It’s true that there are many individuals who’ve succeeded in this world without proper college degrees. People such as Bill Gates, who dropped out of college and created an empire out of what he knew, thought college was a waste of time.

The thing is, we’re not all Bill Gates.

Some people can thrive after high school and find a steady job that they enjoy; but to make a decent salary, a college degree is typically required. When scanning through job ads on CareerBuilder, most advanced positions, ones where the real salaries kick in, require a college degree. The education, the experience and the knowledge is extremely helpful and, accordingly, extremely profitable.

According to Forbes, in the late 1990’s, the annual income for someone without a college degree was $30,400. For someone with a college degree? $52,200. MSN MoneyCentral commented that in the mid-2000’s individuals who have earned a college degree had a salary that was 60% higher than those who started working right out of high school. Doing the math, they state that on average, the degree earns the individual $1 million more during their lifetime.

The real advantage of college is the knowledge acquired and experiences had. And although it may be expensive, it’s definitely worth it in the end. A college degree opens up so many venues, so many career choices. Plus, the extra million dollars during a life time? Well that’s just icing on the cake.