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WHY YOU NEED A COLLEGE DEGREE . . . NOW!
Can't get that job because it requires a
Bachelor's or Master's degree?
That degree is more essential now than ever before to make it in today’s competitive
environment. An advanced degree has become an invaluable credential
for launching a promising career.
Clearly, a degree alone isn't what makes
someone smart enough, genuinely qualified, or
competent to do a job. But, it can't be denied that having the right degree opens
closed doors for you. At least 52% of jobs being created will require
higher education credentials. This information provides you a
way to get your degree from one of the many hundreds of
prestigious schools, and help you get the promotions and
career opportunities you never thought were available to you.
The greatest growth in employment from
1994-2005 will be in jobs requiring higher education than high school, according to the Occupational Outlook
Handbook.
The chart below shows that the more
education you have, the more jobs that will be available to you. For
instance, there will be almost 27 percent more jobs that require a
bachelor’s degree, or four-year college degree, over the next 10 years. So, for every 100 jobs today, there will be 127 jobs in the future
that require a bachelor’s degree. The chart below shows that jobs requiring
less education will experience less growth.
In the fall of 1994,
14,279,000 students were enrolled in higher education institutions. There
are over 600,000 students now earning their degrees off-campus today. The
back-to-school trend is predicated on the need to maintain parity with those
masses of students who have earned their degrees the traditional way. They
are rapidly rising through the ranks at work and threaten the security of
those without that all important "piece of paper." More and more states are
mandating continuing education for professionals as well.
This chart show the benefits of
earning a fully accredited college degree.
THE ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE OF EARNING A COLLEGE DEGREE
The College Board’s annual survey
found that undergraduate tuition and fees at four year institutions
increased an average seven percent since last year, triple the current
inflation rate. The yearly average tuition at a state university or college
pushed past $3,000 and private tuition rose beyond $13,000!
By the year 2000 it will cost up to
$100,000 to earn a degree at some of the finer private colleges in the U.S.
The high cost of college is matched if not exceeded by the "cost" of so many
wasted hours sitting in the traditional classroom setting. So is it worth it
to get that coveted degree?
The Department of Education statistics
indicate clearly that earning a degree pays off. During a 45 year career
span the average college graduate with a Bachelors degree earns about
$500,000 more than someone who has only completed high school. Those with a
Masters degree earn almost $1 million dollars more, while those with a
Doctorate will earn over $1.5 million more.
Kevin Murphy, economics professor at
the University of Chicago, found that in 1980 a college graduate earned
about 43% more an hour than a worker with only a high school diploma. By
1994 that earnings advantage had ballooned to 73%! "The premium attached
to a college degree may be as high as 75% to 80% now," says Murphy.
For women the earnings reward is even
more dramatic. According to the U.S. Department of Education figures,
college women earned 99% more than their high school counterparts.
THE COST OF NOT EARNING A DEGREE
"One third of the population will
have a Bachelors degree by the year 2000" (U.S. News & World Report). In
the 1980s only one of every five adults had a Bachelors degree. In the 1990s
this ratio has risen to one in every four. Most projections indicate that 30
to 40% of all adults in the workforce will have a Bachelors degree in the
next ten years. What does that mean to you? If you don’t have a Bachelors
degree, you will be in the bottom 60% of those competing for a place in the
economic food chain.
Increasingly America is being
stratified into two groups—those with jobs requiring little education
(primarily in the low paying service sector (think McDonalds and fast-food,
Penney’s and sales clerks, gas stations, etc. . Those jobs that will earn the premium salaries and positions as machines
increasingly take over much of the routine manufacturing jobs that once were
plentiful.
The benefits of earning a fully
accredited degree far outweigh the
negatives. With the information we provide in this site, you find ways
which allow you to get your degree while continuing to maintain your
current lifestyle, preserve your family, and job.
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