Why college?

Whether you’re going to college to start your education, to make a career change, or for another reason entirely, you probably know by now that college is important. But why? Here are four major reasons to get a college education:

You’ll become the person you want to be.

College is a time for you to pursue your dreams and discover your potential. At college, you’ll be able to create your own path. And not only will you do a lot of growing, even better, you won’t be in it alone. At college, if you’re open to the experience, you’ll meet professors, instructors, and lots of students who inspire you, guide you, and push you to do your best.

You’ll meet a lot of great people.

At college, you’ll meet new and interesting people from all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life. Many college graduates say that their experience allowed them to expand their minds in ways they never expected because of the variety of people they met.

For example, at Front Range, we have students who come straight from high school (and even high school students earning college credit), professionals taking classes to better themselves, and everyone in between. A few interesting statistics about FRCC’s student population:

 You’ll earn more income.

You’ve heard it before and statistically, it’s true – your earning potential is much greater with a college degree. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 Annual Social and Economic Supplement says that mean earnings of a high school graduate is $32,812, while the mean earnings of four-year college graduate is $58,762. That’s about 79.5 percent higher. A place to start toward a bachelor’s degree is with an associate degree, where mean earnings are $41,529, about 26.6 percent higher than a high school graduate’s earnings.

And the more education you get, the more you can earn, as shown by mean earnings for other education levels:

You’ll be in control.

This is an important one, and something that hits home for most of us. When you have a college degree, you’ll be able to make decisions about your life and career. Your path is up to you, not someone else. Of course, a down economy has a funny way of throwing all logic out the window, but generally, when you have an education, you’re more desirable to employers. That means you can steer yourself in the direction you want to go, move up in your career, and have security in your life.

Convinced yet? College is the greatest investment you can make in yourself, and will enrich your life and help you meet your goals. Tell us why you think college is important in the comments below.