What is your next step in your career and in your life? Where are you now? Perhaps you’ve just graduated high school, and you’re not sure where to go with your life. Maybe you have already started working – and perhaps already have a college degree to help you achieve your goals – but it’s not quite what you really want. Maybe it’s time to get back into the workplace after taking time off to have children or travel or anything else.
The best thing you can do in any of these situations is to apply for and study for a college degree. There are many reasons why this is the case and why having a degree is only going to enhance your life, even if it takes a few years to achieve it. Read on to discover just why a college degree is such a good idea and how it can help you move forward, no matter what stage of your career you might be at right now.
More Money
Money is important, no matter how much that idea might seem distasteful to some. The truth is, if you have no money, you can’t do the things that would make you happy, and you will find it hard to motivate yourself to become better. If you have enough money to pay the bills and have some left over for fun and to save, you’ll be much happier in general and certainly less stressed. This may be true, but what has it got to do with getting a degree?
A degree will mean you can earn more money. This might seem like a simplistic way to put things, but it’s true; those who have a college degree can earn a lot more money than those who don’t, even if they are working in the same industry. Perhaps you’re worried that you will have to spend money to get your degree, but when you consider how much you can earn once you graduate, you’ll see that this is actually an investment. Over the course of your working life, your degree will allow you to make a much larger salary and do a lot more, whether that is to buy a property, travel, or retire with a nice amount of savings to help you enjoy yourself.
If you’re wondering about the figures, studies have shown that the average difference per year is about $25,000 between those with degrees and those without. However, as time goes by, this gap is actually getting wider. Money isn’t everything, but if you have the chance to earn more because you have worked for a degree, it’s certainly something to consider.
Easier To Get A Job
Finding a job is not something that you should take lightly; you don’t want to apply for absolutely everything you see, as not everything will suit you. Neither do you want to only have a few choices open to you. Choosing either of these options means you will be unhappy, and you might not end up with anything at all.
If you have a degree, you’ll find it easier to find a job in the first place, but you’ll also find it easier to find a job that you’ll enjoy. This is crucial; you spend many hours of your week at work, so it makes sense to find something that you like doing. If not, you’ll feel bad a lot of the time, and you might even develop mental health issues such as stress and depression.
Employers like to see that people have the knowledge required to do the job they are applying for, and a degree will prove that. They also like to see that someone has taken the initiative to get the degree and that they have learned a lot of additional skills from it (such as communication and research skills). All of this will put you far above the other candidates, and it will make you stand out. When the job market is as potentially fraught as it currently is, anything you can do to get ahead of the competition is a good thing.
Online Courses Are Available
In the past, not everyone was able to take advantage of college. They had to start earning money right away because they had responsibilities, for example, or they found it hard to afford, or perhaps physical or mental issues meant that attending a college was a difficult thing to do.
This has all changed, thanks to technology. Today, there are online colleges that allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of learning. At Spalding University Online, for example, there are many different courses in business, education, nursing, and more.
Just as there are many benefits to taking a college subject in the first place, there are also many benefits to taking that college subject in an online course. The biggest draw is that it is convenient because there are no strict timings to adhere to. You can log in and take the next module whenever you are able to, so even if you don’t have a lot of time, you can still do a few minutes here and there, gradually earning your degree. Plus, it’s flexible. It might take you longer to graduate because you have to study around your job or other responsibilities, but that’s a lot better than not graduating at all, and although the work will still be hard, you may well feel less stressed and be under less pressure, as there are fewer time constraints. Many people have found that online degrees allow them to obtain qualifications they might not have been able to before.
Your Social Network
Going to college is about learning; this is an obvious fact, and it is sure to be the main reason you apply for a degree. You’ll want to know more about a subject you’re interested in so you can use that knowledge to get a good job, earn more money, and so on. However, there are other reasons to attend college, and one of those is that you can very easily extend your social network when you do so. Even if you are studying for an online degree, you’ll still have the chance to meet other people – staff and students – and to attend conferences, events, and extra learning opportunities.
Growing your social network is good for you in a number of different ways. To begin with, it’s a chance to network. You can meet people who will offer you opportunities or give you the information you need to find jobs or even give you tools to build your own business. On top of that, you can impart knowledge and help others, and so it goes on. Your studies are important, but networking is always going to be a crucial part of life. It doesn’t matter what you’re studying; you’ll always get further with good networking skills.
Another reason that a good social network is great is that it is good for your mental health. Having people around you to count on, hang out with, and talk to – even if you’re not technically networking with them and you can’t help one another in terms of your careers – is healthy. Studies have shown that people who have close friends are healthier than those who don’t.
Be A Role Model
Have you ever thought of yourself as a role model? Perhaps not, but the fact is that you might be. It could be a child of yours, a niece or nephew, or it could be someone you’re not even aware of but who is interested in learning more about what you do because you built up a business or did good things. We may never know if we’re role models or not, but despite this, we should always act as though we are. In this way, if someone is mirroring what we do and watching us to see how to behave and progress through life, we’ll be showing them positive things.
It’s hard to know just what makes a role model, but perseverance, education, knowledge, and passion are all part of it. When you work towards and then obtain a degree, these are all qualities you will show with every step. It might be that by acting as though you are a role model, you change someone’s life for the better. It doesn’t matter if you never find out; the fact that it can happen may be enough.
Of course, it’s vital that you never do anything in your life that isn’t the best thing for you, and that is the same of working for a degree as anything else. Don’t just study to impress other people or because you think it’s what is expected of you. Do it for yourself, and if you also manage to be a role model at the same time, that’s wonderful.
You’ll Be Healthier
Finally, it will probably surprise you to learn that having a degree makes you healthier. Again, studies have been conducted into this phenomenon, and it has shown time and again to be accurate – when you have a degree, you tend to be healthier in general. This could be because you are happier, as mentioned above, and therefore less prone to depression, so your immune system will stay stronger. It could be because you simply do more physical exercise because you don’t have to work such long hours to make the same money – you have time to keep yourself healthy.
Whatever the reason, it’s worth keeping in mind when you apply for your degree as your next step in life.
