“I’d love to, but I just don’t have the time.” It’s a common reason we give for bailing on events, and sometimes that’s fine. There are only a certain amount of hours in the day, and it’s up to us to decide how we want to use them. If we want to stay at home and relax rather than go out and have drinks with friends, that’s our right. It’s healthy to say no sometimes. It’s less healthy, however, to never even try something we really want because we’re convinced there’s no way it will work. It’s not always a matter of time; sometimes, it’s a matter of goals that seem to conflict with each other. Many people feel like they want to change careers or get a better education, but they believe that there’s simply no way they can do that and continue to live the life they’ve gotten used to living. It takes some creativity, but we often have more choices than we realize.
The New Era of Education
Did you go to college when you were eighteen, or did you go right to work at a full-time job as soon as you graduated high school? For many people, the latter option was the only realistic one, as not everyone has enough money to go live in a dorm or even attend classes at the local community college. It may seem like everyone but you has a college degree, but that’s not the case. There’s a much higher percentage of people without a bachelor’s degree in America. In fact, only about 40 percent of Americans even have an associate’s degree, which typically takes about two years to complete (a bachelor’s degree typically takes four or five years). Many people associate college with debt, and they cannot afford to go without an income while building a balance of money owed.
But this is the year 2018. You can go to college without quitting your day job. It will be stressful to work 40 hours a week or so and go to college, but for many people, it’s still much less stressful than quitting their job to become a full-time student. Having a new entry under the “Education” line of your resume is great, but it’s not as great if it means leaving the workforce entirely for two, three, or even four years. If you decide to go back to school while continuing to work, you should know that you’re not alone: One study found that nearly 40 percent of undergraduates and 76 percent of graduate students put in at least 30 hours a week of work.
Finding Reputable Schools
Be careful, though: The rise in the number of schools offering online classes has also coincided with a rise in the number of scammy diploma mills that want to take your money without offering much, if any, value in return. If you’re interested in furthering your business education, look for an affordable online MBA from a reputable school like the University of South Dakota. Schools that exist only online still aren’t regarded nearly as strongly as brick-and-mortar institutions that have been around for several decades. Schools with that kind of track record know how to educate students and they have a strong base of successful alumni to prove it. Good schools will be happy to answer your questions. They’ll want to be as transparent as possible, because they know they can stand up to scrutiny. Sure, all schools need money to survive, but there’s a big difference between a not-for-profit university and a school that exists primarily to pick your pocket.
