College Degrees Make Life-changing Financial Sense

“The” Talk?  Sooner Than Later is Better

While there is a growing urban legend that earning a college degree is less valuable today than in previous decades, the facts attest to a far different story, flipping the idea on its proverbial head. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, workers 18 year of age and over who have earned a bachelor’s degree can expect an annual salary of around $51,000.00. Individuals with only a high school diploma earn around $28,000.00. With an advanced degree, salary numbers go up even higher. A masters or doctorate degree command an average salary of $74,500.00 annually. Therefore, earning a college degree makes for good, common, financial sense. A quick calculation tells us that over the course of a thirty year work career, a college degree will produce $690,000.00 more in income than will a high school diploma without a college degree.

That fact alone should spur high school students to buckle down and place their focus toward achieving a college degree. Moreover, high school student-athletes have a unique opening to use sports as a way to pay for some, if not most or all, of their education.

It stands to good reason, doesn’t it, that the more leverage a potential college student has when applying to a college, the more their financial coffers colleges would make available? An athlete’s leverage, especially when teamed with solid academic scores, can be a fast track to more bucks on the table. The higher one’s grades, the higher the scholarship offer from the school and that doesn’t account for any athletic money a coach may be able to add. Together, athletic and academic scholarships can account for a major portion of a college student’s school-related expenses. The total college cost for room, tuition, board, books and fees can be staggering to families, particularly during hard economic times like we face today. But, parents cannot make the grades happen, nor can they force a coach to pony up significantly more dollars. That said, the person that can most influence the outcome is the aspiring student-athlete.

It should be taught early on that hard work in practice and in the classroom are the tickets to a solid, and conceivably paid-for, education. That is on the student-athlete, though. Parents should have tough conversations with their children about these realities and fully explain the impact their actions can have on the family and on themselves when it comes to paying for and/or paying back college expenditures. There is no easy way around it, but for families that need their kids to participate and contribute, a conversation, if not agreement, needs to happen as early as possible during their child’s high school career.