You will probably have been told that higher education – going to college, in other words – is important. This information could have come from high school teachers, parents, friends, even from your own knowledge of the world. Yet knowing that higher education is important and knowing why it’s important are two different things, and it’s worth getting some more knowledge on the latter if you really want to understand the former. After all, you can be told that higher education is important as many times as possible, but if you don’t know exactly why, it’s always going to be difficult to put into any kind of perspective. With that in mind, read on; we have put together some of the biggest reasons why higher education is important so that you can understand more about it and determine whether or not it’s for you.
Create More Opportunities
Graduating high school is a good start to the rest of your life, but it’s not everything in most cases. It’s a steppingstone to other opportunities. Although, of course, there are some jobs that you can do without going to college, and this is certainly what some people choose for a variety of different reasons, going to college and earning a degree will create many more opportunities for you. This is because the economy of the USA is built on knowledge-based work. This is different from how it was in the past.
Once, America’s economy was about manufacturing; it was manual labor that made the country run. This is why most people did not attend college; it just wasn’t necessary to get a good job and move forward in life. Now that this has changed and the country makes its money with a different focus, a college education is much more important. You’ll be able to take advantage of many more opportunities if you have a degree than if you don’t. This means that even if you’re not sure that higher education is the right move for you to make, you can still apply and study – and perhaps should – and therefore have your degree just in case it’s necessary. Even if you don’t use it to find a job in the end, you will have learned some valuable skills that will help you in your life.
Become And Stay Competitive
You can’t have failed to notice that a job market is a competitive place. It seems that no matter what job you might choose to apply for, there are many other people making the same choice and many other people applying for the same job. For a variety of reasons, the economy is not as strong as it has been, and although it is likely to regain strength, which is cold comfort to those looking for potentially scarce jobs right now.
If you can do anything to put yourself above other potential candidates and give yourself a competitive edge, you should do. Gaining a degree through higher education is a great way to enhance your resume and to ensure that you are noticed more than those who don’t have this qualification. If you really want to stand out, continuing your education and obtaining a master’s degree or even a PhD would be a wonderful thing to do, although this will depend on time and your budget. The good news is that thanks to today’s technological advancements, it’s possible to study from home in good schools such as Carson-Newman University online meaning that you can work and study at the same time. In this way, you really can achieve the highest level of education you need and not be at any kind of disadvantage because you chose to study and not work.
Not only will having a degree – no matter what level – mean that getting a job is easier (although still not necessarily easy, and this is an important distinction to make), it also means that you will usually have better job security once you do find a position that works for you. Job security is much more important than a lot of people think; it obviously means that you can rely on having money coming into your household, but it is also good for your mental health and wellbeing. This is because the uncertainty of a less secure job will make you anxious, perhaps even stressed, and you will therefore not necessarily perform at your best. Ironically, this can lead to you losing your job in just the way you feared.
When you have a degree, your employer is much less likely to fire you or make you redundant (unless there is a specific reason for this) as they know you are bringing a lot of worth to the business. There are relatively fewer people who have a degree compared to those who do, so finding someone to replace you is going to take more time, and this is another reason why you will have better job security; it’s easier to keep you than to lose you.
Learn New Skills
Your college experience is sure to be an interesting one, no matter whether you choose to attend a physical college full-time, part-time, or you decide that learning online at your own pace is the best option for you. You’ll meet new people, try new things, and something that is crucially important, you’ll learn new skills.
These are not the skills associated with your specific degree; learning those skills is expected, and you wouldn’t be making the most of your time in higher education if you didn’t put the effort in and gain the knowledge required to earn your degree in the end. However, there are other skills, and it’s these skills that we are talking about right now.
Attending college (in any form) is an entirely different experience from attending high school. At high school, even as a senior, much of the effort is put in for you. Teachers will remind you to do things by a certain date, you will have books provided, you will be told where to be and when. In fact, when you think about it, apart from the schoolwork itself, everything is done for you in high school.
This is not the case at college. When you attend college, you have to do everything yourself, and the only thing that others will do is provide you with education (this is, of course, a significant element, but it’s not everything). So you’ll need to work out your own schedule, you’ll need to deal with food, you’ll need to manage your money, you’ll need to learn how to live by yourself, communicate with others, research your topic, and much, much more. Learning these skills is as much a part of the college experience as the knowledge you learn about your chosen degree subject, and these skills – known as ‘soft skills’ – can be very useful when it comes to finding employment and being happy and contented in life in general. The more you know, the more capable you will be, and the more confident that will make you.
An Investment In Your Future
There is no getting away from the fact that attending a college and gaining a degree is going to cost you. It’s going to cost you in terms of money, but also in terms of time. You will have to put in a lot of effort and hard work if you want to make your time in higher education worthwhile.
Yet, although there is clearly a cost associated with your studies, this cost could – and should – be seen as an investment in your future. When you invest in higher education, what you are actually doing is investing in the rest of your life. You will be much more easily able to achieve rewarding career goals you have, and you will, as we’ve learned above, have many more opportunities in life. You’ll be able to take any path you choose, rather than being forced to follow just one option because of a lower level of education. In this way, you can live the life you always wanted, making it as successful and abundant as possible.
Further education, when done right and with enough effort put in, will pay for itself eventually. You’ll be able to find a job more quickly for one thing, and that job is likely to pay better than one that doesn’t require a degree.
Remember, there are a number of options when it comes to higher education that can make it much more cost-effective. Learning online rather than in a physical college is less expensive as there are fewer overheads for the college and fewer costs for you as you don’t need to move out of home or stop working, for example. Even if you think you can’t take on the work needed for a degree, there should be an option that helps you get the results you want – it’s just a matter of researching what’s available for you.
Better Job Satisfaction
We’ve mentioned how having a degree is going to allow you to choose a job that you want to do rather than one you have to do just to make some money. We’ve talked about how having a degree offers you plenty more opportunities in life. What we haven’t talked about is how having a degree and working hard in higher education can give you much better job satisfaction and why this is important. However, the fact is that this is certainly an advantage of pursuing a high qualification, and it’s much more important than you might think.
When you have more freedom in terms of choosing exactly the right career and even a specific job for you, which is why you will have when you have a good degree on your resume and plenty of knowledge, you are much more likely to actually like that job. Why is this important? When you enjoy the work you’re doing, you’ll feel happier in all aspects of your life. Remember, your job takes up a lot of time, around eight hours every day on average for full-time work. This is forty hours every week, and if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing – most of the time, at least; there will always be some parts of every job that aren’t so positive – you’re bound to find that this negative feeling spills over to other areas of your life. It’s amazing just how much a job you hate can affect your happiness, your relationships, your outlook on the future, and so much more.
When you have a degree, and you can choose what you want to do (and there are lots more opportunities, to begin with), you are much more likely to like the job you do. If you don’t like it, then you’ll have more chance of finding something else, again because of your qualifications.
Improve Your Self-Esteem And Self-Confidence
Knowing that you can overcome challenges and any obstacle that comes your way and that you can do what it takes to go into the higher education system and earn your degree is sure to have some positive benefits in your life. We’ve talked about a lot of them, but there is something else that you’ll gain when you receive your qualification and complete your education; you’ll gain improved self-esteem and self-confidence.
You will have proved to yourself and to others that you have what it takes to learn what you need to learn and do what you need to do to get on in life. You’ll be better equipped to deal with anything life throws at you because your self-esteem levels will be much higher. You’ll know that you can do things, so you’ll be more confident to try things, and this is crucial if you want to get ahead.
Having the sense of accomplishment that you will get when you complete your degree will push you a lot further than even the knowledge you have gained would do. Not only will you know a lot more than you once did, but you will have the confidence to put it to good use in your life in all kinds of situations.
