Should You Get A College Education
As the cost of receiving a college education continues to rise every year you have to ask yourself whether a college education is necessary and what are the benefits of actually getting it. Here are some of the facts about people who get a college degree.
1. You want to view your college education as an investment. With any investment, you want to see a return. It is a fact that a person who does not get a college degree of any kind will earn on average $1.2 million dollars in their lifetime. Getting an associate’s degree increases that to an average of $1.6 million, an increase of over $400,000 for 2 years of college.
A person who receives a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.1 million or almost $900,000 more for going to college for 4 years. That is the return you get on investing your time and money in a college education.
2. Getting a college education offers a variety of degrees that determine the amount of time and money you will spend. A technical degree can be obtained in as little as 6 months and for as low as a few thousand dollars. Going to a 4-year state university is going to cost an average of $40,000 or more in total expenses including tuition, books, living expenses, food, etc.
You can certainly control those costs by living at home. In Colorado, for example, living at home and attending Metro State University will save a college student close to $10,000 in total expenses versus attending the University Of Northern Colorado.
No matter how you do it you are going to spend time to get a degree. Many students enroll in college and change their major 1, 2, 3 times or more. This can add additional years in getting the degree for the major you do settle on. Another problem with attending colleges is that they require general education courses for things such as history, or math, for a music major for example. This adds to your cost while offering virtually no relevance to what you will do for a living.
Statistics have proven that the more education you receive the more you will earn. Getting a college education in a field that interests you has shown that people are healthier and happier as well. This leads to a longer career and an improved lifestyle with friends and family. You have to personally weigh the costs associated with a college education, with your own career goals and plans.