How important is it to have higher education?

Question

Does it make a difference if you want to go far in life?

Answer 1

It's very important.  It's also important that you do it while you are young, before adult responsibilities start limiting your time, your money and your patience.

While it is true that you can always go back to college later, it will not have the same positive impact on your life as it would if you do it first.

Answer 2

It's a piece of paper that looks good on your resume.  I've seen college educated people that didn't have enough common sense to come in out of the rain!!!  Not all, just some!!

Answer 3

It's extremely important. Unfortunately, this country has made it a luxury that only the rich can afford -- unless you're a foreigner -- then going to an American University is no problem.

Answer 4

It isn't necessary to have a higher education to succeed in life.  BUT, the higher education gives you insight to so much information and makes you a better well rounded person that can converse on many levels.  You also meet peers that have intentions of going places and doing things and want more out of life.  You can make life time friends and form a web of friends that will be useful throughout life.  I had a blue collar job that paid well with good benefits but I ended up getting hurt.  Blue collar jobs do tend to wear you out over the years and the thing you want to do is to be in very good health at the end of your working career.  I went back to college, had a great time but very poor then, but have doubled my salary.  I worked my way through a couple of jobs to get background experience and realized that running your own company is the way to make the $.  Of course you take all the losses too.  Education improved my life tremendously.  I like that everyone now considers me very smart.  It wasn't that I wasn't smart before, I was uneducated and fairly unread.  No more.  My advice--Go as far as you can and learn how to get grants so that you owe nothing when you are through.  Good luck.  And by the way, start reading the paper every day from cover to cover--even the want ads.

Answer 5

I think in this day in age it is quite important to have a degree. To get a foot in the door at the workplace you seem to need to have a degree. You can obviously get work without a degree but promotion opportunities will be seldom. There is definitely a positive correlation between how much you earn in your lifetime and how well educated you are.

Answer 6

Extremely important. Those who say it's not I feel are somewhat misguided - sorry. Yes, obviously you can get a job and make a living without a degree, but you really are limiting your opportunities at least some. Not to mention if you have kids yourself - you want to set a good example for them to follow and what better way to do that than by getting that education yourself. A degree will be even more necessary by the time my kids grow up. I keep drilling to them that they HAVE to go to college. I don't want them to struggle. They are smart boys and I want everything the world has to offer for them. Not to mention........if I intend on paying for my kids college education I need a decent paying job myself.

I learned this the hard way. I had 1yr of college under my belt when I dropped out and had kids. I went back 2yrs ago at 28 and am now finishing up. I hope to get my masters in genetics. For me it's very fulfilling to be able to say "I did it!"  :)

Answer 7

In most cases it depends on how much money you want to make. Of course, there are exceptions.

Answer 8

it depends what career you want to have... if you want to be a doctor or engineer then of course it is important.  

Answer 9

I run my own business (owner), High School Grad only.

Best Wishes!!

Answer 10

Considering we no longer have any real Industry, then a High School Diploma is necessary.  After that a trade school, or college is the only way to get ahead.  Unless you have a desire to be a waitress or bottom tier construction, both will wear you down.

Answer 11

yes.  it makes all the difference these days.  especially now since high schools are no longer able to fail any students (or as good as), it has totally devalued the high school diploma making it not worth the paper it is written on.  and again with the "every one has the right to go to college" atmosphere in government )which is a joke be cause everyone did have the right to go before, just not the ability) it is eroding the value of a bachelors degree.  more and more for education to be worth anything you will need an advance degree masters or phd just to prove you can tie your own shoes.  just ot give you an idea lets say you go into the sciences get a bs in chemistry and start out making 35k get a masters and start at 60-90k get a phd and start at >110k,  if you can't afford to go to school for that long then why not a trade my cousin recently became an electrician and he's now pulling in 90k and talk about job security. my plumber showed up at my house in a jaguar.  in some states you could get a nursing diploma in 2 years or become a radiology tech in the same all start out with a decent salary and unbelievable job security

Answer 12

Forget about school and no one will be the wiser...especially you!

Answer 13

Essential.

Answer 14

Iam a firm believer in college I went as far as I could go in my career and I always ran into do you have a degree? it doesnt matter in what degree , but people that are educated want to be around other people that are, it dont matter what kind of degree it just shows you made the effert to get one so yes I think it is very important to get an education today.As you can tell I dont have one.Half drawn boy is right on. In this day and age times have changed because when I was coming up if you got HSD you were going to be a success but not anymore.

Answer 15

Not everyone  is college material, Thats the great thing about this country a person can still make a good living  and have a great life if they are willing to work.

Answer 16

I like old guy answer

Answer 17

i went pretty far with out that higher education, one of the major drawbacks seems to be whether or not a person gets weekends off.

Answer 18

Depends on what your career choice is.  You can educate yourself right out of a field.  Do you want white collar or blue.  Some like office work some like to work with their hands.  Education can open doors.  That's why you need an advisor.  Then of course there are professional students who do nothing but go to school. i had a couple of those in my family.  They both died young .  I don't know if that was a factor but i don't think you can learn to death.  HA

Answer 19

Why Get a Degree?

This is the most important question about getting a college degree. Why take anywhere from two to nine years out of your life? Why don't you simply go straight to work without one? The answer lies in the ways of the modern world. Jobs are simply getting more specialized as the economy develops. You can no longer expect to join a business or company and simply learn things as you go along – these days you need specialized training. There are, of course, jobs that don't require an education, but these entry-level positions pay significantly less. In fact, the Economist's Voice has published research which shows that those with a college degree earn, on average, 68% more than those who only graduate from high school.



The Benefit of Education

The US Congress (in their Joint Economic Committee Study) has estimated that if you have a college degree you will, on average, earn $20,000 a year more than someone who only has a high school diploma or GED. This does of course depend upon what your degree is in and what sort of job you get afterwards. Now that sounds great but then you also have to figure in the costs. Not only will it cost you money to get a college degree, but you may have to cut back on your work hours to attend school. If we include these effects then the returns on investment (of your time and money) can be as high as 20% for each extra year of education. Fortunately more and more degree programs accommodate working adults, making it easier to keep earning while you pay for school.



How to Get a College Degree?

As you prepare for postsecondary education, consider which program type suits you best. There are community and junior colleges, (usually two years to an Associates Degree), senior colleges (four years to a Bachelors) and postgraduate programs for Masters and further college degrees. Once you've settled on a degree type, investigate your funding options. Most schools offer financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants. The federal government offers a number of subsidized and unsubsidized loans with relatively low interest rates. The most common loan program is the Stafford Loan, but you may also qualify for a Perkins Loan or Pell Grant. According to the Department of Education, these can range from a few hundred dollars to $4,050 for grants and $10,500 in loans. There are several types available.



So Why Get a College Degree?

You're likely to earn more money than you would without one, and you'll almost certainly be doing more interesting work as well. Perhaps the most important reason, though, is the personal and intellectual growth you'll experience in the process of learning. There are many who look back on the time spent earning their college degree as the happiest time of their lives.

  

Answer 20

no mater what your job in life every one needs a great education -- i think even dish diggers and dish washers should be given the chance to read and understand skakespeare!!!  

Answer 21

I think it is very important a person need to be all they can be, you can't take a good education away but you can add to it and move ahead.

Answer 22

Depends on what you mean by higher education and also what you mean by going far in life.  Those terms are interpreted differently by different people.  

Believe it or not, there are still some country folk in this world who consider "High" School as "higher" education.  And although many consider an undergraduate degree as higher education, most think of higher education in terms of a doctorate's degree.  

But you can be quite successful and happy with very little education.  I'm 68 years old now, and happily retired.  Don't work anymore and live the easy life.  I made it through my work life with only one year of high school under my belt.  I was a high school drop out.  Not by choice though.  It just happened that way.  I won't bore you with the details.  But during my years working, I was very much aware that if I were to have money to live on in retirement and be able to sit back without having worries about maybe running out of money before I die, I needed to save some while I was earning some.  I couldn't spend it all and expect to have any later.  So I worked hard and saved as much as I could.  It worked out just fine.  And even though I tried to go back to school and get a better education (and I did get a couple of courses under my belt) for the most part that didn't work out.  I started to think that I just wasn't meant to be highly educated.  I think that was my destiny.  

My advice to you is to try to understand what you want your mission to be in life.  It doesn't have to be to accomplish big things, and it's your choice.  Whatever feels right for you is it.  Go for that, and be happy with it.  Don't feel that others are better than you.  They aren't.  They are just doing something that's different from what  you are doing.  I read somewhere that the most important job in this world is that of being a good person.  If you do that, you are a superstar; everything else is just for extra points.  And by being a good person, I don't mean that you have to give other people all your money and live in poverty because there's none left for you.  I mean just be nice.  Focus on being a good person, one that you'd be proud to brag about.  Don't be hateful or hurt others.  Those are the most important things on earth.  Or so say people who claim to know what is really important.  

But who really know what's important?  During my lifetime, I've often wondered about that.  I mean, are there people who have died and gone to Heaven (or wherever we go after we die) and then come back to tell us what's really important in life?   Wouldn't that be nice.  Then we would all know.  Well, recently, I stumbled (quite by chance) on the website for the Near Death Experience Research Foundation.  They are at www.nderf.org.  I snooped around there, and found out that it contains stories written by people who died, supposedly went before their maker, found out what's what, and came back to tell us about it.  I'm not absolutely sure whether all of this is just hocus pocus, but I sure found it interesting.  And by died, I mean these people (who are people just like you and me) died on the operating table in hospitals and elsewhere.  They were pronounced dead by doctors.  Their experience (what they came back to write about and can be read at this site) is what they believe (no doubt in their mind) happened to them during the time that elapsed between the time they were pronounced dead and the time they were revived (brought back to life) by the doctors.  That is, what happened to them while they were dead.

At this site, there are over 1600 stories written by such people.  I've read close to 500 of them so far, and it seems from what I've read so far that the most important thing to do in this world is to simply be a good person.  That is; be kind rather than hurful to others.  Of course, in the process of telling their stories, these people share a lot of other things too.  It's pretty exciting reading.  Without committing to believing or disbelieving everything I've read there, I can nonetheless tell you that the stories were worth my while to read.  And I'm still reading.  If you are curious and want to take a peek at the written experiences of these hundreds of people as written in their own words, click on the link below.  I think you'll find it to be a real education!  

In closing, let me add that I'm not shoving anything down your throat.  If you want to take a peek, go for it.  If not, then pass on it.  Makes no difference to me.  I've earned my extra points by being a nice guy and sharing this with you.   The rest is up to you.  

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Answer 23

Very important especially if you want to find a good paying job or land yourself in a decent profession.   The average college graduate in the USA (I talking Masters degrees and better) earns almost a $1 million more than a non-college graduate over the course of his life time.  Hope this helps!

CJ

Answer 24

I design electronic instrumentation circuitry. In this arena it has been my observation that common sense out weighs any other factors when it comes to getting things done. It is important to have a good grasp of the basics of course which is the role of education. But I think too much is made of the degree because it is not a predictor of successful job performance. I will say that often in an interview the question comes up "Do  you have a degree?". If the answer is yes the interview continues and if the answer is no the interview is over ... so... taken in that sense you can't get along without it IF your working for someone else.

Answer 25

I agree, it really does depend on what career field you would like to go into. My personal belief is to take advantage of education, and keep learning throughout your life. I love to learn, and my goal is to work on getting a doctorate in medical research. Usually the higher degree you have in a certain subject (not usually an obscure one), the higher your salary will be.