Earning Your Bachelors Degree

If you’re thinking of furthering your education, my best advice would be to stop thinking about and go do it!

I started my bachelors degree journey at the age of 36, yes I was one of those adult students you’ve heard about. The world was turning upside down for me and I needed a change, so I went back to school. I started out as a part time student only going nights and only taking six credits a semester. I did this for nearly two years, while raising my two young sons and working two jobs.

After a while I became impatient with my progress and finally jumped in with both feet and became a full time student. I commuted 35 miles to class daily.

Was it worth it? Absolutely! The days of getting a good paying job without having a college education are over! No employer in today’s market will even look at your resume if you don’t have at least a bachelors degree listed. Without a bachelors degree you’ll be competing against too many others with a degree.

So now that you’ve decided you need a bachelors degree, where do you go? Should you choose a Community College, the University or Online?

Each has it’s own benefits. If you go to your local Community College you wouldn’t have to spend the money on housing. You could live at home and commute to school. The costs are usually less at the Community College. The only drawback is that some Community Colleges don’t have a wide array of majors. So, you might get a degree in something you don’t necessarily want.

Perhaps you want to experience the entire college life and go to the University. Great! You’ll have your choice of majors, you’ll find new friends and you’ll come out with a quality education. The only drawback is the opportunity cost. If you go to the University be prepared to experience a new way of life and there will be bills, lots of bills. Of course there is also financial aid to help with all of those bills. You’ll also be able to get a loan to help and you will have to pay it back at some point, but most likely it will be deferred until you graduate. Going to the University is an awesome way to get your education if you can adjust to the lifestyle.

An Online degree allows you a bit more flexibility with your schedule. If you aren’t sure what you want to do there are lots of accredited universities that have “world campuses” where a student can take general education classes online. Take your math classes or your english classes online until you can determine what you want to do.

Shop around, look at what will suit your lifestyle the best. No matter what you choose, in the end you’ll have that diploma and a better job.