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Career Prestige.

Higher Income.

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by Becton Loveless

Earning a college degree is such an important step in life that it has become a central part of the "American Dream". Go to college, get a job, buy a house, raise a family. It may not always be that simple, but it all starts with your college education.

Earning a college degree is all about opening up opportunities in life. It prepares you, both intellectually and socially, for your career and your adult life. The benefits of a college education include career opportunities like better paying and higher skilled jobs, but studies have shown that it also leads to overall happiness and stability.

Many people know that they want to attend college, but don't know exactly why, or how it will enrich their lives. Below are some of the many benefits of earning a college degree.

1. Make More Money

For most people, the ability to earn more money is the driving force behind going to college. A post-secondary degree, whether it is a bachelor's, master's or PhD, is the most common route to careers that demand higher skills and offer higher pay.

Studies show that college graduates earn significantly more money throughout their lifetime than those with only high school education.

According to a national report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (sheeo.org), high school graduates earn an average of almost $30,000 per year. Bachelor's graduates earn an average of just over $50,000 a year. And those with a higher level degree (master's, doctorate or professional) average nearly $70,000 per year. This translates to a significant earnings gap over the course of one's life.

Earnings potential varies depending on what field you work in. For example, a master's degree in education or nursing won't lead to nearly as much wealth as a master's degree in engineering or business. But education and nursing are far and away the most in-demand professions out there. If you enter one of these fields, you're likely to find a good job somewhere - even if it doesn't pay as well a job in engineering or business.

There is still an income disparity in gender and race. White males tend to make more money than their non-white-male counterparts. But relative to all gender and racial demographics, earnings potential still increases dramatically with a college degree.

2. Benefits for You and Your Family

Obviously, higher income is a primary benefit of earning your college degree. But most jobs that require a bachelor's, master's, doctoral or professional degree tend to also provide more benefits. This can include health care, retirement investment, travel and other perks. These types of benefits are rarely offered for high-school-level jobs.

Part of the reason employment benefits are so important is because they offer stability for your family, especially in the case of health care. They are called benefits, but in reality, they are a vital part of anyone's salary. In some cases, the value of benefits even exceeds an employee's take-home pay.

The benefits of a college education also extend beyond generations. Families of college graduates are generally better off economically and socially. But it is also more likely that the next generation of children will attend college. So you can look at it as an investment in the future of your family.

3. Better Career Opportunities

Earning a college degree is the most common pathway to a better career. Entering college, not everyone knows what they want to do when they grow up. But most know they want to have a better job-not only one that will pay more, but one in which they are more satisfied and secure. That combination of benefits is why so many people make the investment of time and money to go to college.

Oftentimes it's not necessarily what you study, but the fact that you studied something at all. Aside from training you in an expert field, college trains you to think analytically, understand complex subjects and communicate your own critical ideas about them. It also instills crucial skills like organization, self-discipline and the ability to complete tasks from start to finish. In other words, college helps mold you into a more professional individual.

Because college gives you a broad range of skills, many college graduates end up in fields that are not what they studied in school. College can open up unexpected opportunities that aren't always there for those who haven't engaged in a higher level of education.

In today's economy, employment options are shrinking for people who only have a high school diploma. A large majority of high school graduates work in the service industry, in low paying jobs that don't offer many opportunities for advancement. College graduates, on the other hand, tend to have skills that qualify them for a broad range of employment in fields that offer more upward mobility.

4. Job Security and Satisfaction

Having a post-secondary degree typically leads to better job security. Let's face it: if you don't have a degree, you're probably not as valuable to your employer. When push comes to shove it will be much easier to replace you with someone else who only completed high school.

In fact, an educated staff is so important to some companies that they will even pay for employees' tuition. This is how valuable a college degree can be. It is seen as an investment that will bring substantial rewards, not only to the employee, but to the company as well.

Data shows that in an economic recession, college graduates are less vulnerable to layoffs. The people who suffer the most from job cuts are lower level employees who only have high school diplomas. There are no guarantees, but if you have a college degree you will be less likely to suffer long-term unemployment.

As a college graduate, it is also more likely that you will enjoy your job. All the factors listed above-higher income, employment benefits and advancement opportunities-lead to better job satisfaction. But a college degree also gives you more freedom to pursue a career that interests you, maybe even inspires you.

5. An Investment in Your Future

Attending college is a major commitment of time and money, but it is also a down payment on success. Earning your college degree will help you realize your goals in your career as well as life in general. It requires a lot of hard work, but that work prepares you for a challenging and rewarding career and a more fruitful life.

6. Networking

It's quite easy to think of the benefits of a college degree in terms of future earnings and promotion opportunities. However, what's spoken of less frequently is the role that networking can play in these opportunities. People often get jobs based on recommendations made by my friends, while in other cases, having a professional network can help people learn about upcoming job opportunities before others do. The truth is that creating a professional network can mean the difference between finding a job or getting a promotion, and those networks start forming in college.

On your way to a degree, you can either passively sit through courses before leaving for the day or become active with your fellow students. Colleges are filled with volunteer organizations and professional societies where you can meet others who are in your field. Through these contacts, you may learn about opportunities while you're still in school. This might include internship opportunities and other chances to get real world experience that will look good on your resume.

These same contacts may be able to link you to resources that will help you better understand your field. By connecting with these people, you can more quickly learn about your field while you're in school. They may provide access to resources that include books or even professionals that you can talk to who can help you learn more about the industry you hope to enter.

Of course, the most helpful aspect of making these connections is likely the recommendations they will make to their employers on their behalf. It's not uncommon in businesses for managers to first look internally for potential hires. Your professional contacts may be able to suggest you as a recommendation when businesses start hiring, giving you an advantage when it comes to being hired by a company in your field.

7. Personal Development

A college degree is helpful for many practical reasons, ranging from your increased competitiveness to the increased likeliness that you'll be promoted within your job. However, people underestimate the degree of personal growth that they'll experience as they're working through their degree. A college education requires students to overcome all types of adversity and prepares them not only for the workplace, but for dealing with many of life's challenges.

Time management and organization, for example, are just two examples of the skills that you're likely to pick up during your time in college. Both are needed to successfully navigate the many courses you'll be taken while also successfully tackling the tasks before you. Test, quiz, and homework dates can all become confusing when you're dealing with multiple classes. Good organization can help you manage all of your responsibilities, and it's a skill that will be useful once you have your degree. Not only is it useful in the workplace, but it can help you manage your personal responsibilities at home. Even simple tasks like bill payments are made easier when you can properly track what is due and when.

Of course, on a larger level, the sort of personal development you'll experience will largely be related to overcoming adversity. College requires that you overcome one challenge after another, ranging from financial responsibilities to passing tests or completing projects. You'll need to be not only intelligent but disciplined in order to complete your schooling. These traits are often developed slowly throughout college. As you learn how to better respond to stress and adversity, you'll slowly find that you're better able to deal with adversity in a number of situations.

8. Higher Likeliness of High Quality Benefits

As the economy improves, companies find it harder and harder to attract top talent. The reason why is that, as the economy improves, businesses need to hire more. That puts highly qualified employees in high demand. In turn, these employees are more easily able to say no to one company in favor of another.

This is especially true with a college degree, which prepares employees with a number of skills that make them more highly qualified. The more highly qualified, the more likeliness that they'll be in high demand. To lure these kinds of employees, businesses will often try to lure them incentives other than just good pay. These incentives include benefits packages that include more vacation time and better healthcare options.

One of the best parts of getting your college degree is the access it gives you to high quality benefits and perks. Employers will often offer to cover more healthcare costs or offer more vacation time to lure highly qualified employees. In other cases, they may offer better retirement investment options that will make life after retirement easier. These kinds of packages take some of the responsibility for saving for a rainy day off of the shoulders of these employees.

Individuals with a college degree are more often economically well off not only because they're paid better but because they have to worry less about sinking the majority of their money into healthcare or retirement funds. For many people, this paves the way for more easily preparing for a family and saving for a child's college. Even for people who don't plan to have families, the savings from better benefits packages makes it easier for them to save money for personal enjoyment, like traveling or investing into a hobby.

Some College Majors Promise Better Future Than Others

A degree in art might not lead to a career with a six figure salary but where would society be if everyone became an engineer. We need artists too, don't we? Does it really matter what college major you pursue? Well, a lot of people didn't think so until recently. Due to falling post-graduate employment numbers and rising cost of tuition, many people are beginning to rethink the value of certain majors and degree programs. Many researchers are now investigating which majors provide a decent return on investment and which don't. Not surprisingly, you could probably guess what researchers have discovered.

Without fail, students who major in STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and math - find jobs quicker, earn more money, and experience more job stability than students who earn degrees in liberal arts and humanities fields. In a tight job market, or during a recession, recent graduates with degrees in social sciences, humanities or liberal arts can find it challenging to find gainful employment.

While the answer to the dilemma seems very straight forward to most - earn a degree in a field with high earning potential - some argue that the answer isn't so simple. A few educators at Oregon State University, suggest that forcing people into a major, such as computer science, simply because it yields a relatively high financial return on investment may create shortages in occupation that are just as important to the economic future of our country. These same educators also assert that it's not fair to compare STEM majors head to head with more non-technical majors because students interested in degrees in the social sciences, humanities or liberal arts might be looking for personal rewards that are not financial in nature.

The reality is, not all degrees are equal. But you may be surprised to find how valuable different degrees actually are. A recent report published by the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI), a leading public policy program at Georgetown University, found majors yielding some of the lowest unemployment rates are chemistry, finance and nursing. While recent graduates of engineering, mathematics, and computer science programs demanded the highest starting salaries ($56,000+), unemployment rates in these job sectors were about average. It came as no surprise that anthropology, photography and film majors experienced some of the highest rates of unemployment just out of college, however, the report also showed that students who majored in architecture and information systems also experienced relatively high unemployment rates as well. Students who majored in fine arts have some of the lowest starting salaries of any group.

A study produced by the Employment Department for the state of Oregon corroborated the findings published by GPPI - job opportunities for nursing, engineering and computer science majors were substantially greater than those who majored in architecture, arts, and related fields.

Notwithstanding all the evidence, a tough job market, and the increasing cost of attending college, hoards of students are still enrolling in social science, humanities and liberal arts majors. In some states the number of students enrolled in social science, fine arts or humanities majors outnumbers students majoring in STEM fields 10 to 1.

Proponents of non-STEM majors argue that a good liberal arts education develops well-rounded students that can succeed in any number of jobs. Proponents of STEM majors point out that many students opt for liberal arts majors because they are not as difficult and require less work to get good grades. However, all agree that acquiring leadership, communication, analytical and problems solving skills in college is what's most important to future success - regardless of how it occurs.

Whichever educational path students choose to pursue, one thing is clear, they must be better prepared to face an increasingly competitive job market and turn their college education into a winning proposition.

Read also:
- Return on Investment (ROI) by Education Level
- The Value of a College or University Degree
- Are For-Profit Colleges Worth the Money?

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Explore the many benefits of earning a college degree, including higher pay, job security and better career opportunities.

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Are more open to new ideas.

Make wiser long-term investments.

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For just a second, forget about all of the other benefits of college, such as the potential for higher earning power and getting to have four (give or take) years of semi-supervised fun before entering "the real world." For now, just focus on the most basic (yet arguably the most important) benefit of college - the intellectual benefits. Indeed, when it comes down to it, this is why you attend college: to be able to learn more, think deeper, be tested, and find your passion.

Let's break down the intellectual benefits of college:

Learn More. At its most basic, college provides the opportunity to learn. Not only to learn about subjects with which you're already familiar, but also about topics that you've never heard of before, let alone studied. This will enhance your knowledge and increasingly mold you into a well-rounded member of society.

Think Deeper. College coursework will challenge you in ways that your high school classes did not. Your professors will have you thinking in ways you may have never thought before. Even if you studied a particular subject in high school, you'll be going into much more depth and detail in college. In doing so, your ability to read demanding works of literature and grasp complex, abstract concepts will increase - you'll gain the capacity to think deeper.

Be Tested. This doesn't mean the literal act of taking tests (though you'll be doing plenty of that in college). In college, your professors and peers will test your preconceived notions about the world and the way you think about things. In this way, college acts as an aid to reflection, which can help you broaden your horizons and mindset.

Find Your Passion. Perhaps the most important intellectual benefit, college enables you to find your passion. It is an exploratory time for you, in the words of Andrew Delbanco*, to "take stock of [your] talents and passions and begin to sort [your life] in a way that is true to [yourself] and responsible to others." Perhaps you already know what you want to do with your life, but for the majority of students, college provides the opportunity to explore, check out your options and find the thing (or things) that you care about most. College can help you find your purpose. For more on Andrew Delbanco, check out his entitled, "College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be".

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Intellectual Benefits of College - Set to Go: A JED Program

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For just a second, forget about all of the other benefits of college, such as the potential for higher earning power and getting to have four (give or take) years of semi-supervised fun before entering "the real world." For now, just focus on the most basic (yet arguably the most important) benefit of college - [...]

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More social self-confidence.

Better leadership skills

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It's a right of passage for most any 18-year-old. By the time you're in your senior year of high school, you've probably already applied to the college of your choice, and summer begins the countdown of your first taste of independence. What you'll find in the fall is that there are many social & emotional benefits of college.

More Health Conscious

Did you know that college graduates exercise more and that fewer of them smoke? By increasing their brain power, students increase emotional development. Because of this, students develop the capacity to make better choices in the long run. Even if you are not majoring in a health-related program, they have learned to make a responsible decision about the health of their body and mind. College will support student ability to evaluate long-term goals. Yes, college students are known for their partying, but come graduation, their social and emotional learning has peaked, setting the stage for the next phase of their lives. They are more equipped to appreciate the value of healthy eating, exercise, and saying no to cigarettes and drugs.

Increased Self Esteem

Even the high school student with the lowest self confidence graduates college with increased self-esteem. Why? Because the school climate in college promotes academic, social, and emotional growth. Social interaction is the key to survival when they're away from their parents for the first time. This allows them to learn effective social skills that, once mastered, opens up a whole new world. The social and emotional learning (SEL) that students get from college is priceless. American Institutes for Research show that students engaged in SEL programs before college have an easier time in college and in the job market; but for those who have not been enrolled in that type of learning program in elementary school, college provides a natural education through social interaction. The effort is collaborative for academic and social behavior.

Increased Self Awareness

Self awareness is another long term benefit of being enrolled in a college education program. Suddenly, a student is on their own and their emotional development blossoms. Students develop a better sense of who they are, and when faced with a choice, will make the responsible decision. Effective SEL can start in elementary school, but often doesn't. Typically, social and emotional learning begin to take places when they are forced to take care of themselves. College is a great learning program to support student development. This is a middle ground between being taken care of by their parents but quite being out on their own. This is where self awareness develops, and this helps the student mature and develop into the adult they are meant to become.

Gain Independence

In the long run, independence is one of the most important things to learn. Being dependent on someone or something does not allow for personal growth, and holds you back. College provides students with the social interaction they need to feel confident on their own. Discerning the difference between friendships versus individuality in high school is exceptionally difficult for young students. When they learn they can do things on their own, and can also develop a network of people to support them when needed, they grow by leaps and bounds. Students engaged in academic social and emotional learning in SEL programs at a young age have a huge advantage. However, the American Institutes for Research reveal that there is a collaborative for academic social growth when combined with going to college. Even those without the early learning develop a strong sense of self, independence, and emotional and social growth from the school climate in college.

Become Worldly

Students who go to college become more worldly. They may not have even left their home country, but being immersed in a school climate, filled with students from different places across the globe, enriches emotional development. In the long run, being worldly provides students with effective social skills that will serve them well in the work force. Social interaction with students from other cities and other countries. Students develop curiosity about different cultures, which increases their social and emotional learning. Living in dorm rooms with people different from themselves will support student enrichment long term. Over time, and throughout life, college graduates will be able to make a responsible decision when it really matters, whether it's about jobs, promotions, spouses, finances, and more.

Good at People Reading

Another academic social and emotional benefit of college is the increased ability to read people. Students engaged in an education program of higher learning are bound to interact with a diverse group of other students. This type of SEL has been documented by the American Institutes of Research. Some states offer SEL programs in elementary school, providing a collaborative for academic social learning which carries through life. The ability to read people helps significantly in all aspects of life, such as interviewing, managing, dating, and more. SEL is a learning programming that can be taught or absorbed through being in the right environment. College is proving to be that environment, producing intellectually smart adults who are also socially and emotionally intelligent.

Gain Networking Skills

College is a person's first real stab at networking. Most students go through elementary school and high school with the same kids, and even if they've moved or went to a new high school, the networking is minimal due to the structure of classes and school climate. College friendships versus high schools friendships are much more layered and complex. In high school, social interaction is limited to lunch and in the hallways between classes, which can stifle emotional development. In college however, students develop social and emotional learning through networking with fellow students in dorms, study halls, cafeterias, libraries, and more. Sometimes there is a couple of hours between classes, depending on class scheduling. This is where academic, social, and emotional education comes into play. It's not in the classroom, but rather on campus. Students engaged in networking can make connections that last for a lifetime.

Master Making a Good First Impression

They say the first impression is the most important. College provides students with long term skills in making the best first impression through trial and error. While students are enrolled in an education program that fosters learning a certain profession, in the long run they are learning effective social skills for making responsible decisions toward how they will make that first impression. Social and motional learning takes place as the mind matures, using its environment as its learning programming. Unlike SEL programs, where social and emotional learning are taught in class to support student growth, there's more of a collaboration for academic and social learning in college.

Aim to Change the World

Emotional development leads to empathy. While we are all born with empathy, it can take a seat on the back burner as other emotions take precedence. Students can be self serving at a young age until they are enrolled in an education program that provides them with the tools they need to excel in social interactions. Students engaged in SEL programs in elementary school learn effective social skills that put them ahead of their peers. This classroom approach of learning programming with academic, social, and emotional instruction can be hugely beneficial, but just by being in college, students are engaged in social and emotional learning without even realizing it. Those who have experienced social and emotional learning are the ones who are concerned with changing the world. Suddenly, their focus shifts off themselves and onto others as a whole.

Experience Greater Job Satisfaction

In the long run, college graduates experience reaching greater satisfaction in life when obtaining the career they are most passionate about. While a degree increases the chances of getting hired for career jobs, having solid social skills serves you better. Getting the job is half the battle. Being able to keep the job is what matters more, and that's all about being emotionally and socially educated. The school climate in college fosters that development, and allows for students to make the responsible decision during crucial times. College students develop an innate ability to read their bosses, peers, and subordinates to help them better navigate the workforce long term. In that way, they can write their own ticket as to which jobs they get, which promotions they get, how long they stay at a job, and so on.

Respect Tradition

For most college students, they are following tradition, easily one of the biggest social & emotional benefits of college. Their parents went to college and set a good example for them to want to pursue higher education. Parents who support student growth offer a collaborative for academic social and emotional learning by encouraging college enrollment. The American Institutes for Research are highly aligned with the importance of social and emotional education, whether in the classroom or through social interaction, such as at college. When a student makes the responsible decision to go to college, they are setting the groundwork for their own children to emulate them in pursuit of higher learning and a higher standard of life. In the long run, that's what it's all about. Living the life that makes you the happiest.

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It's a right of passage for most any 18-year-old. By the time you're in your senior year of high school, you've probably already applied to the college of your choice, and summer begins the countdown of your first taste of independence. What you'll find in the fall is that there are many social & emotional benefits of college.

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4.Higher Quality of Life for Their Children

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4.Higher Quality of Life for Their Children

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Provide better health care for their children.

Spend more time with their children.

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When a parent walks onto the stage on graduation day, she is not walking alone. She brings her children along - whether they join her on stage or not. As she reaches for her degree she is also reaching for better employment, higher earnings, and greater stability for her family. In helping children escape the harms of poverty, nothing is more effective than supporting their parents' college success.

Higher Education is the Pathway out of Poverty

A college degree has a major impact on a family's economic stability, particularly for families headed by women. College graduates are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to find new employment than those without college degrees. College graduates are also more likely to have a pension and health insurance, thus avoiding public programs. Over the course of a lifetime of work, women with a baccalaureate degree will earn over $800,000 more than those with only a high school diploma; community college degree holders will earn at least $400,000 more.

Recent research confirms, however, that a child born into a poor family is six times less likely to earn a college degree than one born into a higher-income family. And while close to half of those who do not graduate from college remain poor - of the poor children who attain a degree, only 10% remain poor.

The positive impact of a parent's college education on their child's social and economic mobility is particularly pronounced among families in the bottom fifth of the economic spectrum. When a child from this group is young, a $3,000 difference in their parents' annual income is associated with a 17% increase in the child's future earnings. A relatively small increase in household income has significant and lasting impact on a child's life. A college degree can help boost a parent's earnings today and trigger the associated increase in their child's earnings for the future.

Do Childhood Outcomes Correlate with Parents' College Education?

Research confirms that the most important factor in predicting a child's educational attainment is how far in school their parents progressed. Children from families with a college graduate fare much better than children from families without. Numerous studies conclude that "one of the most powerful - and disturbing - trends in American higher education is the tendency of educational attainment to reproduce itself, with the children of those who graduated from college much more likely to graduate themselves than those whose parents did not."

The Education Longitudinal Study began tracking a cohort of 15,000 U.S. high school sophomores in 2002 to follow their academic achievement, college entry, work history, and college graduation. Thirteen years later, just 14% of the participants from low-income families had earned a bachelor's degree, while 60% of those from higher-income families had earned a bachelor's degree.

A recent poll found that the choices young people make as they complete high school resonate throughout their lives. Parental education level shapes these key expectations and experiences: 76% of those with two college educated parents entered a two- or four-year college immediately after high school, double the 37% of those from no-degree families. In the end, 55% of all children from two-degree families obtained a college or postgraduate degree, as compared with just 23% of children from no-degree families.

European researchers have shown that the positive effects of parental education can be seen as early as age 4 and persist through graduation. Comparing the effects of parental education, socio-economic status, and income over the life course, the same researchers confirm that parental education matters, with maternal education having its strongest effect in early childhood, especially on cognitive development and the associated long-term benefits.

A University of Michigan study revealed that higher levels of parental education led to higher levels of educational aspirations or educational attainment in adolescence, and subsequently, to higher educational attainment or more advanced occupational status in adulthood. The study suggests that the beneficial effects of parental education are not limited to academic achievement but have long-term implications for positive outcomes into middle adulthood.

Parents who completed or are obtaining a college degree are essential role models for their children. They provide a higher bar for their children's aspirations, the confidence and encouragement their children need to pursue a college education, and the knowledge required to navigate the college application processes. Furthermore, college educated parents are also better equipped to help their children build vocabularies, complete their homework, study for tests, and advocate for themselves in school. Children with this kind of parental support are also strongly incentivized to seek advancement for themselves.

What Does It Take to Support Parents in College?

A college education is the surest pathway out of poverty, especially as most new jobs require that applicants have a college degree just to get in the door. Many low-income parents understand this and take on the responsibility of college on top of work and family. Yet, research has found that more than half of the parents who enter college leave without completing their degree. Given the profound gains that come with parents' college success, how can the community support parents in college?

Low-income parents are juggling work, children's needs, and college. Support for these families is essential for family stability, and should include extensions of childcare subsidies; family income supplements to ensure adequate nutrition, heat, housing and transportation; work-study funds; and on-campus mentors. Helping parents in college is a "cost-effective strategy for raising the educational attainment of two generations simultaneously, while narrowing educational disparities."

When young people watch their parents cross the stage and take hold of a college degree, they see their future. What could be more valuable than making sure that day arrives?

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Helping Parents Get a College Education Helps Children Succeed

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When a parent walks onto the stage on graduation day, she is not walking alone. She brings her children along - whether they join her on stage or not. As she reaches for her degree she is also reaching for better employment, higher earnings, and greater stability for her family.

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More likely to have health insurance and better (more comprehensive) health insurance coverage.

Live longer and healthier lives.

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It's commonly accepted that those who go to college tend to enjoy benefits over those who don't, and the statistics back it up.

College graduates earn an annual average of over $20,000 more than high school graduates, and over the course of their lifetimes, it adds up to over $1 million. Those with associate degrees fare better, too, earning $325,000 more than those who finished just high school.
"Researchers found that earning a college degree before other major life events decreases the likelihood that you'll become obese."
But a recent study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior revealed that the benefits aren't merely financial - young adults who earn a college degree enjoy some surprising health benefits, too.

After analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a survey that followed close to 14,000 people between 11-19 years of age from 1995 to 2008, researchers found that earning a college degree before other major life events decreases the likelihood that you'll become obese.

Getting married before finishing college was linked to a 50% greater probability of becoming obese, and for some, parenthood before college completion doubles the probability of becoming obese.
The Hidden Benefits of a College Education (INFOGRAPHIC)
Other surprising health benefits linked to completing college include:

Longer Lifespan. Those with a bachelor's degree or higher live about 9 years longer than those who don't finish high school.

Better Exercise Habits. More than two-thirds of college graduates are more likely to exercise vigorously at least once a week compared to 40% of high school graduates.

Not Smoking. Only about 8% of bachelor's degree-holders smoke, versus 31% of high school grads/non-graduates.

Healthier Children. Households where parents have a bachelor's degree or higher are less likely to have obese children.

So what's with these differences? A number of factors might play a role.

College is a great place to develop life skills, including how to manage time and solve problems, allowing people to establish lifelong healthy diet and exercise habits. College grads also have better access to healthcare for themselves and their families through their employment, and they tend to have more income to allow for things like childcare and gym memberships. And by earning a degree before marriage and parenthood, they're better prepared to overcome the various challenges that come with these responsibilities.

The growing cost of education and other life circumstances can make it hard to complete your education - only about 40% of college students graduate with at least a 2-year degree.

But if you've been looking for that extra push to get you to the finish line or even just back in the race for your degree, this is some great motivation. Not only will it help you advance your career, it will improve your quality of life!
David H. Rahm, M.D. is the founder and medical director of The Wellness Center, a medical clinic located in Long Beach, CA. Dr. Rahm is also president and medical director of VitaMedica. Dr. Rahm is one of a select group of conventional medical doctors who have education and expertise in functional medicine and nutritional science. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Rahm has published articles in the plastic surgery literature and educated physicians about the importance of good peri-operative nutrition.

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5 Ways Finishing College Benefits Your Health | VitaMedica

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It's commonly accepted that those who go to college tend to enjoy benefits over those who don't, and the statistics back it up. College graduates earn an annual average of over $20,000 more than high school graduates, and over the course of their lifetimes, it adds up to over $1 million.

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Greater sense of self-efficacy—the belief that they can influence or control the outcomes of their lives.

Higher levels of psychological well-being and mental health.

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Greater knowledge of current events.

Higher voting participation rates.