Studying vs working

Reasons why you should go to college:

Enjoyable experience
Going to university or college is set to be a memorable experience. You will build great
friendships that often last for a long time after college. Also, you have a lot of freedom
in your hands to do new and exciting things. For example, you can go to parties and
build a great social life or you can join some side activities and extracurriculars to make
college even more fun. It is not news that many people still believe that their university
years were the best time of their lives.
Opportunity to expand your network
While in university, you will meet a lot of new people. You will be able to meet them by
joining clubs, organizations and by socializing a bit. The majority of these people will
get a higher degree and start a career in all kinds of different fields. As you graduate
university and are looking for jobs, a diverse experience and practice from university
might come in very handy to find a new job.

Better job opportunities

Not only will going to university increase the amount of jobs that you are qualified for,
it will also increase your salary by a good amount. A study conducted by the National
Center of Education Statistics has shown that university graduates earn significantly
more compared to those who don’t graduate anything. To illustrate, in 2020, the aver-
age salary of recent graduates with a bachelor degree was almost $60 thousand while
the average earnings of those who did not go to college and started to work after gradu-
ating high school was about $35 thousand.

Scholarships

While it is true that studying in university may be very expensive, with the help of a
scholarship or a grant going to college might suddenly be more affordable.

More likely to be employed

A survey among employers from a different range of companies asking whether or not a
some kind of degree is important to have concluded that a degree is still very valuable
to possess. 75% of the hiring managers found it critical for potential employees to have
a university degree. Moreover, The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the employ-
ment among those who graduated high school and had no college degree was 6.2%.
This is very high compared to the unemployment rate of 3.2% among those with a
bachelor’s degree as their highest form of education. All in all, a university degree is
still a very important tool in finding a job.

Easier to get a good first job

When you start working after graduating high school, your first job will not be very
glamorous most of the time initially. You have to work from the beginning and be very
diligent to get a better job. However, when you graduate university you will be able to
skip a couple ranks and start off with a more enjoyable job at a better company. The
reason for this is that a university degree paired with your vocation serves as the key to
successful recruitment in many companies. Also, most employers know that university
graduates require less training and are therefore more likely to get in at higher posi-
tions.

More enjoyable work

As mentioned, when you graduate institution of higher education you are qualified for
more jobs and have set yourself apart from those who did not graduate any institution.
You can now expect to work jobs that are more interesting and enjoyable compared to
the work you would have if you did not graduate university. What I mean by this is that
you will probably find work that is less repetitive and has more opportunities for ad-
vancement.

Reasons why you should go work:

Ability to earn money immediately

When you decide to go to work instead of going to university you can expect to make a
sufficient amount of money immediately. Over the 4 years you would otherwise be in
university, the extra amount of money earned can be pretty significant.

Saves money

University is known to be very expensive. You need a significant amount of money in

order to get a 4-year degree. You need money for tuition, housing and other living ex-
penses. When you start to work after high school instead of going to higher educational
establishment, you save a lot of money that would otherwise go to your education.
However, you can also opt for attending state (community) college instead as their tu-
ition fees are significantly less expensive.

Saves time
University degrees not only cost you a bunch of money, they also require a lot of time. A
bachelor’s degree usually takes approximately four years. You could spend this time
better personally for you doing something else instead of going to university.

Work experience

A logical result of going to work straight out of high school is that you have more work
experience compared to somebody that goes to university instead. Especially in fields
like sales and engineering, experience is arguably more important than a degree.

Degree loses value

In general, a university degree will lose its value over the years. Especially in technology
related fields, there are a lot of changes that happen very fast. Therefore, your degree
may become outdated. As a result, employers will mostly care about your most recent
work experience opposed to an old degree.

You can always get your degree later

It doesn’t matter if you are 20 or 30 years old, if you want to, you can get a degree. You
can take night classes, summer classes and even online education is available nowa-
days. In short, there are plenty of ways to get your degree and you can get it at any time.
Therefore, there is no reason to worry about getting your degree as quickly as possible,
which makes the job after high school quite a good option.

Gain more independence

When you start working fresh out of high school, you are very young and still have lots
to learn. Starting to work instead of going to university gives you a taste of the real
world and helps you learn issues such as handling money, paying rent, cooking food
etc.

Is studying harder than working?

While working has its own set of challenges, I think it is fair to say that studying is
harder than working. The main reason for this is that going to university and passing
your classes requires a lot of deep thinking and intensive studying. Working on the
other hand is more repetitive. To illustrate, as you start working at a new job you will be
overwhelmed at first, however, as you get more hours under your belt you soon will find
the work accustomed and easy.

Can you work while studying?

You can definitely work while you study. Moreover, according to a survey, employers
are more likely to hire a college graduate that has done some form of work during their
studies.

How to find work while studying

The best work to do as a student is an internship. An internship will help you gain a lot
of work experience in a short amount of time. Internships significantly increase your
job opportunities after graduation and might even land you a job at the company of
your internship. Another option of working while studying is through having a side job.
While the work you do at side jobs is less spectacular in general, it serves as a good
chance of earning some extra income. Moreover, if you do well at your side job you
might get promoted. Before taking a side job, it is important to look at your schedule
and check if you still have enough time for your studies, which are priority number one
as a student.

Is experience important?

A survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities indicates

that work experience is very important according to employers. As a result, work expe-
rience can significantly increase the likelihood of university grads being hired. The rea-
son that employers find work experience so important is that it shows that the potential
employee has built teamwork and time management skills. Furthermore, work experi-
ence serves as a more practical way of learning new skills compared to the theoretical
setting of college. Ultimately, having good work experiences as a university grad sets
you apart from the rest of the pack. Nowadays, there are a lot more people that gradu-
ate college. Therefore, it is important to find ways to outshine your peers. The right
work experience might just be the way to do this.