Paying for that New Year’s Resolution

“Maybe I’ll Finally Get That Degree…”

Anyone who’s been in the higher ed space a while will tell you that education is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. Apparently, people around the country take stock of where they are in life and decide to lose a few pounds and finally get that degree they’ve been talking about.

This also happens to be the time when lots of people end up making one of their biggest and most expensive mistakes.

Any decision based on emotion is going to be fraught with problems. That’s why realtors tell you not to fall in love with the first house you see. But at least you have some level of transparency when it comes to buying a house. You have all the pricing, tons of pictures, disclosures, etc.

With education, and in particular an online degree program, that emotion can lead to a bad place. You’re excited by the idea of getting the degree, but you really don’t have a clue about the ins and outs of actually getting it. Which means you can end up with one of two really bad results:

• You get so paralyzed by the sheer number of options that you put if off. A few months, another year, or maybe even never.
• You get so paralyzed by the sheer number of options that you end up going with the first degree program that “sounds good”.

It’s the latter that’s the most dangerous. In that scenario you don’t have the context around true degree cost, curriculum, transfer credits, student experience, online format and so on. So you take a huge risk in either spending too much for the degree OR having an experience that doesn’t match your priorities.

The fact is most people don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to choosing an online degree program. There are tens of millions of adults with some college and no degree, and many of them are still paying for the loans for that degree they never received because they made their decision based on emotion.

Thinking about going back to school? Take your time. Do the research (or get help). Ask a ton of questions. And don’t end up paying for a New Year’s Resolution that you didn’t have a chance to keep.

Interested in getting help to make your New Year’s Resolution the right way? Work with an Education Concierge from ClearDegree and get the expertise that you need.