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Health & Fitness

The PROS of a College Education

In our last blog, we talked about how a student needs to decide if they would like to go to college and, we promised that in our next posting, we would address the PROS of a college education so, here goes!

Going through college, students learn many things in addition to academics; as listed below:

- Ability to make decisions
- Learning to be independent
- Building friendships
- Learning how to network
- The ability to comfort oneself without parental assistance
- Selecting a type of lifestyle
- Service to others, understanding of others
- Skills for employment
- The art of dealing effectively with authority
- How to be  part of a team
- Managing deadlines
- Learning how and knowing when, to ask for help
- Dealing with difficulty people effectively
- Perfecting the art of advocating for oneself
- Becoming comfortable with public speaking
- Learning how to write professionally
- Researching through various avenues successfully
- Organizing presentations
- What to do when sick and on one's own
- Managing money
- Civic Responsibility
- Sharpening creative and problem solving skills
- Improving reading levels in preparation for the workforce
- Learning to cope with the stress that comes from day to day living
   - All this and academics!

The above are only a few of those items which benefit students working toward a college degree. I can recall a particular student I had that wanted (and went on to be) a professional actor. I advised him again and again to attend college for at least a little while so his vision, his knowledge of the world and himself had a chance to grow before taking to the stage. In the end, he attended college for two years before leaving to make his mark in the entertainment industry. But those two years will never leave him. Education is never, never a waste. In two years he was able to come to understand himself much better then he had while still in high school. His ability to read and understand contracts grew dramatically as did his knowledge of asking for help when he didn't understand what he was reading. All the while, engaging also in drama classes so he could improve his craft at the same time.

Students and parents can google PayScale.com, The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Dept. of Higher Education for information on the type of jobs that are and will grow in the future.At PayScale.org, you can actually research the starting salaries for 2012 college  graduates for example:

School                                                      Starting Salary
Rutgers University                                       $48,500.00
Princeton University                                     $58,300.00
Lehigh University                                         $56,900.00
Stevens Institute of Technology                  $60,900.00
Brown University                                         $52,400.00
University of Tulsa                                       $49,100.00
Indiana University, Bloomington                  $42,400.00

Data collecting is an art form, for our government and several independent agencies still, I'm not convinced we need all that data to answer the one question of: Is a college degree worth it?To that I say a resounding YES! It gives a person a "leg up" when searching for a job and most importantly, the time spent allows for a transition from adolescence to adulthood to take place in an environment of growth and opportunity.

College may not be for everyone and if it is not for you, that's OK. Post-secondary education can take many forms the idea, the point, is to allow yourself that extra time for your mind, your fund of knowledge, the person that you are to grow. And that time my friend, is never a waste!

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