Getting a bachelor’s degree is a major investment of money and time. According to the US News, the average cost of tuition and other related school fees at public four-year colleges was $10,116 per year for the 2019-2020 academic year. At private colleges, the average tuition is even higher at $36,801 annually. Besides the high costs, a bachelor’s degree takes at least four years to finish. When doing the math, we realize that college for many might be unaffordable. Luckily, there are still U.S. universities that offer qualitative programs and are reasonably priced. The University of the Potomac is one of them. A four-year college but as affordable as a community college.
With all the expenses and the time a bachelor’s degree requires, you might be wondering if all of this is worth it. Well, let us tell you that getting a bachelor’s degree has not one but multiple advantages to having a degree. Read on to learn more about them.
1. More Job Opportunities
First things first, obtaining a bachelor’s degree opens you up to abundant opportunities for jobs that otherwise would have been unattainable. While there are job prospects even for those that choose not to continue their education beyond high school, a great number of jobs require a higher level of education, i.e., a bachelor’s degree.
Employers are on the lookout for workers who have some college qualifications. A bachelor’s degree increases job opportunities. Many degrees can cross boundaries and fit into related places. To some employers, even just having a degree makes you a candidate, even if the job in question is outside of your field of expertise.
If a company advertises a job position, it will likely receive many applications for one or two open positions. One of the ways that companies screen applicants is to reject those who don’t have college degrees. This may or may not be relevant to the job being offered. Obviously, a finance degree is suitable for a job at a bank or brokerage house, and an information science degree is essential for working at a computer firm. But any kind of bachelor’s degree is better to have, especially in the current market, than none at all.
2. Job Security
No one likes layoffs. Unfortunately, they happen, especially during economic turndowns when lower positions usually get cut first. Typically, graduates with a bachelor’s degree have better job stability than high school graduates. They’re more valuable to their employers, especially if it’s the case for careers where a Bachelor’s degree is expected or standard.
This means that a bachelor’s degree not only helps you find a job but it also helps you keep that job.
3. Better Earnings
As you’re well aware, the higher the level of education you get, the bigger your paycheck will be. Data suggests that college graduate earnings far exceed the salaries of those that don’t hold a degree. Business Insider reported that in their analysis of the U.S. census, they found out that college graduates earn from 38%-95% more than non-graduates.
In addition to the data by Business Insider, the data taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest this huge wage gap between Bachelor’s degree holders and those who don’t have one. According to the data, in 2018, workers who held a Bachelor’s degree earned more than the $932 median weekly earnings.
A bachelor’s degree typically lasts four years, and they may be some of the best years of your life. You’ll be meeting new people, acquiring new skills, and learning more about other cultures that will expand your horizon. However, these years will end and you’ll be facing the real world, trying to find a job. And let us not pretend like we don’t care about money when looking for a job, because, at the end of the day, we all have got bills to pay.
4. Higher Job Satisfaction
While we’re on the subject of creating a financially better life for ourselves, one of the main reasons we decide to seek a bachelor’s degree is to get out of a dead-end job. A degree might give you the chance to have an actual earning job instead of the one that only enables you to make ends meet and actually be satisfied with it. According to a statistic, 51% of U.S. workers who hold a Bachelor’s degree say they’re very happy with their job. The factors that might impact their job satisfaction are the chance to advance further in their careers, their earnings, and job conditions.
According to research done on the subject, workers believe that the skills, abilities, and the education they got through a bachelor’s level match their job position. As a result of this match, came job satisfaction which in turn, contributes to overall life satisfaction.
5. Personal Growth
Earning a bachelor’s degree isn’t all about getting multiple jobs and earning millions of dollars. There are many reasons for earning a degree that aren’t directly related to money at all. One of them is the personal and professional growth one experiences after going through a four-year education. Many students have found this experience personally and professionally rewarding. Besides the skills gained like team working, time management, presentation skills, and many others, they also had the chance to create their own social circle with fellow students and professors that sooner or later can become part of their career network.
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A bachelor’s degree has a positive impact on the lives of those who choose to better themselves through education. By giving yourself the opportunity to go on to great things, you are effectively granting yourself carte blanche for the future.
6. Improved Self-Esteem
There is something about getting a degree that will make you stand a little bit taller than you did before you enrolled in the university. It most likely has to do with the confidence boost one experiences after they make it through a higher education program. A college degree is considered by many as a rite of passage. That’s why many students feel a sense of accomplishment after they get to the finish line.
A bachelor’s degree is an achievement that no one can take it from you. Even if you decide to leave the job the degree helped you attain at some point, you’ll never forget all the work you needed to put on to reach that point in life.
The self-esteem you get from a bachelor’s degree doesn’t stop on your graduation day, nor the day after celebrating with yourself. It’s there with you even when you get out to the real world and face various challenges, equipping you with the necessary confidence to overcome them all.
6. More Networking Opportunities
To be successful in today’s job market, you need to build and maintain a professional network. There are aspects of academic life that help you quite much in this direction. Classes, group projects, volunteering, and internships are just some of the contexts where you meet new people.
Also, many job fairs and career development resources are available to students. Not only will you get familiar with top companies in your industry, but you will also put to work that degree of yours.
You can be assured that your professional network will grow along the four academic years you’ll spend obtaining the bachelor’s degree. Besides your fellow students, part of the network will also become the professors and mentors who can be very supportive of their students.
7. A Pathway to Advancement
The path towards education doesn’t stop with you getting a bachelor’s degree. There are many more qualifications you can obtain if that’s one of your lifelong goals. However, a bachelor’s degree is just the first step before you go on to get other more advanced degrees like master’s, MBAs, and a Ph.D. In fact, you can’t get another degree if you haven’t first completed the bachelor’s level.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to follow the entire educational path. The idea is that once you complete the bachelor’s, nothing is standing on your way towards other academic levels if you ever wish to obtain them.
All in all, despite the often high cost and time required, a bachelor’s degree is indeed worth it as it brings numerous benefits to students who acquire it. Among many universities that offer bachelor’s programs, the University of the Potomac provides high-quality programs at a very modest cost. For any questions, you might have related to our programs, feel free to contact us.
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