DegreeGo Blog

When is it time to go to school? After graduating high school? When your children move out of the house? In the middle of your professional career? Students of all ages are attending college, for different reasons and under different time constraints, but this doesn’t mean that every time is the right time to go back to school. Here are ten telltale signs that a college degree may be the right investment for you:

1. You just finished your high school diploma or a college degree. If you’re fresh out of high school–or you just received your bachelor’s degree–now’s a good time to keep on pushing with your education. Your brain is a muscle that continues to grow with exercise, so moving from one step of education to the next without missing a beat is an ideal prospect for many students. Of course, if you’re on burnout, you’re only digging yourself a student loan hole by pushing yourself; there are also times when it calls for a break.
2. You have hit the ceiling of your career. Some businesses have positions that just aren’t feasible without the critical MBA degree. An online MBA degree program can break the cap on your career and give it more potential, without making you quit your current job.
3. You were laid off and need a skill set for a new career. The economy is still in the slums (though recovery is in sight!) and this means that people are unemployed. Rather than continuing to not find a job at employment agencies, consider picking up a college degree–even something like a 2-year program–that will give you new skill sets to make you attractive to an employer.
4. You know you can receive a promotion with a degree. There are positions like teachers that get paid based upon education level. You can keep advancing with your current degree–you certainly have not hit a ceiling–but if you pursue a degree, you can increase your income. In this case, the investment in yourself is definitely worth it in the long haul.
5. You have a desire to learn something new. Lifelong learning is just as critical as lifelong physical health. If you have a desire to learn new things, act upon it! You do not need to have a career goal to go back to college, either. Remember that college’s original purpose was to bring well-rounded knowledge to students, not to equip them for the latest and greatest business position. Academia is still strong at universities, offering the ability to learn all kinds of new and interesting things.
6. You would like an evening activity. Community colleges have elective courses open to the public that can give you something fun and exciting to do every week, from jewelry making to wood working to working with cars. Vocational training schools often offer this option as well. Don’t like the semester system? Consider just going to a certificate course that takes a handful of weeks to complete.
7. You need to brush up on an old skill. Computer programmers, mathematicians, and engineers may need to practice their skills–or learn the new programming language or method for their industry–and the most effective way to do this is to go back to school. For someone that holds a career in a highly progressive field, getting your master’s degree after five years of being away from the learning environment will not only increase your career options, it’ll sharpen the skills you already use each and every day.
8. You would like to take your life a different direction. If you are unsatisfied with your current job, nothing is stopping you from going to a vocational training school and taking night courses–or pursuing an online degree program–that will let you do a one-eighty and try out an entirely different occupation.
9. You’re not sure what direction to take your life. Just like how school can let your life take a different direction, it can pull it off the track of aimlessness as well. In fact, career centers and counselors at universities are there to do just that. One of the purposes of general education for a bachelor’s degree is to allow the student to sample different subjects to see which one is right for them.
10. You want to see a different part of the world. Going to a college in another state or studying abroad allows you to get a well-rounded understanding of the world around you. Younger students may use college as a means to escape home, but many students use college as a means to explore. In this case, campus-based education definitely has an advantage over online education.

When’s it definitely a bad time to go to school? When you don’t want to go. Too many recently graduated high school students are deterred from the idea of education, but forced to go to a four-year school. Take up a vocational training program in something you enjoy instead, like an automotive career school, or step away from school altogether and give yourself a breather. There’s nothing wrong with stopping for a year or two and then going back to learning; college is an investment in yourself, and well worth it, but if you’re not willing to invest and learn, you’ll get very little out of your education.