How valuable is a college degree? It’s a big question, with big impacts on one’s life choices. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the perception of the value of college degrees has gone down by a whopping 18%! All of the numbers in here are generalizations, of course, but they can still be very informative, so let’s explore the question a bit.
Here are Five Fast Facts on the value of a college degree:
- 💰 The Cost - Depending on the type of college you pick, the average cost of tuition is from $10k (public, in-state) up to almost $40k (private). Keep in mind that’s just the tuition; the total cost including books, supplies, parking passes (or parking tickets, if you’re a rebel), and other things will be significantly more. Icing on the Pain Cake.
- 💸 The Debt - College has become so expensive (for many reasons) that it’s almost a sure way to start out life in debt. In 2021, 65% of college grads owed an average of almost $29k in debt at the end of it. That’s a lot of parking tickets!
- 🤝 The Secondary Benefits - A college education provides a lot of intangible things. It gives you the ability to move through more social circles and network better, it gives you time to explore interests through elective courses, and it builds your workplace “soft skills” like communication and interpersonal relations. No, beer pong is not a soft skill (even if you become proficient at it!).
- 📈 The Primary Benefits - The biggest benefit to a college education is that it still gives you better odds for long term financial success. Workers with degrees earn roughly 80% more weekly than high school grads, and the unemployment rate for degree holders is 3.5% compared to 6.2% for high school grads.
- 👍 The Landscape - Around 40% of American adults have a college degree. But…75% of new jobs require one! So the demand is still far more than the supply, meaning you have to pay more to get it.
🔥Bottom line: There are other options, and you can build a career that is both satisfying and profitable without a college degree. College isn’t for everyone. There are pros and cons to both answers of this question, and there are consequences that come as a result of those answers. Ultimately, you have to do what’s best for you to get you the Paychecks you want for the rest of your life. But it takes a willingness to look at the question realistically, and to understand the likely results of your choice. Hopefully this info has helped you with that!
What do you think is the value of a college degree?
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