Earn a Higher Degree and Make More Money

As if the pride and honor that accompanies earning a college degree is not enough, there is also ample evidence that those who have a higher education will earn substantially more money than those who do not have a college degree.

Sure, it’s not "all about the money." After all, earning a college degree awards you with a plethora of other benefits. The college experience in and of itself is a rewarding experience that allows students to grow up, learn how to be independent, and establish new and valuable relationships. There are also the inevitable crazy nights and weekends that accompany a raucous college career, leaving graduates with many fond memories of their wilder and crazier days before officially heading out into the grown-up world. College is often referred to as "the best four years of your life" for a reason. Students with degrees also are more educated and cultured in general, allowing them to have more insight into certain niches and making them more capable of making intelligent and informed decisions. But that is not to say that in addition to the education and college experience that having a financial advantage is not welcomed as well.

College graduates make an average of about $600 more per week than those without a degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, workers who hold an associate degree, which is the lowest-level college degree available, earn about $125 more per week than those who only have a high school diploma. That’s an average of about $6,500 more each year for associate degree holders in comparison to high school graduates. In addition, the data compiled by the Bureau also shows that the higher the degree level earned, the more money workers make. This means that while associate degree holders earn an average weekly salary of $761, bachelor’s degree holders earn $1,025 per week, and doctoral degree holders earn an average of $1,532 per week. The reason for this is because those with a higher degree are able to take on more challenging and authoritative jobs, such as working as physicians or corporate executives.

The Bureau’s data also shows that in most cases, those with higher degrees are also less likely to be unemployed. For example, in 2009, 9.7% of all high school graduates were unemployed. Yet, only 5.2% of all bachelor’s degree holders were unemployed, and even more astonishingly, only 2.5% of doctoral degree holders were unemployed. Therefore, not only will earning a higher degree pay better, it also will decrease your chances of unemployment after graduation.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 8:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.