Higher Education Has Global Implications Making It A Priority For The Future
If you think that going back to school and earning a degree helps you to make more money, you're right. The effects, however, extend beyond your personal wealth potential and that of your family. By making yourself more employable and more marketable, you can boost workforce productivity and the economy. President Barack Obama has been encouraging Americans to obtain college or university degrees at a time when the economy also is also becoming more global. As some research into free education information will show, the implications are huge.
According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the national borders between nations vanish in a global economy, with services, products and workers transcending them. For example, a company in the United States might establish a branch overseas, sending Americans to work there, as well as hiring locals. In an increasingly technological society, some employees might even telecommute - working remotely for employers in different parts of the world. Many organizations, including Google, have been sending employees back to school to enhance their knowledge and skills. In addition to potentially contributing to innovations and advancements, adults going back to school and obtaining degrees can enhance workforce productivity, while also making a difference in the world through what they do.
Adults going back to school and earning degrees might, in a global economy, find themselves up against international employees when it comes to job searches. Some adults going back to school and obtaining degrees might even find themselves working in Japan, China or Western Europe. The more money an individual earns, the more products and services they buy and the more taxes they contribute. Adults might also set positive examples for their children, making them more likely to obtain degrees and increase their own earning potential.
International business might prove a worthwhile pursuit for some adults who go back to school. On a global level as well, people are paying more attention to climate change and the environment. College and university degree programs offer adults going back to school opportunities to enhance their environmental knowledge and abilities and incorporate what they learn into existing products and services. Through environmental programs, adults going back to school might learn how populations, settlement patterns and different types of development can affect natural resources, such as drinking water supplies. They might gain a better understanding of how harmful gasses ushered into the air can outweigh the trees and plants that absorb them and, in doing so, return in the form of rain showers that fill drinking water supplies and provide a habitat to the fish that we eat. There are engineering degree programs in disciplines that relate to the environment, as well as health care. With baby boomers aging and technology advancing, adults going back to school might also consider training for careers in health care, science and other professions where the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts employment growth.
In terms of America's worldwide ranking in degree-holding residents, a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that Canada was the 2007 world leader, followed by New Zealand and Japan. The United States came in fourth. Going back to school for some might be more affordable with help from the President Barack Obama Administration's recently expanded financial needs-based Pell Grant program and reformed student loans. The government, according to the White House website, has spent more than $30 billion on college and university affordability and accessibility efforts. The efforts are a part of Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus plan, whereby an additional $5 billion has been put toward promoting innovation and closing a so-called "achievement" gap.
While adults throughout the country might be going back to school to close gaps in skills, there are segments of the population that don't fare as well academically as others do. These populations can include low-income students, students with disabilities, students unable to speak English and students from some racial or ethnic backgrounds. Some schools and scholarship programs include elements that can help disadvantaged students improve their academic grades and their level of education. These elements might include changes in teaching styles and classroom sizes, mentoring and career counseling, easing the movement between two-year colleges and universities and four-year institutions and helping students gain a better understanding of scholarships, grants and other forms of financial assistance that can help reduce student debt.
Disadvantaged students, along with adults, have a variety of scholarships, grants and other forms of financial aid available to them. Many working adults might also benefit from tuition reimbursement programs. Some employers have also established savings account programs intended specifically to serve the needs of adults going back to school. One of these savings programs, created by the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning, works like 401-K savings plans. Employers can volunteer to offer these Lifelong Learning Accounts, or LiLAs, as well as to make contributions to them.
For some adults, back to school grants information will reveal that going back to school might mean accelerated degree programs or credit for life and work experience offerings that might save money and get them back to work more quickly. Going back to school might also mean taking online college or university courses or participating in online degree programs.
According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the national borders between nations vanish in a global economy, with services, products and workers transcending them. For example, a company in the United States might establish a branch overseas, sending Americans to work there, as well as hiring locals. In an increasingly technological society, some employees might even telecommute - working remotely for employers in different parts of the world. Many organizations, including Google, have been sending employees back to school to enhance their knowledge and skills. In addition to potentially contributing to innovations and advancements, adults going back to school and obtaining degrees can enhance workforce productivity, while also making a difference in the world through what they do.
Adults going back to school and earning degrees might, in a global economy, find themselves up against international employees when it comes to job searches. Some adults going back to school and obtaining degrees might even find themselves working in Japan, China or Western Europe. The more money an individual earns, the more products and services they buy and the more taxes they contribute. Adults might also set positive examples for their children, making them more likely to obtain degrees and increase their own earning potential.
International business might prove a worthwhile pursuit for some adults who go back to school. On a global level as well, people are paying more attention to climate change and the environment. College and university degree programs offer adults going back to school opportunities to enhance their environmental knowledge and abilities and incorporate what they learn into existing products and services. Through environmental programs, adults going back to school might learn how populations, settlement patterns and different types of development can affect natural resources, such as drinking water supplies. They might gain a better understanding of how harmful gasses ushered into the air can outweigh the trees and plants that absorb them and, in doing so, return in the form of rain showers that fill drinking water supplies and provide a habitat to the fish that we eat. There are engineering degree programs in disciplines that relate to the environment, as well as health care. With baby boomers aging and technology advancing, adults going back to school might also consider training for careers in health care, science and other professions where the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts employment growth.
In terms of America's worldwide ranking in degree-holding residents, a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that Canada was the 2007 world leader, followed by New Zealand and Japan. The United States came in fourth. Going back to school for some might be more affordable with help from the President Barack Obama Administration's recently expanded financial needs-based Pell Grant program and reformed student loans. The government, according to the White House website, has spent more than $30 billion on college and university affordability and accessibility efforts. The efforts are a part of Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus plan, whereby an additional $5 billion has been put toward promoting innovation and closing a so-called "achievement" gap.
While adults throughout the country might be going back to school to close gaps in skills, there are segments of the population that don't fare as well academically as others do. These populations can include low-income students, students with disabilities, students unable to speak English and students from some racial or ethnic backgrounds. Some schools and scholarship programs include elements that can help disadvantaged students improve their academic grades and their level of education. These elements might include changes in teaching styles and classroom sizes, mentoring and career counseling, easing the movement between two-year colleges and universities and four-year institutions and helping students gain a better understanding of scholarships, grants and other forms of financial assistance that can help reduce student debt.
Disadvantaged students, along with adults, have a variety of scholarships, grants and other forms of financial aid available to them. Many working adults might also benefit from tuition reimbursement programs. Some employers have also established savings account programs intended specifically to serve the needs of adults going back to school. One of these savings programs, created by the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning, works like 401-K savings plans. Employers can volunteer to offer these Lifelong Learning Accounts, or LiLAs, as well as to make contributions to them.
For some adults, back to school grants information will reveal that going back to school might mean accelerated degree programs or credit for life and work experience offerings that might save money and get them back to work more quickly. Going back to school might also mean taking online college or university courses or participating in online degree programs.
About the Author:
The benefits of adults going back to school and earning online degrees are likely to be felt not only by the graduate who succeeds in college and university studies, but also by their children, their neighbors and the economy. In a global economy, that includes other cultures in a shared environment that's bridged by technology. Online college courses offer the entry so many seek.
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