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Is Getting A Higher Education Worth The Time & Money In Singapore?
Higher education is getting more expensive both in Singapore and elsewhere, with degrees from elite schools generally clocking in a 37 percent increase in price over the past 6 years.
In Singapore, getting a business degree in the National University of Singapore in 2015 will cost $37,000 for a 4-year term for Singapore citizens, compared to $28,000 in 2010!
While many in Singapore still look upon a degree as the golden egg to a better future, in the age of internet and the success of CEOs without formal education, it makes us at GET.com wonder if all that investment is worth it.
What Are The Returns?
According to this Forbes article, the cost of going to college or graduate school is definitely worth it in a financial perspective even after adding on the cost of student loans. Comparing the cost to potential earnings, the cost of education is probably just about 5% of your earning capability.
Of course, this is just trying to quantify it in monetary terms; we haven't even considered other benefits such as the network you develop and the satisfaction you get from being intellectually engaged.
But Look At These CEOs...
There are many who often give the examples of successful global CEOs who did not have any formal education and went on to start or grow Fortune 500 companies and became billionaires.
Some familiar names in this list include:
1. Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook
Dropped out of Harvard University, net worth $34.8 billion
2. Michael Dell – Dell
Dropped out of University of Texas, net worth $18.8 billion
3. Steve Jobs – Apple
Dropped out of Reed College, net worth was $11 billion
4. Bill Gates – Microsoft Corp
Dropped out of Harvard, $79.3 billion net worth
5. Richard Branson – Virgin Group
No college degree, net worth $4.8 billion
Yes, we can definitely argue that they are perhaps the minority of people who made it really big in life without any formal education, but if you look at how the internet is transforming education, there could be a day in the near future where formal education could become obsolete.
Free Education On The Internet
While it may not be able to replace a formal and structured college or graduate education, there are many free online courses these days by reputable schools you can seek out to give you the skills advantage you need without spending extra time and money on another degree.
1. Khan Academy
The team at Khan Academy believes you can learn anything and that intelligence is not fixed. Resources provided are completely free, and their online Excel courses are some of the most popular.
2. EdX
EdX offers open online courses and was set up by the founding partners of Harvard and MIT. With such big names behind it, you can be sure courses are of a high level. It offers online classes in law, history, engineering, business and social sciences, just to name a few.
3. MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT OpenCourseWare publishes almost all of its teaching resources online so that it is available to the world for free. With one of the world's most prestigious technological university's materials free to use, it proves education is really up to a person's diligence and not whether you can afford it.
4. Open Yale Courses
Open Yale Courses provide free access to some of its introductory courses taught at Yale University. Lectures, video, audio and transcripts are available, although no course credit or degree is earned.
With the free and open resources to higher education proliferating online, it opens the question of whether in this digital age, is learning more important or is earning paper qualifications more relevant to the application of skills in our daily job and life?
This article was originally on the GET.com blog at: Is Getting A Higher Education Worth The Time & Money In Singapore?.
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