Getting Your Money's Worth At College

Whether you’re just finishing high school or coming back after years in the working world, you probably want to get an education because you want to get a good job with a decent wage. Recruiters and university websites love to cite statistics about the average wages of people with various levels of education which imply that if you go to college, everything else will sort itself out.

While those averages are certainly real, it just doesn’t work out that way for those of us who don’t go in with the right plan. Here are a few quick tips on how you can make sure you’re getting your money’s worth at college.

Choose The Right Major

Everyone knows that engineers make money, and poets don’t, but that’s not very helpful if you’re not gifted in math and not passionate about the arts. To figure out which majors you should really be choosing from (versus which majors are offered) you should dig up a job search site like monster.com (or even craigslist) and see what jobs real businesses are actually hiring for in areas that you do or would like to live.

You’ll find (in most cities in the US) that healthcare degrees like nursing and health informatics are in high demand because of the aging baby boomer population. If you’re willing to move you also won’t have much trouble pursuing a career in IT, criminal justice, or both, since the government and private businesses are trying to ramp up their defenses against cybercrime.

Find The Best Resources

Just going to your classes, learning what’s handed to you, and walking away with your degree is a great way to do yourself a disservice. As a student it’s important to learn how to gather contextual information that can come in handy later.

Don’t just read the assigned paper, go look up the author and find out why they’re an important name in your field. Get to the library, take advantage of their free programs, and chat with the librarian to gather anything that they might know about the literature in your field. Your public library might even have access to academic journals that your university library doesn’t.

Build an Academic Network

College, especially grad school, provides you with an environment full of people that can be useful to your career. Talk to your professors, join student organizations related to your field, and get involved in study groups. Just talking to people will go a long way toward helping you retain and build on the information that you’re taking in in your studies. More importantly, making friends with people who are or will be in your field can pave the way for job opportunities in the future.