worth?
Ever since I was a little girl I have been told just how much a college degree will get you. It was drilled into my brain that if I didn’t get a degree that I wouldn’t be able to make it on my own. Now that I’m an adult, I have learned that having a college degree may or may not get you anywhere. When I was in my 20’s I was a property manager and I made more money than I will once I get my teaching degree. Let’s see, is racking up ten’s of thousand’s of dollars in debt really worth it? My answer is YES! I loved being a property manager but I knew that was not what my calling was. When I finally decided to take that leap of faith, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it on my own but I knew I’d be so much happier.Sandy Baum is an economist from Skidmore. She studied the value of a college degree for the College Board. People have always said that college would cost $1 million dollars by this time. Sandy’s studies have concluded that a college degree is only at about $300,000 dollars. In fact, people that have a college degree will make an average of $20,000 more a year than the people that do not.
Also, as we have seen with this economy, many people have lost their jobs. I have read and watched on tv that anyone is getting laid off. Looking at the studies that Sandy has done, more people are laid off without degrees than one’s with degrees. Once you have a degree, more doors open up and you have more opportunities to grow in a job, with a company and within yourself.
A college degree to me is worth more than a million dollar paycheck. It’s worth the satisfaction of knowing that I did something that I wanted to do with my life. I followed my heart and my soul to become what I wanted to. I believe that the debt, the time in classes and studying are worth getting my degree and being able to show everyone that I made it.
3 comments:
As much as I agree that I too will stop at nothing to finish my college degree and will feel very proud for it, I am starting to feel that actually obtaining the degree is not as important as the experience. When I read the classified nearly every job these days wants an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree as part of the qualifications; however the actual work they want done does not seem worth it. Many of the jobs I look for would turn me down because I lack my degree, yet I know I could be successful in doing them. I have attended college for over 9 years and find so many interesting topics to study that I have yet to finalize what I want to be when I grow up. Therefore, even though I too have fallen for the you won't get anywhere without a degree mentality, deep down I can't say that I believe it is the actual degree that matters, but the experience you have with it all.
I also feel that a degree is totally worth the time, effort and money. A college degree pays back 10 fold (even though it doesn't seem so) with the knowledge gained more so than the framed piece of paper. Most importantly, in the working world, you can do excellent work for years, and tomorrow possibly be laid off. A degree on the other hand can never be taken away once it is earned.
I have had my job for ten years now without having a college degree. I currently make more money then most the people I know who have their college degree; though money isn’t the end-all-be-all to me it doesn’t hurt. Most jobs that I have looked at recently ask for a college degree or two – three years of work experience in a certain field. So all that being said am I glad I am getting my college degree? Of course I am and at times I am very disappointed that it took me this long to decide finish. When I finish college I am proving to future employers that I can in fact see something through to the end. Even though I have been in my job for ten years and have been successful I don’t feel I have reached my ceiling. As this article has pointed out it is important to either have or be working towards a college degree in this economy.
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