How A Bachelor Degree Can Improve Your Job Prospects

Agree with most of what you said but will add a little more. They can and should reduce the number of white collar occupations that require a college degree. I think this would have two very positive effects. 1. Allow folks to enter the White Collar ranks and utilize employer sponsored tuition reimbursement for education. 2. Open up more slots in college for more demanding occupations where you really do need a college degree for prep. For example, never thought for a moment that Information Technology to be a strictly Business Admin field nor a field that requires a college degree....Even though it does.

If you have big career goals, you absolutely need a bachelors if not a masters. A huge problem we have right now is the technical folks and the degree folks rarely sit down at the same table and discuss things on an equal playing field. I am a pilot and a paramedic, both technical fields and have a graduate degree in emergency and disaster management. I am interested after 20 in the Army of being an emergency services director for a large county and right now spend as much time as possible as a volunteer fire fighter, another occupation that is more technical than degree. I need to know the jobs I am trying to lead and in the emergency fields, if you do not understand your assets you are worthless. The same time I need to know technical fields, I can tell from a mile away when a technical guy tries to go too far into the big picture and that is where the college degree comes into play. Technical education focuses on a very limited subject where as a degree plan pushes you into much broader areas and you have to learn the system, where to get answers and things done way outside a limited field. Every semester in college brought a new challenge, whether it was to writing a 20 page paper over the overuse of antibiotics to the process involved with stoichiometry. The biology involved with yeast and single cell organisms made making great beer easier.

You wanna go far in life, take the time to do both; understand that some people only want to be technicians and try to understand their role. Learn to work with the people so centered on college being the end all know all and understand that too. If I had to chose one over the other, I'd rather be good at a technical field that can make a difference right here and now, however to meet my lifetime goals, I need to understand both.

Ranger Dave, I think that you will like the last paragraph of the article:
"A Bachelor Degree Is Not The Only Way To Succeed. If you decide that a degree is not for you for whatever reason – fine. Look for growing, stable, and highly paid professions either as part of a labor union, construction, technology, or other entrepreneurial endeavors where you can have a high impact, personal reward, and a good paycheck. "
Chad