DISTANCE LEARNING | CONTINUING EDUCATION | ONLINE DEGREES

Do you like to show up at crime scenes with a fake badge and pretend you’re CSI’s Grissom? Do you have a closetful of Columbo-style trenchcoats just waiting for their day in the sun? If so, the Department of Labor has great news!

Careers in criminal investigation are looking better than ever, even with a recession looming. In fact, security careers, which include criminal investigators, were listed recently in Yahoo!’s list of “recession-proof” careers. It makes sense. Criminals don’t take a break when the economy slumps; and neither do criminal investigators.

Fortunately, if you’re willing to get rid of your fake badge and go back to school, criminal investigation careers are easier to get into than ever.

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Criminal investigators gather the facts, collect the evidence, and build the cases to put criminals behind bars. Vital to law enforcement, investigators use advanced surveillance techniques and computer databases to stop illegal activity, provide evidence for prosecution or defense teams, protect assets, and help find missing people. They conduct interviews, examine records, observe suspects, and participate in raids and arrests. Criminal investigators tend to specialize in areas such as computer crime, forensic psychology, crime analysis, crime scene investigation, and fraud examination.

Fortunately, the criminal investigations industry is expected to increase in size, despite the economic downturn. As drug- and computer-related crimes rise and our society becomes more security-conscious, job opportunities for criminal investigators will continue to increase. Individuals with Criminal Investigation degrees can choose from various jobs, from police detective to corporate investigator to loss prevention agent. They can expect to make, on average, between $45,000 and $80,000 with great benefits, stability, and plentiful opportunities for advancement.

Best of all, criminal investigation degrees can be obtained in relatively little time and with minimal investment. New online degree programs are allowing more future criminal investigators to get their careers in less time and on their own schedule, most in two to four years.

I stumbled upon a college-themed website entitled "You Know You’re in College When …" — sort of a variation of Jeff Foxworthy’s "You Know You’re a Redneck If …" only for college students. After reviewing the list of 118 indicators, I came to the conclusion that while some signs are especially true of college life — i.e. "You pay $100 for a book you don’t read once, return it four months later, and get $7" — many signs are simply indicative of being young and poor. Still, very troubling … and yet somehow still very entertaining.

Here are ten of my favorite "signs" from the website as well as a few of my own.

1. High school started before 8 a.m., but now anything before noon is considered "early."

2. Your primary news sources are The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

3. You go to Target or Wal-Mart more than 3 times a week.

4. You wear the same jeans for 13 days without washing them.

5. You talk to your roommate on instant messenger … when you’re both home.

6. You wear flip flops in the shower … you know why.

7. Old-school Nintendo and Guitar Hero are pretty much the best things ever.

8. Going to the grocery at midnight is completely normal.

9. Dressing up for Halloween becomes cool again.

10. You text faster than you type.

Not included in the list but also true of college life — at least in my experience — are:

11. When you go to "nice restaurants," you gorge yourself on the free appetizers — popcorn, chips and salsa, bread — and then order a soft drink or fries as your entrée.

12. The last time your car was legally registered was during the Clinton Years.

13. You have more than one item of clothing from the Salvation Army or another thrift stores — and it’s not part of a costume.

14. Every Saturday, you test-drive new cars or look at upscale furniture just to get the free hot dogs and drinks.

15. You can intelligently discuss Newtonian physics, the political philosophy of Adam Locke, and the poetry of John Donne, but you still can’t iron a shirt.

Any signs you would add to the list?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Benjamin Welch has been a college instructor in writing and composition for nearly six years. When he’s not teaching or playing golf, he offers advice for students seeking information about continuing education, online education and online degrees.

What is the value of a college degree? For most people, the answer to this question seems self-evident. Aside from its intrinsic value, numerous reports have confirmed that an individual’s job opportunities and earning potential increase significantly with a college degree. And yet, there seems to be a small but vociferous faction that claims otherwise. Take this article, for instance — “Wise Up! Skip College. Buy a Franchise” — which recently appeared on the website Franchisepick.com. The author writes:

Recent H.S. Graduates, you are at a crossroads. One path leads to the instant gratification of 4-5 years of partying and debauchery at Mediocre U., then a meaningless diploma, a mountain of debt, and an eventual minimum wage position cleaning the grease traps at the local Bun ‘N Run. The other path? Skip college, invest the same amount of money in a Bun ‘N Run franchise opportunity, and, in four years, be partying in high style aboard your yacht while MBA candidates clean your grease traps and deposit your daily haul.

While written tongue-in-cheek, this article does reveal a genuine suspicion among many people that a college degree just isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve read a number of these articles, and most, if not all, tend to discount college degrees for one or both of the following reasons: (1) college degrees are too expensive; and (2) success can be had without a college degree. I’d like to address each of these reasons and see if they hold water.

First, let’s address the cost of a college degree. The College Board reported last year that the average cost of college, including room and board, was about 13,000 at public schools and 30,000 at private schools. That amounts to about $50,000 and $120,000 for a four-year degree, respectively. Given that most students attend school full-time, one might also add to those figures the cost of lost wages, which could easily be another $100,000, thus bringing to the “true cost” of a college degree to somewhere between $150,000 and $230,000 dollars.

That’s quite a hole. Still, even with that debt, studies have shown time and time again the long-term financial benefits of a college degree. For instance, the United States Census Bureau reported in 2004 that an individual with a bachelor’s degree makes about $30,000 more annually than someone with only a high school diploma. Over the course of a working lifetime, that’s more than million dollars. Thus, any initial savings made possible by skipping college are greatly outweighed by the long-term consequences, which are severe.

That brings us to the second reason. Can’t you succeed without a college degree? What about all the people that have made millions without going to college? Good question. It’s true there have been dozens of noteworthy people who never attended college or who never finished. The list includes such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates. Well, what of them? First of all, the fact that they are notable — meaning rare — tells you how often it happens.

Basically, it’s a case study between possible and probable. It’s like the casino telling you to play roulette all day instead of working for a living. Sure, you can strike it big and live out the rest of your days in luxury — that’s possible. But statistics show that it’s far more probable that you’ll lose everything and end up “smoking doobies in a van down by the river.” So, unless you think you’re then next Albert Einstein or Bill Gates, a better bet would be to play the percentages and go to college. After all, there’s a reason why no one publishes a list of millionaires and other notables who actually finished their college degree. Those people are the rule, not the exception.

Thus, any pundits who claim, sarcastically or not, that a college just isn’t worth the trouble or the money, are in error. Yes, college degrees are expensive, but they are also investments with the potential for a big payoff. (Granted, as with any investment, that payoff isn’t assured, but the likelihood of success is far greater.) It’s true that some people have succeeded without a college degree, but those people belong to a very small minority. Don’t let anyone fool you: significant monetary success without some kind of education is hardly a well-worn track. That’s why it’s newsworthy when it does happen.

In the final analysis, it seems the grounds for discounting the worth of a college degree are based either on poor math or logical fallacies — two errors, ironically, that a college education is supposed to correct.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Benjamin Welch has been a college instructor in writing and composition for nearly six years. When he’s not teaching or playing golf, he offers advice for students seeking information about online education and online degrees.

Right now, many college graduates are in the process of exchanging their caps and gowns for "business casual" and their diplomas for paychecks. The question is: what is the exchange rate?

Recently, CNNMoney.com published an article on precisely that topic, entitled, "Most Lucrative Degrees for 2007 Grads." Overall, the news for recent graduates is good — employers are hiring 17.4 percent more college graduates than they did last year, and most — though not all — starting salaries are increasing (sorry fellow liberal arts’ majors, but we knew what we were getting into).

Here are some of the more lucrative college degrees, along with their percentage increase over last year, as reported by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE):

Chemical engineering: $60,054 (up 7.4%)

Electrical engineering: $54,599 (up 3.2%)

Mechanical engineering: $54,587 (up 7.7%)

Computer science: $51,070 (up 2%)

Civil engineering: $47,145 (up 4.8%)

Management information systems: $46,568 (up 5.5%)

Business administration: $43,523 (up 9.2%)

Marketing: $41,323 (up 14%)

Accounting: $46,508 (up 1.7%)

And here are some of the less lucrative:

Liberal arts: $30,502 (down 1.1%)

As a recipient of both an undergraduate and graduate degree in the liberal arts, I think I can speak for the entire liberal arts’ community when I say, with utter shock and indignation, "$30,502 a year? You’re kidding, right? That’s much more than I expected."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Benjamin Welch has been a college instructor in writing and composition for nearly six years. When he’s not teaching or playing golf, he offers advice for students seeking information about distance learning, online education and online degrees.