Toast your Inbox.
Join the mailing list for notification of new features.
The Industries
Lawsuits
Academic Degree History
A Degree or certificate of successful completion is given typically when one completes a form of higher education, historically known as college or university study but now also known as a 'degree'. A basic degree, AS or Associates is typically a 2 year degree and the easiest way after high school or GED completion in the U.S. but successful completion of high school, or grade 12 is not always required. Associates Degrees often award in Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, or Associate of applied science. They can also be earned in nursing, medical technology and pharmaceutical, and electronics and drafting.4-year degrees, or Bachelors typically take 4 years to complete, except for some of the harder areas or study that may average over 5 years to complete a '4-year' degree in engineering, such as a BSe (engineering). This is generally considered the standard college degree and opens most doors in the U.S. to gainful employment.
Advanced Degrees include Masters, or PHd (doctorate) where most fields of study terminate ina PHd, some only have content through a masters level. a PhD in sciences and engineering can take an additional 3-6 years after successful completion of undergraduate (4-year college) degree is earned. Strangely enough, Advanced degrees do not require successful completion of their topic in the 4-year program to be be considered, attend and complete and advanced terminal degree. for example it could be technically possible to complete a 4-year degree in greenhouse coldframe administration to then go on and complete a doctorate in Mars Teraforming and Rover engineering.
In many parts of the world, 5 years of education is completed before entering the workforce - it is unfortunate that many cultures do not afford the time or money for children to attend school for advanced learning, but are forced to enter the workforce as soon as possible for basic survival. This is particularly problematic for women and girls who are often the most undereducated portion of the population. Many parts of the world have 8 years of education as a luxury and even a 12 year high school degree in the U.S. would be a luxury.
For most first world countries, graduate and advanced degrees are achieved by a significant portion of the population. as of 2012 about 8 percent of the population achieved a Masters Degree (united states). In many professions, the difference between a 4-year bachelors and a masters degree in the same topic is can account for almost 25% wage increase in that field.
Debt in education
Unfortunately - most students and their sponsoring families are unable to pay the high cost of tuition (and other fees) to get a basic or advanced degree. Some are eligible for scholarships (sports, high grades, music, arts,etc) but many take private or public loans to pay for their degrees. In many cases this debt is carried for 5-20 years AFTER a student graduates because government loans are not possible to clear with bankruptcy.
This can be extremely problematic for new graduates as their lifetime earning potential is greatly improved, but it will take years for them to have an income stream to overcome the debt they took on to achieve the degree. As many working professionals progress through their career, they can command a higher salary and only live with a higher disposable income towards the end of their careers which is counter intuitive for many as they are taught becoming a doctor is a road to immediate success but it may not be. The best way to avoid excess Debt is to not pursue a degree based of prestige unless you are in a position to fully take advantage of the social network you are paying for, but instead achieve basic education through the most economical means possible such as in state community college and then transferring to an instate university.
Many are attracted to the the name of a well known institution and want to start there, but there are much less expensive ways to achieve nearly exactly the same thing. Pay attention to the underlying accreditation of the school and program you are enrolled in, particularly to the institution you will get the diploma from. note that in many cases the accreditation is exactly the same as much higher costing institutions and as such the quality of education is often very close. An employer will be attracted to high name Degrees but an astute employer will look a the accreditation and make sure that is sound to recognize the degree when a school is lesser known. for this reason it is recommended to AVOID for profit schools and look for the cheapest recognized accredited institution.
look closely at the accreditation and look for the SAME as a high cost school and not a face made up accrediting. in the case of a community college - the most important thing is that the credits transfer. do your homework and know they will transfer, to where, and how many you can transfer to map our the cheapest (high quality) education possible. This can be a lot of work to map out, almost like you need a college degree to figure it all out, and you will figure it out when you are through the process, but if you focus on this aspect up front and learn it before you FINISH the degree you will save significant money, putting you potentially 5-10 years ahead of the curve in earning potential as you can greatly reduce or avoid debt.
For Profit Schools
For Profit schools should be avoided as they are literally created and exist to take your money. In many cases the accreditation (certification) will NOT be recognized by other schools (institutions) not because they can't read the accreditation, but because it is such a joke it does not count. examples of for profit that you should NOT go to are:
see the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_for-profit_universities_and_colleges and note the number that have CLOSED.
Accreditations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recognized_higher_education_accreditation_organizations
check it out - if it aint recognized, don't screw with it. USDE and CHEA oversees and recognizes many accreditation including Engineering (ABET), Business (ACBPS), Law (ABA), Dental (ADA), Pharmacy, (ACPE), Aviation (AABI), etc.
Affordable community college
look in your state! in many cases credits a year of school can cost $3k instead of $9k it would at a 4 year school! get your first 2 years done at a community college and you save (9-3)=6k per year, 2x6k = $12,000! Now that is a good deal.
1 Coffeyville Community College
2 New Mexico Military Institute
3 South Georgia Technical College
4 Northwest College
5 Mesalands Community College
6 Garden City Community College
7 East Mississippi Community College
8 Independence Community College
9 Southern Regional Technical College
10 Fort Scott Community College
11 Coahoma Community College
12 Cloud County Community College
13 Oconee Fall Line Technical College
14 Chief Dull Knife College
15 Colby Community College
16 Laramie County Community College
17 Arkansas Northeastern College
18 Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas
19 Mid-Plains Community College
20 Eastern Wyoming College
21 Central Wyoming College
22 Itawamba Community College
23 Allen County Community College
24 Hutchinson Community College
25 North Florida Community College
26 Pratt Community College
27 Southwest Mississippi Community College
28 Ogeechee Technical College
29 East Central Community College
30 Dodge City Community College
31 Cochise County Community College District
32 Porterville College
33 Atlanta Technical College
34 Albany Technical College
35 Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas
36 Southeastern Technical College
37 Athens Technical College
38 Copiah-Lincoln Community College
39 Arkansas State University-Newport
40 Imperial Valley College
41 Olney Central College
42 Oxnard College
43 Northeast Mississippi Community College
44 Central Community College
45 Cleveland Community College
46 Salina Area Technical College
47 Holmes Community College
48 Northeast Alabama Community College
49 Neosho County Community College
50 Mississippi Delta Community College