A College Degree; Your Ticket to $1,000,000
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average U.S. full time worker earns $676 a week. You will probably not be shocked to learn that the Department of Labor found a direct correlation between workers’ educational level and their earning power. Workers who had failed to complete high school earned about $396 a week, nearly $300 less than the overall average. High school graduates who did not attend college earned $562 a week on average, and workers with at least a college undergraduate degree earned about $1,000 a week, $325 above the overall average.
Workers with graduate degrees earned $1,149 per week, about $220 more than those with bachelors degrees only.
Several other surveys indicate that the Department of Labor reports understate the differences in income by educational level. In fact, it is often reported by reliable researchers that the lifetime earnings differential between high school and college graduates exceeds $1,000,000. And, most economic and labor experts believe that the earnings gap between high school and college graduates will grow significantly in future years.
According to The Washington Research Council, “During the next century, higher education will become increasingly important for landing high-paying jobs”, and “It’s widely believed that the ‘new economy’ will require increasingly higher levels of education.”
Furthermore, in our increasingly competitive global economy, it seems highly likely that workers with bachelors, masters, professional, and doctoral degrees will suffer less unemployment and be less adversely impacted by the rise of economies overseas and the continued outsourcing of jobs. Yet, higher paying jobs and increased job security are not the only career-related rewards of higher education.
College graduates, overall, are happier with their jobs and careers than are other workers. That’s because the better educated a worker is, the more likely he or she will qualify for promotions and/or new career opportunities. It stands to reason that people who are not trapped in dead end jobs will experience higher job satisfaction.
All available evidence points to the conclusion that bachelors and graduate degrees open the doors to substantially higher earnings, increased employment options, job advancement and job satisfaction. As more employers seek educated workers, as more workers realize the benefits of education, and as financial aid has become available to traditional college students and adults seeking online degrees, the number of college students, including working adults, continues to soar.
Whether earned online or on campus, in a part time program or a full time program, a college degree has never been worth more than it is today.
Daniel Kane is a university dean. Among his websites are one on the twenty best online universities, and another on online education and online degrees.