It's easy to stop believing that a college education is worth it when the nation has over a trillion dollars in debt, but college graduates still earn more over a lifetime than those without a degree. Plus, they're more employable.
According to this CNBC article: "Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a high correlation between joblessness and earnings, and those with less than an associate's degree fare worse on average than workers with post-graduate credentials."
1. College doesn't have to be expensive.
Benefits of colleges can be reaped from an associate's degree from a community college. In addition, students can start at community colleges or do intense scholarship searches. There are families that didn't have to touch their college savings accounts because they coordinated the scholarship search from early on. Parents of high schoolers need to talk to their child's high school counselor about college funding options beginning in freshman year. While most scholarship applications aren't available that early, students will get an idea of what they need to do academically and in the community to earn scholarship dollars.
2. Happiness trumps price.
Parents should want their children to have options for career changes throughout their life. A college degree gives them access to alumni career services and mentorship from other graduates. Having access to these services helps give graduates direction for changing career paths when needed or wanted. The degree also gets them further along towards a master's if they choose further education in the future. The secret is balancing education with a reasonable amount of debt. It's very hard to not feel like you personally have a trillion dollars of debt if you borrow $100,000 plus for an undergraduate degree.
3. You have negotiating power.
Students don't have to take the first financial aid award offer presented to them by a school. Often, there are additional school scholarships that a student didn't apply for or additional endowment money may be available. A call to the financial aid office never hurts, and a last minute scholarship search can fill in funding gaps.
An igrad.com article discusses last minute funding gaps further.
"Not all scholarships and financial aid available through your school’s financial aid office are automatically applied for when submitting the FAFSA. If you’re on campus, set an appointment to meet in person with a financial aid officer. Find out rules for applying for any scholarship or grant you could win. So as amendment to the old adage: ask and you shall you receive but only if you put the required work in."
4. Work Co-Op Programs exist.
Getting a part-time job in college may or not help with hirability post graduation, but work co-op programs can. Students alternate semesters or classes with work experience in their field. They'll leave college with more options for employment, a better understand of their career choices, and less student loan debt. Students who don't have work co-op options can do multiple internships for the same benefit.
5. School names matter only in certain cases.
It's a difficult statement to make that going to an Ivy League school doesn't have networking advantages. However, Ironically, it's not the school names you think that could further a graduates career. For instance, if Texas A & M is well known in a community, it may be a more impressive degree than one from MIT for local employment. Students need to talk to the people working in the jobs they aspire to and see where they went to school.
