Career, Education, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, Success

008: Five Steps to Make Sure Your College Education Pays [PODCAST]

by Dale Callahan | Apr 30, 2013 | 2 comments

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NOTE: Part of the audio got cut off of this podcast. We will redo this to be released on July 2, 2013 in Episode 016.

Make sure your college education pays. College education is the second largest investment most people ever make, and yet many make very poor choices. If you have ever listened to Dave Ramsey on the radio for over an hour, you will hear at least one person call in who is trapped by the debt of their education.

Photo courtesy of Flicker/CreativeCommons [/featured-image]

While education is very important, most of us have a limited view of how to get an education and how to make it pay. In this podcast I cover five steps to help you guarantee your investment returns with true monetary value.

Five Steps to Guarantee Your College Investment Pays (as covered in this podcast)

1. How to define your education goal.

2. How to research your increase in value.

3. How to do a reverse interview to learn the right path to take for education.

4. What are those alternative ways to get the needed education?

5. How to calculate your Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI = (increase in salary over period – cost of degree) / cost of degree

Example 1:
Working with $25k / year income

Engineering degree pays $60k – increase of $35k / year
Cost of degree $30k

2 year ROI = ($35k*2 – $30k) / $30k = 40k/30k = 133%

Example 2:

Working with $25k / yr income

English Degree pays $35k
Cost of degree $40K

2 year ROI = ($20k – 40k) / $40k = NEGATIVE

LAST POINT – do not borrow money for education!

Education Money and Debt – Key LInks

Tools and notes from show

Verse of the day/Thought – Proverbs 16:16 ESV “How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”

Tools

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If you have suggestions for a podcast you would like to hear or a question about an upcoming episode, e-mail me.

Also, if you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out! Thanks.

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Dale Callahan

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2 Comments

Dale Callahan on May 1, 2013 at 3:46 PM

Posting a comment someone sent by email since I thought it had interesting points!

“I always enjoy your emails and the information that you share. I attended the Central MS PMI Chapter meeting where you spoke a couple of months ago. Since that time, I have shared your articles and purchased your resumes book for my two sons who are in undergrad and grad school.

I do want to offer up a “real life” comment on the college education article below however. I understand that it is based on studies performed by respectable groups, institutions, etc. but one thing that always shows up in these articles is that the benefit of a degree in English is minimized. I know from over 30 years in the management consulting business that one of the most effective and career-enhancing degrees is in English. Why? Because a “good” English graduate can read, comprehend, summarize, analyze, research, and most importantly communicate verbally and in writing. They have strong powers of association and a keen grasp of the English language. In our firm, we are comfortable sending our English graduates into most situations because as consultants we generally are hired to solve problems or improve processes. The skill set that comes with an English degree is an excellent fit. And, the pay scale is much greater than the typical English teacher salary which is what I assume those surveys are using.

This observation is not a new one – I remember when I graduated from college, English majors were sought after more than political science majors for law school for those very same reasons.

I just wanted to share my comments and thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. Thanks,”
Anuj Kumar on May 19, 2014 at 1:26 AM

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