Investing in Your Education (Yourself)

Investing in Your Education (Yourself)
by Prin Dumas


I work in college admissions now. Prior to that, I worked in private high school admissions. Both cost money--either for the student or for his or her parents. We live in America, and most necessities are costly.

Education is crucial. Can you be successful without a college degree? Of course. You can also win the lottery, invest in a gold mine, or save a forever indebted Bill Gates' life. The point is the average person needs a solid education.

What is solid?

I have had this discussion with my own parents and with many prospective students and their families for years. Many people still have the mindsight that any education is an education. I disagree. Obstacles that most people refer to when hesitant about going or returning to school are: money, time, and personal emergencies, mostly in that order. All three are poor excuses in most, if not all, cases. Why? I say the following to almost everyone who walks through my door. The cost of your education should be proportionate to your goal salary for about two to four years of your life.

The average college graduate can expect to be assisting someone somewhere for a good five years as they work up the ladder of experience in their intended industry. A salary can safely be guaranteed in the mid $20, 000 to low $40, 000 (sometimes more, rarely less) depending on your major. That being said, and considering the average top 50 college costs an average of over $30, 000 a year, one can conclude that attending the best college that accepts you may well be worth it down the line of your life, student loans and all.

Stop looking for a free ride and stop expecting to go to school for free. Stop feeling entitled to a free education when most people have had to pay for it.

Getting real, no one pays off their student loans in two to four years, unless they get really lucky or have parents who pay off the loans. Most college graduates dedicate a monthly portion of their post-graduate income to their student loan repayment, and it can take well over ten years! If you defer your loans due to lack of funds, you may be in your 40s and still paying off your Bachelors degree, but no one is forcing you to pay your loan that slowly.

The reality of student loans is that they make the currently impossible possible for those who want it. Once you graduate and once you start working, it is your responsibility to budget yourself in a manner that allows you to pay your student loans back quickly or more quickly than someone else who pays the minimum. Student loans are not a bad debt and paying them back, whether deferred or on time, will build, not decrease, your credit. Taking out a student loan is a self-motivated move to invest in yourself--you should be your own best investment in life, better than any stock that may or may not rise above expectations. You control your own rising and your own falling.

Let's compare attending a community college or state college to a private college. Price alone may make many choose the large class sizes, impersonal staff, routine admissions and registration processes, and canned student life. Without exaggeration, the "full ride" can turn out to be the greatest mistake of your life. You get what you pay for, they always say, right? When you pay nothing, even if there is a monetary value, you risk nothing. You may benefit from the pressure of your own (or your parents') money being wasted if you do not do well or graduate on time. Ask your local community college what their average graduation rate is for an Associates degree and you just may faint!

If you intentionally plan to attend a cheaper college in an effort to transfer into a better one later on, do not complain to a loss of credits in the process. Money may be lost, but this is what happens when you don't finish at one institution. Every Middle States Association accredited college reserves their right to accept (or not) however many credits from another college, good or bad. If you didn't do your homework ahead of time, don't get mad at the new college! Don't think that it's the first college's fault either. At the end of the day, attending a cheaper college "first to save money," may cost you more in the long run to finish your long term goal degree--if it is a Bachelors.

Speaking of long term degrees, can we, please, stop thinking that colleges should grant credit for non-college-credit certificates. Just because you paid about the same for a diploma does not mean that anyone should justify your decision. Getting a certificate is a choice made in lieu of getting a degree, either in the interest of time or special circumstance. Someone without a degree needs a degree, no matter what any technical school tells you. Try to get a promotion at a company without a college degree, and you'll see why. You may get a job, but how long will your income potential last you?

Get a Bachelors--at least!

In addition, make your decisions by yourself. Parents are quick to want to get involved, because it is "their" money. However, your degree of choice becomes "your" life, and more importantly, how you will earn YOUR money. If you have a passion for music, perhaps, a music education degree seems a "practical" compromise. Pushing yourself into an accounting program instead almost guarantees you'll be the world's crankiest tax preparer! Do what you love and worry about your income when the appropriate phase of your life to do so occurs. You may not become famous, but you can certainly do many stable things with even the most surreal of passions, side interests, and "hobbies," as parents like to call them.

Trust your instincts about a college.

Invest in your education.

Face your life with a well-equipped you.