Is college worth it? This seems to be the question students and parents alike are increasingly posing, even as tuition costs continue to rise for many while job opportunities appear to remain tight for the foreseeable future. Even Newsweek has opted to question your local university’s ongoing relevance in the face of ongoing struggles by Generation Y, who’s suddenly competing with multiple generations (including their own parents) for fewer chances to excel within today’s increasingly constrained commercial environment. But despite the financial burdens and workforce challenges all face, allow us to definitively answer the question: Yes, yes and more yes – and not just because a degree is the bare minimum needed to remain competitive with the millions of others who possess one competing for the same positions.
Consider that constant education and learning are vital to success – and that, if you’re currently a student, you’ll never have more time, less risk, and greater access to tools, talent and technology in one single place than you do at your local campus. (Unless, one supposes, you work at Apple or Google.) The trick is that learning cannot simply end at the classroom door… and that if so many possess similar talents, you must find ways to differentiate, including via the actions you take and choices that you make in the off hours. Never stop learning, or so we say – and while it can be fun to party in school, choosing to instead spend those hours creating opportunity while others fritter them away can mean the difference between landing your dream job or watching as others do so from the sidelines.
How to make sure you get the most from higher education, and guarantee you get real return on investment? In the following video, produced in partnership our friends with Tulsa Community College (TCC), we provide a crash course in the school of hard knocks.
