Is Continuing Education Worth the Money?
So you have decided that it would probably be a good choice to pursue some sort of continuing education. You have not decided if you are going to take just a few courses or pursue an all-out degree soon. The one thing you do know for sure is that it will cost you money in your already tight budget.
Sure, you understand that continuing education is important for everyone, however, you still are not sure if it is worth the extra money you put out to pay for it. Well, it is. No matter what, the money you put toward your continuing education will come back to you tenfold.
How will your monetary investment come back to you? Well, it could be in a variety of ways: you could receive tuition reimbursement from your employer, you could earn a promotion with a pay increase, you could find a higher paying job or you could simply have the personal satisfaction that comes with pursuing education.
Check with your company Human Resource department to see if your company offers a tuition reimbursement program. If they do, ask what the guidelines are to participating in this program. For instance, you may have to be pursing a degree in a certain field or you may need to have been employed there for a certain period of time before you will qualify.
The best part? You continue to receive your paycheck and you are completely reimbursed from your company for your expenses. Of course, there is nothing better than getting something so valuable for free. Or, you could earn a promotion with a pay increase after you complete your continuing education program. Say you pursue a graphic design certificate program to help you in your job. Your boss may just be so impressed with your new skills that he will increase your salary and give you a job where you can use your newly acquired skills on a daily basis. However, make sure the pay increase is in line with the degree you have just received.
Continuing education degrees also give you more bargaining chips when negotiating a new job offer. If you have a Master degree and the rest of the applicants only have a Bachelor, you obviously should be making more money for the job. You could make several thousand more for the same position than you would have without the degree. If you do the math, you will find that your monetary investment will pay for itself in just a period of months or a year or so.
Finally, you could find the best satisfaction with your continuing degree program by realizing that you are smart and were able to pursue your dreams. This will give you the kind of ego boost that nothing else can. You will feel smarter, more worldly and aware than you did before. And of course, you are all of those things because you went ahead and pursing continuing education on your own accord.
Whatever your reasons, continuing education is always worth the investment. Paying for your education will always mean something when you are old and gray. A flat screen television won’t have the same feelings when you are ninety.
