1. Is the Cost of a Degree Actually Worth It?
Obtaining a bachelor degree qualification can certainly be a positive step towards an enjoyable
and successful career but it has significant educational costs that need to be considered. How
does the investment in your education actually pay off in the long run financially? This article
looks at how the numbers stack up.
Firstly, we must look at online bachelor degree costs. The direct cost of education can range
anywhere from $2000 to $30,000 a year at some high profile private schools. But for the purpose
of this article we are going to use an average figure of $6,600 per year plus another $1000 per
year for textbooks and supplies which brings us to $7600 per year. For a 4 year course the total
cost is $30,400. Lets round that down to $30,000 to keep it simple.
The direct cost of the education is not the main expense however. The major cost (which is not
always considered) is the additional cost (or income loss) of the student not working full time
while studying. By choosing to go to college or university to obtain a degree the student's ability
to get a start in his or her chosen career is delayed by a minimum of four years. With this in mind
the additional cost of lost income could easily add up to over $100,000 while you are studying
for your bachelors degree. For the sake of this article lets use $80,000 or $20,000 per year.
This gives us a total online bachelor degree cost of $110,000. Quite significant money indeed.
But does it pay off?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published data showing that during the first quarter
of 2008 full time professionals with bachelors degrees earned a median weekly salary of $1,108
while workers who only had high school diplomas earned a median weekly salary of $615.
However I believe this does not give a true indication of the earnings increase the degree actually
contributed to as in general the type of people who earn degrees would probably earn an above
average wage with or without the degree. So for this discussion I will increase the non-degree
income by 50% to account for this which equates to a weekly income of $922.
On this basis the degree holders earn on average an additional $186 per week or an annual
increase of $9672. So without taking into account other factors such as taxation and inflation it
would take 11 years and 4 months for the initial online bachelor degree cost to be covered by the
increased earning potential it provides. Over the average working lifespan of 40 years the degree
would have earned an additional $386,880. This is more than three times the additional cost!
Based on this, it is clear that obtaining a degree certainly does pay off financially. However it is
also important to remember that education has many other benefits that will enrich your life.
These benefits are discussed further in our article titled "Bachelor Degrees - Are Bachelor
Degrees really worth it?" at our career, education and training website BetterOnlinedegrees.com