The latest NBC News poll shows two-thirds of registered voters down on the value proposition of a degree. A majority said degrees were worth the cost a dozen years ago.
Americans have grown sour on one of the longtime key ingredients of the American dream.
Almost two-thirds of registered voters say that a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost, according to a new NBC News poll, a dramatic decline over the last decade.
Just 33% agree a four-year college degree is “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime,” while 63% agree more with the concept that it’s “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off.”
I thought about a graduate degree too, however my career really took off (partially because of jobs I was able to get that had a Bachelors requirement). A graduate degree at this point in my life would not advance my career further and actually probably reduce my success because of the time commitment and what it would mean I couldn’t do with that same time and energy. Maybe I’ll chase one after I retire just for fun!
I had this same worry for myself, and it is certainly a balancing act. Too much course load, and you won’t succeed on learning/passing then get burned out even if you do. Too little, and you might get “comfortable” again getting your time and schedule back to what you had before you started.
For me I found success by starting with one course per term for the first term, then two courses per term for two more terms, then three per term (finding out that was too much), then dropping back down to two per term. Additionally, I never took a term off. I was worried I wouldn’t go back, so I did the low-and-slow path or the entirety of my Associates degree to completion. Then when I got the new job (with tuition reimbursement), I did the same, low-and-slow until completing the Bachelors degree.
Right now you might be thinking “how am I going to find the time to do this along with everything else?!” After the 2nd week of this new responsibility you will have it worked into your schedule. You will then ask yourself “What was I doing before with all this time I found for school commitments?!”, and finally after you graduate a month or two later you’ll loop back and say “Where the heck did I find all that time for the school commitments!?”
You’ve got this! The hardest part is just starting. You are so close. Just. Start.