46% College Graduates Reap Benefits of Higher Earning and Debt - Research Paper

Introduction

A research conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development established only 46% of the college students go to college and attain degrees (Zimmermann & Smith 722). It additionally found that most of these students graduate at the age of 25 to 35 years and receive an average of $17,500 per year more compared to their counterparts who do not hold any degree (Zimmermann & Smith 723). However, with the slow recovering employment market and the high student debt, there is a growing debate of whether one can be wealthy without attaining a college degree. Without doubts, individuals who have received formal education should value their training. Nonetheless, it does not reduce the wealth probability of the determined non-degree holders. Indeed, organizations such as Thiel Fellowship provide approximately $100,000 grant to non-degree holders, particularly college dropouts, as well as those individuals who delay formal education primarily to venture into entrepreneurship (Barber et al. 73). Still, individuals do not require a degree, Thiel Fellowship, or even much training to earn income and find their way to become wealthy. People do not require a college degree to become wealthy since they improve the jobs they have or create their opportunities that do not require formal education by starting businesses, investing in real estate, providing consulting services, and creating their products.

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One of the most significant manner that college non-degree holders can become wealthy is by starting their service business. This is the easiest type of business venture to start and run (Overholm, 16). It does not require many expenses and people are not obliged to have a website or many contacts for them to start it. Rather, all they require is a valuable competency, which individuals will pay for recurrently. Some of the most profitable service businesses they should invest in include social media consulting, web design, and content marketing. People, however, may not earn much simply by charging their clients hourly or by promoting each service at a time. Instead, to earn more profit, people should bundle their service package together and mainly concentrate on the value. For example, if they are operating an article or magazine writing enterprise, they should provide website-content retail, which translates to sales at a premium price. Therefore, with services businesses such as social media consulting, web design, and content marketing bundled as a package, people can earn a significant amount of revenue despite being non-degree holders since these enterprises do not require formal education to start and run.

Another way that college non-degree holders can become rich is through investing in real estate. Any individual can invest in real estate provided they have sufficient starting capital and ability runs a rental-property enterprise. They, however, should ask themselves if they have property management knowledge. If not, they can contract competent and experienced developers. Alternatively, they can invest in commercial real estate operated via crowd-funding opportunities. There are prominent and reliable crowd-funding websites such as RealtyMogul.com that offer college non-degree holders with access to suitable commercial property development starting from as little as $5,000 (Hall 1). Furthermore, non-degree holders can additionally save resources and time by searching for online presentations and pre-vetted deals to assist them in making appropriate real estate decisions. Through these approaches, non-degree holders can earn as much as the degree holders counterparts provided they have the initial required capital.

Non-degree holders can also provide consulting services that do not necessitate one to have college formal education. To become wealthy, they should, for instance, think bigger than volunteering to practice and provide bookkeepers hourly. Rather, they should place themselves as consultants and receive reimbursement for sharing advice on all aspects, from managing the business to accounting. They should think, for example, about paint points as well as how they can aid them in resolving big challenges facing businesses. Most consultants enjoy the end suppleness, particularly as independent contractors who can work together with any company either for short or long term contracts. Thus, whereas consultants do not primarily require to hold a college degree, they can be wealthy from holding certifications, for instance, by using tools or invest in the areas that provide consulting services to earn as much as their college degree holders counterparts.

Another significant approach through which non-degree holders can become wealthy is by creating a product. Every individual is preaching about selling eBooks and Kindle books purposely to make a profit. However, there are many other products that they can create to earn more and become wealthy. Internet is extensive, with premium commodities available on both corporate websites and personal blogs. Individuals can join sites such as Gumroad that sell films, software, books, and music among others. In fact, sellers can make money from selling entertaining, among other materials (Maharg). Nevertheless, before people begin selling the afore-mentioned products, they should think of creating their unique opportunities or brand their products. For example, they can film their upcoming workshops as well as redesign their web and have a conversation on how these processes. They can contract a video editor to edit and polish the film before uploading it to Gumroad to receive a stream of additional revenue.

On the other hand, individuals who oppose that you cannot be wealthy without a college degree argue that a college degree leads people to better job security. They claim that the truth is, in the absence of a college degree, people may not be valuable by different employers. Thus, when employed in a company and at times it does not perform well, there is a high probability that non-degree holders may be fired. Indeed, having a college degree is so significant that different companies will volunteer to pay for their workers to further their education. This is viewed as a significant investment for the companies not only to their workers to earn more money but also for it to increase revenue. Research reveals that during economic recessions, non-degree holders stand at risk of being fired from different companies than a degree holder (Carnevale, Smith & Strohl 95). They also suffer the majority of the job cuts hence reducing their chances of becoming wealthy. If employees, however, have a college degree, they are bound to earn more from their occupations because of factors such as opportunities to expand their career, higher income, and employment benefits, and this translates to being wealthier compared to their counterparts without a college degree.

Conclusion

Some people argue that individuals cannot become wealthy since they do not have better job security. It is, however, not everyone is advantaged to go to college and attain a college degree, but at least people can learn different ways of becoming wealthy. For example, they can start their service businesses, invest in real estate, provide consulting services, and create new products. While other people claim that college degree is essential, these approaches do not require any formal college education background since they do not demand advanced skills achieved when people go to college. Therefore, using one or a combination of these approaches, people can make or find a path that fits their skill or personality set, and together with determination and positive thinking, they can join the long list of individuals who have become wealthy without a college degree.

Works Cited

Barber, Michael, et al. "An avalanche is coming." Higher Education and the revolution ahead 73 (2013). Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/files/FINAL%20Embargoed%20Avalanche%20Paper%20130306%20(1).pdf

Carnevale, Anthony P., Nicole Smith, and Jeff Strohl. "Postsecondary education and economic opportunity." Preparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs in Metropolitan (2013): 93-120.

Hall, Jason. Realtymogul Review - Commercial Real Estate Crowdfunding. 2019, https://www.fool.com/millionacres/real-estate-investing/crowdfunding/realtymogul-review-commercial-real-estate-crowdfunding/. Accessed 7 Dec 2019.

Maharg, Paul. "Convergence and fragmentation: legal research, legal informatics, and legal education." (2014). Retrieved from http://ejlt.org/article/view/372

Overholm, Harald. "Collectively created opportunities in emerging ecosystems: The case of solar service ventures." Technovation 39 (2015): 14-25. DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2014.01.008

Zimmermann, Felix, and Kimberly Smith. "More actors, more money, more ideas for international development cooperation." Journal of International development 23.5 (2011): 722-738. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1796