College Education | Financial Stability | Lifestyle

Has My College Education Helped My Life?

I am proud to say I have a BS Degree from Saint Joseph’s College! But…..

Does education help your career? Most people will tell you yes it does.

Heck, I can list person after person who has pursued a subject in school and have gone on to create a nice life from themselves in that profession.

Usually, from my personal research, the ones who are pretty well off financially in the profession they studied are the stereotypical ones, such as Doctors and Lawyers.

I’ll even give you one better, the two-year degree type of schools, the vocational schools such as an Ivy Tech. I can name person after person who has an associates degree in electronics, HVAC, or welding who, at the ripe old age of 25 years old, is making in the six figures a year.

And you know what, they do NOT HAVE STUDENT DEBT!

I can hear it now, “Yeah but, those people are few and far between.” Really, do you think so? How many people do you know, who have the two-year vocational degree? I know quite a few.

Sure, they may not have the fancy offices, or the big houses, or the luxury cars, but they have a nice bank account. Can you say that about people who have a four-year degree?

People, who come out of a four-year college come out with high hopes to make something of themselves, right? I know I did.

Heck, I have a degree in Mathematics! I’m proud of it! I’m proud of my Saint Joseph’s College degree! I brag about it and proudly display it on the wall when I film my youtube videos.

BUT, has it helped me in life? Has my college degree helped me anywhere in life? Has it give me any boost, financially? I can answer that in one word…NOPE!

Am I bitter about it? Not really. Why? Because, after looking back, I never pursued anything which required my degree.

Right out of college, I was offered a position with a finance company. I use the term “finance” because at the time, I didn’t know all that company did was loan money to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back. Which means I was nothing but a bill collector. Which means I qualified for an accounts receivable job.

My next two jobs were just that, accounts receivable. But, those jobs both didn’t pan out, so I was left with waiting tables. Which I did and then became a bartender. Which is fine, and good money. Especially if you know how to work the system and talk to costumers.

Unfortunately, the restaurant closed and no more bartender. Oh sure, I could have gotten a bartending job someplace else, but a friend offered me a job in the mortgage business, which I took.

Again, my degree never came into play.

From there, I moved companies and became a district manager for a mortgage lender. The mortgage collapse happened and I was left standing with only my college degree to help me out.

Well, with the word “mortgage” plastered all over my resume, the “BS in Math” was quite overshadowed. Mortgage folks were thought of a used car salesman at that time and they were a dime a dozen as well.

Thank goodness I became good at talking to people, and also training people in a corporate environment.

Again, my degree never came into play.

I took my training ability and became a Certified Personal Trainer and started an internet company.

Anyway, I started off this storytelling you about people I know who have done well pursuing a profession which goes along with their college degrees.

I can also tell you there are people like me, who have a degree and have never done anything with it.

Does that mean a college degree is bad? Nope. Does that mean a college degree is good? Nope.

It means a college degree is what you make of it. A college degree DOES NOT guarantee you will make a career out of your field of study. You have to PURSUE something in your field of study to utilize that college degree. At least in my case it does.

As I said from the start, I am proud to be an SJC Puma! I’ve developed some life long friends and have some GREAT memories of college!

Would I do it again knowing what I know now? Social wise, absolutely! Financial and Profession wise, nope.

Take this story and apply it to your own profession. Are you doing what you thought you’d be doing? Only you can answer this.

Andrew is the CFO at Top Fitness Strategies and also writes stories in Medium in Business, Family, Lifestyle, Humor and of course, Health and Fitness. Some of his stories are linked below.