8 Reasons To Return To Education: Image Credit

You might have always joked about the fact that your degree has come from the university of life. But you may well have always intended to go on to further your education. Life can take us down paths that we would never have envisaged. Sometimes things happen that get in the way of your life goals. 

It might be that you ended up starting a family or needed to work. Careers and families can be quite consuming, and before you know it, the years have flown by. 

All of this can leave you feeling as though you’ve not made everything of yourself than you could. Regrets like these can get you down over time. However, it’s always better to think about the great things that you have done with your life, instead of focusing on things that you haven’t done. That being said, it is never too late to go back and study. Some people enjoy being in education for their entire lives, with some even obtaining degrees well into their nineties. 

It’s getting much easier to go and get the degree that you want to

With the rise of distance learning, it has really levelled the playing field and created an opportunity for everyone to study, regardless of your background, location, age, or financial situation. 

Many institutions, like Rutgers online, offer the flexibility to work your studies around your life, which means that you can keep your job, or work around your family time. 

There have never been so many courses on offer.  There is now every conceivable subject area being open to study in one institution or another. If there’s something that you’ve always wanted to study or a career path you’ve always wanted to take; you should definitely be looking at your available options. 

If you’re not sure what to study, some universities offer the option to mix elements of different subjects to build a course that suits your needs. Looking at combined courses, or major and minor options for your studies might be a good route for you to take. 

You’ll benefit greatly from returning to studies, across a number of areas in your life. 

A New Outlook On Life

Going to university can give you an excellent opportunity to network with other students and lecturers. You’ll interact with people from all kinds of professional fields, some of whom might have a great deal of experience. You’ll expose yourself to lots of concepts that you’ll have never experienced. It can be a very exciting time. 

Universities are full of societies and groups that really enhance the learning experience. Some of them might add an extra level of depth to the subject you’re studying, while others might be more for fun and relaxation. 

Hand-in-hand with the educational aspect of university life, there is often a large amount of research work being undertaken by academic staff. These will be into new areas of thinking, and there might be an opportunity for students to get involved and support these projects. They look great on your resume and give you a professional experience that you can take lots of transferable skills from. 

Networking Opportunities

You’ll get to meet students and tutors from your own subject areas, and from other facilities. You can work together and support each other. Many of the people that you study with will go on to follow career paths that might run in parallel with yours. Building these connections with your fellow students now might serve you well for the future. 

Your tutors might have professional connections that you’ll be able to take advantage of as you progress through your career. Impressing them with your commitment and ability to push yourself might serve you well in the long term.

More Confidence

The sense of achievement you’ll receive from studying for a degree is enormous. You’ll always have your degree, and getting it is something to be very proud of. Pride and self-worth will make you feel positive about yourself.

Degrees teach you to learn for yourself. While you were in school, your education might have been quite prescriptive, and you may have found lessons were taught parrot-fashion. The teaching styles found in higher education institutions can be very different. The focus will be on developing your skills in researching and analysis of information. Much of your learning will be quite self-directed with tutors on hand to help. You’ll build self-esteem and confidence through doing these things for yourself, and you’ll be able to see all of the ways in which you’ve developed. 

Increased Career Options

For many people, the motivation for going to university can be centred around changing careers or allowing themselves the opportunity to progress in the profession that they are in. 

Some jobs require you to have a degree in a certain subject, and as such, are essential if that’s the area or job role that you want to be in. 

Increased Employability

In general, though, degrees look great on your resume. They demonstrate lots of great things about you as a person, these range from being able to take in and process lots of in-depth information. Getting a degree takes a lot of work, and commitment on your part and this is very desirable to potential employers. 

Better Earning Potential

If you’ve got a degree, you have an increased level of expertise and knowledge that you can take to an employer. If your degree provides you with enough of a difference between you, and someone without the qualification, and the company will benefit financially from you being there; then you should expect to be rewarded with a higher salary. 

With most degrees costing you money, you’ll want to see a return on your investment over time. It is not unprecedented for you to request more pay if your degree is of relevance and benefit. 

Learning Can Be Fun

Education is a lifelong pursuit. Many people do it just for fun. While you might not have had a great experience of learning in your younger years; it is probably not a far stretch to assume that you’re not alone in feeling this way. But the teaching styles or the subject areas might just have been wrong for you. Schools can be unhappy places for many other reasons too, and they can leave you feeling disenfranchised from learning. 

But when you have a subject that you enjoy, and the tools at your disposal to fuel or passion and gain from it, then you’ll find a new love of learning. You never know, you might catch the bug and will never want to stop. 

Be On The Cutting Edge

The world is ever-evolving, and much of the development in all fields happens in universities. Getting onto a course will mean that you’ll be exposed to lots of things that are not yet mainstream in society or technology. 

Taking your education further, by doing a master’s or doctorate can mean that you will get the opportunity to become that cutting edge. You’ll be doing research into areas that nobody else has, and you’ll be progressing your field in ways you might never have dreamt were possible prior to starting your degree. 

There really has never been a better time to start studying. The subject diversity is like never before. The opportunities are there to make your studies fit around the life that you currently have. There is enough support available from higher education institutions to help people in any situation to meet their learning potential.