How Can You Make The Decision That’s Right For You?

While a college education has both its pros and cons, it depends on you and what makes sense for your career path. Whether you are inclined towards studies, have a certain moral compass due to your family’s background, or have the plan to pursue higher education in a certain college, all of these factors can weigh in to decide what is best for your future.

You can think of the following questions to get you started.

1. Do you want to go to college, or is it something you feel because of what others expect from you?
2. Do you have a career path in mind?
3. If you are not sure, have you considered taking a gap year, circling down on your options, or maybe working before deciding?
4. Do you feel like this is a now-or-never situation, if yes, have you considered consulting a career counselor? 
5. Have you assessed colleges and what kind of fee structure there would be?
6. Have you already started working and thinking of continuing that?
7. Have you gotten a scholarship from any of the colleges?
8. Do you wish to pursue higher education abroad and hence, want to go for a college education? 
9. Do you think your favorite profession can be practiced with some training, a certificate, or a two-year Associate degree?
10. Is your prospective employer asking for a college degree?

While answering these questions, you may arrive at what’s best for you.

For decades, a college education was the “golden ticket” to the dream of high earnings, a comfortable lifestyle, and better job security. But in the new normal, where the demand for skills has superseded the need to have an education, what is the relevance of college degrees in today’s world?

Is a degree important for success? You may ask. Especially when the leaders you follow, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates have got successful without one.

Companies have long used college degrees as a proxy for job competency and career readiness. But that never was a surety of anyone’s candidature. Moreover, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight over labor, and the onset of the era of ‘The Great Resignation‘, employers are now increasingly cognizant of the need to think differently about how to best attract – and retain – employees, reconsidering their prerequisites for successful hires.

Google, Netflix, Tesla, IBM, Penguin Random House, Bank of America, Hilton, and Apple are a few of the renowned names to have started the trend which others are following. These organizations assess skills and talent over having a college degree.

In that case, does it make sense to spend all the time and huge amounts of money going through a college education? What is the importance of college degrees in today’s world?

Let’s find out, addressing the points from every perspective.