According to an annual survey conducted by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and Public Agenda,  a college education is increasingly seen as, "...necessary for a person to be successful in today's work world."  Data on earnings by education level provided by the U.S. Department of Labor backs up this belief, with college graduates earning considerably more than those without a college degree. What accounts for this relationship? Will any college degree result in increased lifetime earnings? To answer that question, consider three things you can receive from a college education.

Certification, the possession of a piece of paper that declares you have successfully completed your college studies and are entitled to, "...all the rights and privileges...," of a holder of your degree, is certainly part of what you receive when you complete a college education. Certification has real consequences, since many job postings list a college degree among the necessary qualifications. In certain professions, such as nursing or engineering, holding a college degree may also be a prerequisite for obtaining a professional license to practice that trade. Yet earning a college degree provides only minimal evidence of what an individual knows how to do, which is why nurses and engineers also have to pass board exams to obtain the license to practice.

Beyond certification, then, a college education should deliver training that prepares the college student to success. This training may be very specific in degree programs aimed at a particular profession, or it may be training in broadly useful skills such as clear and effective writing, the ability to research a topic, to summarize what is known, and to use that evidence in supporting a proposal or decision, or the ability to use the technology commonly found in the workplace to communicate, create documents, and analyze information.

If you complete a college degree (certification), and receive valuable training useful for future employment, you will have received significant value for your investment of time and money. However, you could receive even greater value if you recognize that college is also an extraordinary opportunity for personal growth. During college you will be exposed to many different ways of understanding and engaging with the world. Treating these encounters not simply as material which must be mastered so that you can complete assignments and pass test, but as an invitation to try out different approaches to life will dramatically increase your learning and growth. An individual who is comfortable with multiple ways of approaching a challenge or of relating to other people is better prepared to succeed in an increasingly global and rapidly changing economy. To achieve maximum growth it helps to deliberately put yourself into unfamiliar and even uncomfortable situations. Don't always cling to what you already know how to do. While staying in your comfort zone might maximize your college grade point average, trying to navigate unfamiliar situations using new approaches will maximize your learning and growth. After college, it is that growth which will prepare you to take on bigger opportunities successfully.