The Value of a College Education
Published on - January 10th, 2008 (Modified on - September 7th, 2010) (by J.D. Roth) 
I’ve been thinking lately about the value of a college education. I earned a B.A. in Psychology from Willamette University in 1991 (with a minor in English Lit, and almost another minor in Speech Com). What have I done with this degree? Almost nothing. Yet I do not regret the money and years I spent working to earn it.
The financial value of a college degree
Does earning a college degree make a difference to your future? Absolutely. The facts are striking. On average, those who have a college degree earn almost twice as much as those who do not. According to the U.S. Census Bureau:
Adults with advanced degrees earn four times more than those with less than a high school diploma. Workers 18 and older with a master’s, professional or doctoral degree earned an average of $82,320 in 2006, while those with less than a high school diploma earned $20,873.
Workers with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $56,788 in 2006; those with a high school diploma earned $31,071. This flurry of numbers makes more sense when viewed in a table:
| Education | Avg. Income | Increase |
| Drop-out | $20,873 | — |
| High school | $31,071 | 48.9% |
| College | $56,788 | 82.8% |
| Advanced | $82,320 | 45.0% |
Completing college is huge. Over a life-time, a college degree is generally worth almost a million dollars. That’s money that can be used for saving, for fun, for whatever. The financial benefits of a college education are significant, and they’re very real.
Other benefits of a college degree
Obtaining a college degree isn’t just about making more money. According to Katharine Hansen at Quintessential Careers, a college education is associated with other benefits, such as:
- Longer life-spans
- Greater economic stability and security
- More prestigious employment and greater job satisfaction
- Less dependency on government assistance
- Greater participation in leisure and artistic activities
- Greater community service and leadership
- More self-confidence
A college education also gives you a broad base of knowledge on which to build. It teaches you to solve more of life’s problems. It gives you future reference points for discussing art, entertainment, politics, and history.
College offers other learning opportunities, too. Much of what I gained in college came from learning outside the classroom, from participating in clubs and other campus organizations. Many degree programs allow students to “test-drive” careers through internships and practicums.
The label on your degree does NOT matter
I asked Michael Hampton, director of career development at Western Oregon University, what advice he would offer a student who is deciding whether or not to attend college. He replied:
Unless you are going to be an engineer, architect, teacher, lawyer, the label on your degree does not matter. The degree is a check-mark (as opposed to the focus) in most job requirements. Many job ads will state: “Business, Communications or other degree required.” Most folks have the “other”.
I have a BA in Speech, Telecommunications & Film. As a television news photographer, youth director, communications director, substitute school teacher,
sports marketing manager, career programs coordinator, no one ever said to me: “You know what? We would like to hire you, but we’re not sure what that label is on your degree.”
Honestly, at the University of Oregon, I was looking for an “easy” degree because I was not a book-smart student. I was able to take mostly film & television classes to earn my BA, so I signed up. The experiences I took advantage of (internships, volunteering, and part-time jobs) in college set me up to be marketable to employers. Again, the jobs I went after required degrees, but the label on the degree was not a barrier.
Here are some more prominent examples:
- What was Alan Greenspan’s major? Econ, but he studied music first
- What was Michael Jordan’s major? Math, then Geography (dropped out to play professional basketball, later returned to earn his degree)
- What was Lisa Kudrow’s major? Biology
- What was Cindy Crawford’s major? Chemical Engineering (dropped out for modeling career)
- What was Ted Turner’s major? Classics (expelled for hanky-panky)
- What was former HP CEO Carly Fiorina’s major? Philosophy
- What was George W. Bush’s major? History
- What was Jay Leno‘s major? Philosophy
If a student is struggling to get good grades, I encourage them to look at the course catalog and choose a major based on the likability of most of the classes they would have to take, their positive experiences with the professors in the major, and the number of credits they have already taken that are compatible. They should set themselves up to be successful. Getting through the pre-reqs is a major barrier for some. Combine some “fun” classes with the challenging required courses to try and make the experience more enjoyable.
Be cool — stay in school
While a college education statistically provides a better shot at obtaining wealth, it does not guarantee success. There are English majors who end up with convenience store careers. There are high school drop-outs who go on to run multi-million dollar corporations. But obtaining a college education improves your odds.
For some young adults, college can seem like a waste of time. (Or worse, a waste of money.) Other things seem more important. I had friends who dropped out of school to pursue girlfriends across the country. I had friends who were convinced they could make more money by skipping college altogether. Student loans can be so enormous that they make a person lose sight of the fact that they’re an almost guaranteed investment in the future.
I personally had problems finding a career path — I simply had no idea what I wanted to do. When I went entered college, I wanted to be a religion major. Then I wanted to be a writer. Then I wanted to be a grade school teacher. Ultimately I earned a psychology degree, which has had little direct benefit to my life. But the education I obtained, my campus experience, and the contacts I made have been invaluable. A large part of who I am today was forged by my experiences in college. The value of a college isn’t just in the destination, but in the journey.
Resources
In preparing this article, I relied heavily on the following sources:
- U.S. Census Bureau: Educational attainment in the United States
- Free Money Finance: More education equals more pay and How I made millions off a $5,000 investment
- Quintessential Careers: What good is a college education anyway?
- Financial Calculators: What is the value of a college education?
How many of you attended college? Are you glad you did? If you didn’t get a degree, do you regret it? If you could talk to your 18-year-old self, what would you tell her? If I had a chance, I’d tell the young J.D.: “Set goals. Study more. Find a direction for life!”
Update: As usual, there are some great comments. Many have noted that education does not cause all these wonderful things — it’s simply correlated with them. (It may be that people who obtain an education would live longer even without one.) Also — and this is key — more important than education is doing what you love. Passion and drive can bring success, no matter what level of schooling you have.
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This article is about Career, Choices, Education
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This is a rare post that I conceived, wrote, edited, and published all on the same day. As a result, I actually know how long it took to create.
From start to finish, this article took four hours to write. The first hour was spent on a braindump: just pouring out the various ideas I had. (I also e-mailed a couple of friends, including Michael Hampton, asking for tips.)
The second hour was spent fleshing out details. The third hour was spent organizing the information, and incorporating some of what Michael sent me. The fourth hour was completely spent editing.
And this was a rush job. I wanted it done by eleven. Under normal circumstances, I’d spend another hour or two honing the piece.
Trivia time over.
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I received a Bachelor’s in Interactive Media Design, and hold an A.A in History and my peers make more money than I do without the college education.
Certain fields just don’t get paid as much as the statistics for a college degree, i wouldn’t recommend it.
Maybe it differs city to city, but here in Seattle my Degree has garnered me poor wages across the board due to over saturation in the field
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Interesting stuff. I found your blog about 2 weeks ago and bookmarked several posts to share with my husband on our annual “Financial Summit” getaway. (We “splurge” on an inexpensive hotel for a weekend to focus on our budget & financial goals.)
Anyway, my husband and I both have college degrees. He in Social Work, and I in Music Education. Both of us worked in career fields related to our degrees and earned appropriate salaries for the fields we were in. Now, however, neither of us is working in the field in which we received our degrees. We both benefitted from our college experiences, though. For me it was a growing up time. It helped me gain confidence and get over my shyness.
I would tell my 18-year-old self to take classes that interested me, without regard to degree plan. I would take more art, design, and religion classes.
My degree is not helping me to make more money, but it did contribute greatly to who I am today.
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Personally, I have a BS in Engineering Management and an MBA in Business Administration. I’m definitely glad I got the latter. My salary has doubled since I started the graduate degree. Sure, it would have gone up anyway, but it has really helped get my foot in the door and look more professional.
I totally agree that what matters is giving yourslef the chance to have the odds in your favor. Everyone has a story of someone they know who made it big without college and someone who flopped afterwards. There will always be extremes and you can’t count on being one of them.
As for talking to my 18 year old self, I would say, “Forget what you’re thinking, go ahead and get the Architecture degree you want!”
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This was the perfect timing for me to read this article. As much as I love my major and attending school, there are times I’m just so exhausted.
Thanks for putting things back in perspective!
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Ummmm…Cindy Crawford and Michael Jordan dropped out. Ted Turner was expelled. And the link you provided for Robin Williams doesn’t say anything about him being a philosophy major or having gone to college (unless Julliard counts).
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“Unless you are going to be an engineer, architect, teacher, lawyer, the label on your degree does not matter. The degree is a check-mark (as opposed to the focus) in most job requirements. Many job ads will state: “Business, Communications or other degree required.” Most folks have the “other”. ”
This is so true. I actually went to college to become an architect, but I’m doing the furthest thing from architecture as a career. Every job I received after college may have preferred a degree in a specific field, but generally they just wanted you to have some sort of college degree.
Like Michael Hampton said, unless you are in a specialized field that requires special certification or licensing requirements, more often than not employers are simply looking for a college graduate.
Of course, having a degree in the field you’re trying to get into will certainly improve your odds of getting a job, it isn’t a requirement, especially for entry-level stuff.
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Good post JD. I’ve got a BS in Math and have NEVER used any of my coursework in a professional capacity. I know for certain that just having a degree has opened doors for me.
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I have a degree and earn minimum wage. Can I give away my degree and take the earnings instead for a high school graduate?
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Actually, if you’re going to be a lawyer, your undergraduate major doesn’t matter one bit. Once I had a law degree from a top school, prospective employers didn’t care if my college degree was a B.A. in basketweaving from Party University. I think there are two lessons here: first, if you know you’re going to get a law degree, don’t go into debt for your bachelor’s–save that for law school. Second, study what you enjoy in college so you have something to fall back on when you get burned out practicing law.
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If I could go back I would tell my 18-year old self (actually 17 since I started college a year earlier) to just hurry up and finish the degree, any degree! I was set to graduate with a B.S. in Biology when I was 21 but during my senior year, I lost all focus, didn’t care, flunked a couple of courses, dropped out and went to work. I intended to go back in a year and finish but instead met THE ONE at the job I had taken, got married, and so on. I finally graduated this past summer, 11 years after starting college. For the past four years I’ve worked in accounting. I make decent money and learned most of my accounting skills on the job. I also handle environmental permits for my company and have found that my background in science and the technical writing I did in school have helped me immensely in that aspect. Also, I was generally an intense student (other than that one fateful year) and I believe I learn quickly on the job as a result of that training in school. I think one of the huge advantages to finishing an undergrad degree, whether you’ve found your true calling or not, is that later on you can pursue higher wages through an advanced degree without having to start from square one like those who chose not to finish (or start)college at all.
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I think that the important thing, as in so many areas of life, is not the process but starting it with a goal.
My advice to my 18-year-old self:
* Don’t believe the people who say that their degree program leads to starting salaries of $40k or $50k or whatever. Definitely don’t change majors because your original program isn’t saying that and the new one is. You’ll end up pulling $30k and miserable.
* Wait on school until you’re really ready to do it and do well at it. Don’t go at 18 just because it’s expected. Starting your career a few years late can make you really impatient, but it’s worth it in the long run when you have a career and your friends have brightly colored polo shirts.
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Hmmmm.
I agree, in principle.
For any given field, a higher degree will earn more money. Some fields will pay a PhD less than other fields will pay a high school graduate (e.g. post-doc researchers vs salespeople).
And in some fields you absolutely need a degree.
I think that a degree is more than a checkbox. Obviously, quality of school is important.
Second, science vs. liberal arts is undoubtedly important. Marketing, communications, philosophy, etc are all sorta/kinda interchangeable. But try getting a economics or statistics job (not even science) with a commuications degree. Also, the Alan Greenspan example is interesting, but using movie stars is just dishonest. Hey — you can be a pro football player regardless of what your degree is in! And maybe Bush isn’t the best example, either.
Also, I’ve been considering an MBA. And I actually came across an interesting article based on interviews with hiring managers that had a few quotes:
a) “ALL THINGS THE SAME, we’ll probably give the MBA a job… maybe give them about 5K more a year.”
b) “We actually look down on people with an MBA. What kind of choices are they making if they give up a 200K/year job in order to pay 50K/year and not work for two years? (that was for investment banking)
Also, the $1m extra is bit misleading. You need to think about the opportunity cost and time value of money. Easiest way to do the comparison would be:
“If, rather than going to university for four years and paying tuition, I worked in the best job I could get and saved as much money as I could (living an equivalent lifestyle as I would in college) for those years, how much would I have at the end of my life?”
At that point, a million doesn’t sound so great.
Lastly, there’s a bit of a selection bias. Sure, having a degree helps you earn more money. But I’d say a lot of the difference that Census found is that the types of people who go to college to get a degree are the types that would do well regardless and succeed in a lot of circumstances.
James
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There is a big difference between correlation and causation. The statistic shows that people with degrees get high paying jobs, but doesn’t indicate why. It could be they are smarter, more motivated, more interested in success, or have less factors holding them back.
Freakanomics has a great example of this. Children growing up in a house full of books do better in school. But adding books to a house doesn’t make a kid do better in school.
While I do agree getting a college degree increases your chances of success, I’d be curious to see if any studies were done on how much a college degree increases the salary of someone who is already in the work force with a high school degree.
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GREAT article!
Forcing my teenagers to read it. Thanks.
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Michael Jordan dropped out of college, but did finish his degree in 1986. Coincidentally the average salary for a geography major graduating in 1986 from Carolina was somewhere around $200k. Guess Michael skewed that a bit upwards?
The most important thing I got from my college degree was the appreciation for myself. I got out of my dinky hometown, I saw more of the world, met people from other places, learned more about myself and graduated with hope and self-esteem.
I do rail against the cost of education though. I’m just amazed at what people will pay for a degree. It’s one thing to go $200k in debt for a degree from Yale, but people go into great debt for small, less prestigious schools. Makes no sense to me to pay that for a no-name school, when you can get a fine education at a public institution.
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Minimum wage made a good point, degrees do not automaticly mean more money. Along the same lines I have to question if spending tens of thousands of dollars (usally borrowed) is worth it. Almost every PF blog I read where they are tying to get out of debt school debts are a large portion of it. Most people would be better off getting a trade instead. Quite common is the low wage worker with tons of school debt.
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I’m just amazed at what people will pay for a degree.
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Far too many parents say to their children, ‘You have to go to college so you can get a good job.’ They don’t always say, ‘You have to go to college and go to classes and complete the problem sets and answer the professor’s questions and do the research and write the papers and sit the exams so you’ll have a better chance of being able to have the luxury to choose what you want to do with your life.’
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Honestly, the biggest mistake I ever made was going to college. Twelve years after graduation I’m still paying for that mistake.
I’ve noticed that the biggest money makers in the world either didn’t go to college or dropped out, with very few exceptions. I also know many people who have gone up into graduate degrees who are very happy they did. Ultimately, I think the question is, “What’s the goal?”
For someone like me, an actor, college is a very bad idea unless you go to a school which is located in a major market.
For someone looking for a security-based income, regular paycheck, etc., college is a great idea.
It all depends on the goal.
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When I sat down to write a post about my money decisions for my blog, I immediately knew that my educational choices were far and away my best. I got a BA in Computer Engineering and then took a job with an employer that paid for me to get a MS in Software Engineering. To get here is/was a lot of hard work, long nights, and Red Bull but it has paid off. This path is really only for those who enjoyed taking apart electronics when they were kids, begged for Legos and erector sets for Christmas, and would rather learn C++ than Spanish. My total bill for education was near $100k but 2.5 years out of school I’ve made back every penny.
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Most of the “other benefits” listed are correlative, not causative. Getting a college degree will not make you live longer, nor will it give you more time for leisure (although once you finish your degree, you may feel like you have a lot more time). It may not even lead to a higher paying job, as Minimum Wage has noted.
Sure, on average people with a degree will earn more and live longer, but on average everyone has one testicle and one breast. I don’t think people should go to school to “get a degree.” They should go to school if a degree is a requirement for the career they want, or if they actually want to go to school.
I tried university, hated it and dropped out, then did a two-year diploma. Now I earn more than the average for people with an advanced degree. I know other people who love school and have multiple degrees (and a six-figure student loan). I think people should look at whether they really need or want a degree, because it’s a big commitment. I’ve never felt like not having a BA has held me back.
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I agree 100%.
My wife and I were discussing this topic recently. The one thing I’d say though, is to try to come out of it with as little debt as possible.
We both went on 100% credit, and are paying for it now. We could have lived on less, and supplemented it to ease some of the stress we’re having now for sure.
But overall, it will always be worth it!!
ps. I have a Business Management degree, and I’ve done Graphic Design since I graduated.
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for leno, crawford, michael jordan… I don’t think college did much for their careers!
Labels can matter, but they don’t have too. You could make a chart of the average pay for different majors, and there will be some clear winners. It’ll be hard to get into engineering with a music degree. But you can do a lot of stuff with having an “other” degree than having no degree.
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When going to the Wikipeida article on Alan Greenspan, you find that he got a BS, MA and PHD in Economics. Although the article does state he was a very good musician.
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Very interesting. I have an interdisciplinary degree in Humanities (aka General Studies). While on the surface it may appear useless – unlike a nursing degree or others mentioned in the post – I would have to agree that it was worth the time and money invested in getting it. My parents always told me you go to college to learn how to think. My degree was very much a “thinking” degree. Since college (about ten years) I’ve worked in biotech, insurance, and now design. My skills – mainly my ability to think logically and analytically – has taken me far each time I stepped into something new.
Our world is evolving so rapidly, things just aren’t as cut and dried as they used to be. It’s no longer a choice between being a nurse and a teacher or a doctor or a businessman. Stepping back and taking a broader perspective on the college degree (as this post did) is the way of the future, I think.
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I remember hearing in one of my college classes that there was a very strong correlation between how successful a man was in his chosen profession and his mother’s education level. The more education the mother had, the more successful the son. This was 14 years ago and I know you can skew statistics, but still an interesting thought.
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I graduated a month ago and (finally) got my B.S. in Business Management. I’m glad I attended, I just wish I started as a business major student. I would’ve been motivated enough to finish sooner. I changed degrees twice (both in first two years).
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It bothers me that so many people look at the edge cases (extreme success/no degree, no success/advanced degree). These are few in number. The whole picture needs to be examined, namely, if you get a degree from an accredited institution, your chances for success are much higher than if you just graduated from high school.
Case in point: my dad and I are both software developers. Because he didn’t have a degree, it took him 20 years to reach the salary point it took me 4 years to reach. And my degree isn’t even technical!
So, in summary, get a degree, any degree, even a vocational degree, and you’ll have more options than if you have no degree.
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I have 3 degrees, an AS, BS, and MBA. Certainly the “college degree required” bit is a checkmark. How many of those jobs really require anything you may have learned in college? A college degree today is the equivalent of a high school degree in the 50s. It’s the price of admission to corporate America.
I don’t dispute that college graduates earn much more. What I question is why. Are we worth more, or is it just really good marketing by the higher education industry?
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Getting a degree from the right school is the key. An overpriced school that lands you $150,000 in debt from the start is a poor choice.
I am a proponent of online education with a bachelors from one school and an MBA from another. They were very demanding and I learned a great deal that I’m able to use in my corporate world job. You can read about my experience at my blog if you like.
Again, I would shy away from the mega expensive schools. The internal rate of return for those cash flows take a long time to work out to the positive, especially if you borrow the money to go.
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Going to university was probably the best decision I’ve ever made. It gave me confidence, the ability to mix with other bright people with similar interests, and most importantly of all the opportunity to study the subject that I loved.
As it happens, I wouldn’t have got my job without a degree in a science/engineering type field, and it’s a job that I love. I also probably wouldn’t have moved cities, bought a house, discovered travel,…
Did I mention that it’s probably the best decision I ever made.
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Thanks, folks, for the corrections. I’ve made the changes to the list of famous people, and used a strikethru to note better wording earlier in the piece. You’re all right: correlation does not imply causation. That’s an error on my part.
And remember that one of my major points is this: Education does not guarantee success, but it does improve the odds. Significantly.
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I’m glad someone else pointed out the difference between cause and correlation.
As far as I’m concerned, the educational system is a travesty. It simply does not do what it claims it does.
People who can prosper without a diploma are infinitely more capable than those who depend on them for their success. Universities make people irresponsible, instill in them an abominable faith in the infallibility of self-styled experts, and perpetuate and promote political bias. Any omnipresent social institution that claims impartiality while, in effect, being dominated by a single political point of view — studies have shown that a super-majority of professors are leftists — poses a serious danger to democracy.
You don’t need to be branded by the establishment in order to succeed in life. I’d rather not be vetted by an incompetent and incapable educational system.
Centuries from now, people will look at our educational system the same way we look at astrologers today; with incredulity.
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Marc, can I guess you already have a degree?
I don’t necessarily disagree with you and the relevance and quality of education can always be overhauled for improvemenht,only I can’t understand encouraging others not to take advantage of an education system that can provide the same opportunities you’ve had to earn a better living. It’s the chance to increase our opportunities in life that needs to be highlighted.
Having said that, I chose to be a stay at home mum from the age of 30 because I found that far more rewarding and interesting than pursuing a career. Even so, I’m glad I earned my degree and followed my passions when choosing what I studed. I don’t earn as much as others who invested more of their time and energy in their career (including people who don’t have a degree who I compete against in the workforce) and with society being the way it is at the moment, having re-entered the workforce late in life, having a degree has not necessarily led to better career opportunities. Still, I’m sure it’s better I have a degree rather than not having one! My earning potential may have been seriously limited if that had been the case – possibly
$10K less a year.
I found working through a degree personally rewarding and satisfying – it certainly gave me confidence in what I know,in knowing how to carry out research if I need to know more about anything at all, and how to think independently. Without any doubt, those skills and personal qualities developed through doing a degree, have increased my earning potential.
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You can’t get a college degree for the money. It will almost always burn you. Take that statement with a grain of salt, I went to an all engineering school, and the people who just wanted the money (hated math) they struggled through classes, cheated a lot, and ended up with a job that would “take them” but they struggled with their job too. They might make more than average, but they are miserable, and that type of quality isn’t sustainable. I would venture a guess that anyone with a degree from my school could take their pick of jobs that don’t require an education. That’s hardly a consolation prize though.
Advanced degrees are the new college degrees. If you have a MS, you can usually take your pick at BS jobs. Another thing to look at is that an MS degree (typically two years, but some schools offer a non-thesis option that takes a year if you start getting credits your senior year of your BS) is the biggest bang/year. So if a BS is a good idea, then MS is a great idea. PHD’s don’t earn substantially more than MS, but they have to go to school for 5 more years+.
If I had a kid that was 18 right now, I would tell them to find a college/curriculum that challenges them, and keeps them interested.
If you are working at your potential, and you like what you do, the money will follow.
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” If you could talk to your 18-year-old self, what would you tell her?”
How about buy Apple oh, and Google.
Interesting article. Have you thought about an article on the value of a graduate degree. Both my wife and I have PhDs in chemistry. I do pretty well, she’s somewhere between the average high school and college grad. My general recommendation, don’t get a PhD unless you want to do academics. The most bang for your buck is in a Master’s degree.
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How many 18-21 year olds actually, truely, would work full time and actually live like a college student and save the “opportunity cost” into a IRA or other retirement fund? I think the budget category labeled “blow” pretty much consumed the majority of the income of those friends and acquantences I knew who weren’t going to college. That’s why blogs like this help, but not until most of us have already racked up the debt regardless of attending college or not.
I will say that my wife (HS diploma only) went to work for a company that paid two other employees the current equivalent of $5000 more in salary just because they had Associate degrees and she didn’t, even though her supervisor agreed she was more compentant at the same job (on the up side he was more than willing to pay for her schooling to get a degree and encouraged her to do so). Over the years the types of jobs she has been able to apply for have been limited since many asked for a college degree or equivalent experience, which is hard to get if you don’t have the degree.
You might also want to consider that most folks without a college degree who have become successful, often want their kids to attend college. In my opinion it’s because they feel via their experience, that you have a better chance (note, chance, not guarantee) of making more money and living a reasonably stable and secure life without encountering or taking on the risks they did to become successful. Not everyone is cut out to be a Cindy Crawford, Michael Jordon, or Bill Gates.
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I have a BS & an MS in statistics. Without them (or very similar degrees) I couldn’t have been considered for my current job. A few prestigious internships didn’t hurt to set me above my peers.
That being said, I feel the greatest benefit I’ve received from my education was actually my education. Critical thinking, problem solving, learning how to work the system. And I got out of the whole thing less than $8K in the hole.
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I’ve been to college twice: at “college age” to get my parents-sponsored BS in English (with some foreign languages and engineering classes thrown in) and about 10 years later to take some Math and Computer Science classes in preparation for graduate school (which I haven’t pursued, yet).
I was able to get a job out of college with relative ease (although I had to move to a coast), and my career has progressed with a few twists and turns since then. The latter set of classes helped my career a bit. I’m making a lot more money that I would likely have made with no degree. I’m not a schmoozy go-getter type of person — it helps me to look good on paper.
I would tell 17-yo me to take useful foreign languages and live abroad to learn how to use them properly. Do challenging internships and research projects in your major(s). Take a double major — one in something practical and one for love. Don’t be afraid to fail in the area you are doing for love — you’ll enjoy the learning, even if your grades aren’t the best, and you’ll use the education to pursue your interests as a hobby if not for profit. After 5 years of working, noone important will care where you went to school or what grades you got.
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I don’t wholeheartedly agree with this post. While I love learning and I’m all for continued education, I don’t believe having a degree is an automatic ticket to a higher salary. I believe it depends on the career one wants to pursue.
My husband’s salary falls into that Bachelor’s Degree range you mentioned, although he never attended college. He is a construction worker, and did not need a degree for his chosen field.
As for me, I tried going to college right after high school because that’s what my teacher’s expected of me (since I took all the college-bound classes in high school). But my heart wasn’t in it and I dropped after one semester.
I returned to college for some course work when I was in my 30s. I loved the classes and made excellent grades, but I still didn’t have a career goal in mind. My life away from the classroom, i.e. work and family, were more important than pursuing a degree that didn’t mean anything to me.
I don’t see myself every pursuing a degree, although I can see myself taking a class now and then for pure enjoyment.
As for what I’d tell my 18-year-old self, I’d tell her to be true to herself and not do things just because someone else (namely teachers) expected it. I’d also tell her to look into vocational/technical training, something I might have been interested in but was never made aware of because my teachers and counselors tracked me into the college-bound classes.
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I got a B.A. in writing in college but always intended to become an editor. Not a highly-paid career, true. But I love words and wanted to work with them; I didn’t care how much I would get paid. I figured going to college would help me achieve my goal. It did. I was able to get career experience by working in various Writing Centers and getting an editing internship.
Now I work for a small publishing house at a ministry. I make less than the high-school dropouts you list. But I live well enough (i.e., I have enough to eat and can put gas in my car) and I am extremely happy in my career. I think college was worth it for me.
I do wish I could’ve told my younger self to save more money by going to college earlier. I did only one year of PSEO; should’ve done two.
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This is what I would tell my 18 year old self. My 18 year old self, I would say, there is almost nothing you can learn at an institution that you can not learn by yourself. If you are smart enough to get accepted at whatever prestigious university, you will be as successful as their students without spending 4-6 years learning things that are as testable as they are useless. Mostly success is about intelligence, persistence and drive. Getting a sheepskin from passing courses adds little value to that. It just shows what you already know – that you have those qualities. What an education does bring you is connections and an automatic foot in the door at the HR department. However, if you can learn to obtain these things without a degree, you will be better off than the herd who did the college thing.
Incidentally, I got a phd and I intend to be successful despite it, not because of it
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Thanks for posting this JD. Over the past 2-3 days, my girlfriend and I have started the steps to go back to school. I am a 26 year-old with a BS in Management from Georgia Tech–she is 23 and never finished her degree. She is looking to get back into a Bachelor’s program to finish and I am pursuing my MBA. So this was post was quite timely for our situation!
I wish I could tell my 18 year old self: “Go to class you idiot!” It took me several extra semesters to graduate because I spent so much time early on slacking off. My GPA, and my grad school prospects, suffered because of it.
As to Annie J. above–in general a degree IS a ticket to a higher salary. While it’s true that some people do become quite successful without a college degree, many more do not. You don’t have to have a college degree to earn more money–but it (in the majority of cases) makes earning that much more money far easier.
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I’m a supporter of college; it really does get your foot in the door, most cases, and emphasized it for my daughter who has a RN degree now. I think people tend to gain more maturity who go as well as an increased vocabulary. As for myself, I worked after high school in law firms, then at age 28 wondered, how would I do in college if I were to go? Would I get A’s, D’s – I was curious. So I went to a community college, part-time, for 2 years and got A’s in every class. (I had to work for them though). That 2 year time fulfilled my curiosity, and gave me some self-respect, and I really liked the knowledge I gained from all the required undergraduate classes too. But after that, I realized I preferred a self-taught approach, reading things that interested me, and I just didn’t want to sit in classrooms anymore. I retired at 48, following “millionaire next door principles”, so I did all right. My brother is one year older than myself and is a multi-millionaire! He and his wife own a computer-related business. And he never went to college period, but growing up with him, I remember him to be always brilliant, acing every high school class w/out hardly any effort whatsoever. I should ask him how he feels about not going – does he have any regrets, etc.
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Adfecto, the cost for my BS in CompSci was $20K tuition+books at U + $3K tuition+books at community college. Despite getting into the relatively low-paying fields of tech support and testing I still paid off the $20K in student loans within 4 years.
This post dovetails well with my book club this month (Sayers’ Gaudy Night). As one Master of Arts points out, “If you learn how to tackle one subject – any subject – you’ve learnt how to tackle all subjects.”
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I’m very glad I attended college. If I could talk to myself at 18, I’d tell her to go to a different school. My school was not a good fit for me, though I did manage to graduate.
One of the unspoken purposes of college is class laundering. Of course, we don’t have class in the U.S., but if we did, that would be part of the use of college.
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” If you could talk to your 18-year-old self, what would you tell him?”
Get a degree in Finance and then work for a company that will pay for your masters. While there, work hard and smart and earn over $100K/yr.
I have BS-Biology and BA-Criminology. I am now in the computer field, where people just need certifications and not degrees. I make the same as people who never went to university.
All in all, it is what you do with what you have that makes the most difference. Degrees don’t make one person better than another, although some like to act so (see snooty license plate cover mentioning their school as they cut you off in the leased car).
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Jeffeb3 says: “if you are working at your potential, and you like what you do, the money will follow.” Boy, I think that is the KEY! At least from my own personal experience. I always had jobs I loved — like I would have worked there on a volunteer basis, but of course would never tell my employers that. I looked forward to going into work on Mondays and if it were 3:00 p.m., I’d often wish it were 10:00 a.m. again, because the day was going by too fast — that’s self-actualization, when you are doing what you enjoy so much, and are being challenged and working right up to your potential. Consequently, saving 20% of my income was easy for me. Compare that to many, many friends I knew who had big salaries, but hated their jobs. Rather than saving, they would spend/waste money big-time to “justify” having this miserable job, like getting a McMansion and shiny new cars, etc. I was willing to live on much less because I enjoyed what I was doing, much like what “starving artists” will do. The key really is to follow your heart, and the money will follow.
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@47.daedala
Ooh. Social climbing is a great reason to go to uni. And I mean that in absolutely the best way. If you aspire to live a middle-middle class lifestyle in the UK then your best bet is to go to Uni, and mix with people born into it. You’ll pick it up in no time.
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It’s really difficult to believe this right now, but I sincerely hope that it’s true. I’m 22 and last summer I finished my Bachelor of Science in Psychology. The diploma’s hanging on a wall in my bedroom, of all places, and the two times I’ve tried looking for a job, I’ve been made to feel that my degree is completely useless. Most people are looking for specific degrees, and nobody is looking for a Psych major unless they’re in graduate school. This may just be how they advertise it, though, because frankly I don’t even try for the jobs that say “Marketing degree required” or “Business degree preferred.” It seems self-evident that it would be pointless. Maybe if I tried, I would surprise myself and succeed? Anyway, right now I’m taking computer programming and design classes at my local community college and I’m starting to feel disappointed with that, too. Maybe I’m just burnt out.
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Christina, I found this article 4 years later and I’m on the same boat as you were in 2008! I thought I wanted to be a speech therapist, but realized it wasn’t the right fit in my first semester of grad school, so I dropped it. I got a well-rounded education at a private university, with not that much in debt. Now I am job-hunting and feel as you did towards those “Business degree preferred” job ads.
I am curious to see where you are at now. I hope you have found success… Any advice?
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