10 Community College Degree Paths For The New Economy

by A Guest Author

The community college degree paths may not all be offered by your local community college degree program. However, these degree paths can be pursued at community college and completed upon transfer from community college to university.

Top Community College Degree Paths In Our Economy And Beyond

We live in some very troubled economic times. Thanks to the recession, today’s students aren’t asking themselves what they truly want to do with their lives. No, they are asking themselves what the smartest, safest career paths are and which degrees can start them off on those paths. No one can afford to take chances right now, so people are making big decisions about their futures based on the current state of things. It’s important to understand that no degree is fool-proof. Things can change rapidly in this world, and what may be a smart bet today won’t necessarily be a smart bet tomorrow. With that said, however, there are some jobs that have a much higher chance of guaranteeing you success in today’s world than others, jobs that can be done by obtaining certain degrees.

To get the wheels turning, we’ve come up with ten of the “safest” community college degree paths you can get right now:

1. Accounting: As long as we have money and taxes, we’ll have a need for accountants. That is one of the main reasons that degrees in accounting are so popular, and also one of the reasons why people who hold these degrees generally have no trouble landing a job. Most people who get a degree in accounting will go on to become Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Others might dabble in banking, teaching, and other related careers. No matter what one decides to do, those who hold accounting degrees from accredited colleges or universities earn an average salary of around $61,000 per year, according to a recent US Census Bureau count. Also, only about 5.4% of people holding these degrees experience unemployment.

2. Advertising/Marketing/Publicity: If you know how to make things popular or how to sell just about anything to anybody, then seeking out schooling in advertising, marketing, publicity, or some combination of these subjects is a great idea. People who earn degrees in these fields and who are charismatic and communicative tend to have a lot of success in the business world. The average salary for these professionals is around $50,000 per year, and only about 6.1% of degree holders face unemployment.

3. Clinical Psychology: Often times, a degree in psychology is looked upon as a useless degree, one that is fun to earn but that doesn’t possess much value in the real world. Surprisingly, though, this actually isn’t the case for those who stick with their studies and especially those who are willing to opt for higher levels of education, like master’s degrees and doctorate degrees. Only around 19.5% of clinical psychology majors remain unemployed after graduation. Once employed, you can expect to bring home around $40,000 yearly and the joy of helping others!

4. Graphic Design: Got a knack for crafting logos? Are you always the one your friends go to for help designing their web pages? If so, then a degree in graphic design or a related area could be your perfect match. There’s only around an 8.1% unemployment rate for those who hold relevant degrees, and the average salary runs a healthy $40,000 yearly.

5. Criminal Justice: Whether you’ve got your sight set on being a police officer, a detective or some other position in the law enforcement field, an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in criminal justice can get you there. As long as there are bad guys, people will be needed to stop them, and those people get paid well for what they do. If you’d like to earn upward of $50,000 per year and can commit to some intensive schooling and training, you might just have what it takes to truly earn one of these degrees!

6. Early Childhood Education: Few could have predicted the “boom” in terms of the need for skilled childcare workers. With more and more parents being forced back to work, the need for childcare has been growing steadily for the past few years! If you think you’d be good at working in a daycare, teaching young children in a pre-school setting, or even being a nanny or caregiver, this degree could help you greatly. Expect to earn around $37,000 per year once you complete your program.

7. Forestry:  As people have slowly started to realize the damage we’ve done to our planet, green, nature-centered jobs are becoming more popular. That’s probably a big reason why many people are going to school for forestry degrees, degrees which can enable them to become park rangers or to work in other positions that enable them to protect the environment we all hold so dear. Land this degree, and you’ll have only a 3.1% chance of unemployment, in addition to a salary around $50,000 per year

8. Hospitality Management: If you’re a people-person, a problem solver, and have a healthy dose of likeability, you could make a killing after earning a degree in hospitality management. Use your two or four year degree to manage a hotel, a fine dining restaurant, or any other establishment that caters to people. You can expect to see around $49,000 per year if you do.

9. Library Science: It used to be that the town librarian was just the friendly old lady from down the street. Nowadays, though, people demand more, and library positions are difficult ones to get. Librarians have to have a lot of current and technological knowledge, in addition to a degree in the field. With all of this comes employment, which will usually bring in around $36,000 per year.

10. Pharmacology: Can you believe that, out of all those holding pharmacology degrees, there is actually only a 0.0% unemployment rate! This probably has to do with the fact that those who earn pharmacology degrees work so hard that they absolutely wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to use their degrees.  Either way, holders of this degree often earn as much as $60,000 per year.

At last, when you complete your community college degree program, you may want to consider transferring to Ivy League universities.

 About The Author

This article was written by Karl Stockton for the team at santafeuniversity.edu. For those interested in art and design, click here to learn more about their college of art and design.

This post was written by A Guest Author

This post was written by a guest author. If you have high quality, useful information to share with students, send us an email or click Write For Us to learn more. And in case you're wondering - yes, you can promote yourself in this fancy author byline.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Michael Backe August 30, 2012 at 11:42 am

I like how you put accounting as the number 1 degree. I think it is the degree to get to really be able to do anything in the business world. You learn so much and you can advance within the field rather quickly.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: