Is a university or college degree worth the huge expense? Eighty-eight percent of students who are now taking college courses seem to agree.
A 2019 report from Forbes.com indicates that the average cost of a college education annually is $45,000. A recent Pew Research Center study also reported that about 49 percent of those who graduate from college owed student loans averaging at $25,000.
With the huge expense of a college degree, it is very important that anyone thinking of going to college must think very hard of what degree he or she wants to earn. It should be something that he or she is interested in because no money spent on tuition should be wasted. It’s not something you think you want but when you encounter difficulties, you change your mind and enroll in a different degree.
It is also important to remember that whatever course you take in college will highly likely dictate the path of your career in adulthood. So, choose wisely because you might end up hating what you’re doing later on when you’re not in the right college course.
So how do you decide on which college course to take? Here are tips that will help you decide:
- Choose a course that you love or enjoy.
What motivates you to get a college degree – a better life, bigger earnings like a six-figure salary, popularity?
Whatever it is that drives you to get a degree, you must remember a very important point: It must be something you really love or enjoy because the degree you will get will highly likely dictate what you will be doing for the rest of your life.
Choose carefully so you would not end up hating your every waking hour to get to work, or drag yourself out of bed to go to work. That would suck big time. As a quote from Confucius goes: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Make a list of the things you enjoy, then narrow down the list to a specific course.
- Explore courses.
Check courses and their reviews. Also check course descriptions to get a glimpse of the subjects that will be discussed. Better yet, visit the school campus and ask around. Ask those who are taking the course about their experience and how the course is conducted.
- Consider the college’s location.
Would you like to be in a college close to home, or in a different town or city? If you’re planning to study outside your current residence, do a research on the kind of town or city the school is located in.
Check for safety considerations like criminality rates; check what the weather is like.
Also search if there are lodgings close to the school. If you could find a school that is just a walk away, it could help you save on bus fares.
- See who the lecturers are.
Your professors will hugely affect the way you will learn your course so it is important to know their background. Are they experts in their field of study? Do they have published researches or studies? Know them well.
- Apply for scholarships.
Scholarships can hugely help in your college expense so search for them. There are a lot of colleges that offer them. See if they have scholarships for the course you are planning to enroll. Also be prepared to write a convincing admission essay because they require it.