| One of the toughest career decisions for high | | | | salaries and growth opportunities are far from |
| school students and their parents is whether to | | | | being lucrative. |
| get a job and settle down in that for the rest of | | | | But A College Degree Is Expensive and It Is |
| their lives or to continue their studies in college. | | | | Another 4 Years! |
| Three to five decades up the line, this would not | | | | A recent survey suggested that the average |
| have been a question at all that would make you | | | | employee changes jobs about 7 times in his or |
| lose sleep. The post World War II era saw many | | | | her career. The apparent reason is growing |
| industries flourish and needing workers to 'man' | | | | opportunities for trained and educated employees. |
| their businesses. That was when they took high | | | | But if you took a deeper look, employers are not |
| school graduates and trained them for routine | | | | in any position to wait for employees to train on |
| jobs, mostly on factory floors. | | | | the job. They seek candidates with pre-developed |
| The Present Scenario: Will It Support High School | | | | skills that match the job requirements, resulting in |
| Graduates? | | | | a soaring demand for college graduates. |
| The rise of technological advances, fast paced | | | | It's obvious that education opens new vistas of |
| work styles catering to newfound lifestyles and | | | | faster and better growth. Education loans from |
| the latest buzzword 'globalization' in the last two | | | | the Federal Government or private banks can |
| decades has changed the present job market | | | | help open your first job account with almost |
| scenario entirely. | | | | double the paycheck. College graduates have a |
| High school children of WW II veterans who got | | | | better scalability factor in their careers than |
| easy jobs were trained by their employers for | | | | others. A $40,000 loan for a 4-year college |
| specific jobs. This is obviously is a far cry from | | | | degree can be easily paid back in 10 years |
| the situation today. Time, competition and budgets | | | | including the 5% interest. The fact that the 4 |
| don't permit such 'on job' training any more. | | | | years you spend in college plus the $40,000 can |
| Employers and new age industry captains are | | | | be made good in the next 3-4 years easily should |
| looking for college graduates for specialized jobs. | | | | stand as unbeatable testimony in favor of college |
| For example: jobs like healthcare workers and | | | | education. The United States Census states that |
| software engineers can only be taken by those | | | | college graduates, in their career, will earn $2.1 |
| who are college trained because of their specific | | | | million against $1.2 million for high school grads. |
| courses. | | | | Unless there is some thing else that you know, all |
| It could unfortunately be harsh on those can't | | | | indicators point in favor of college. Higher raises, |
| afford an extra 3-4 years of college. But in reality, | | | | promotions, and postgraduate education- flights of |
| high school graduates are more and more | | | | progress- all require just one platform, and that is |
| relegated to low end physical or routine | | | | college graduation. |
| non-challenging mundane jobs where entry-level | | | | |