Need some advice

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

Hi everybody, Im 20 years old and I currently work for a company that does welding, fabrication, and maintenance. I have only been with this company for about two months but I am really wanting to find another job, either in something similar or maybe a completely different field. The reason for me wanting to leave this company is because the pay tends to be pretty low and the hours are very long.

I really dont see my future going anywhere with this company although I dont plan on quiting any time soon. I would really love a 40 hour work week at a company that pays good.

I want to go to college and get a degree but I wouldn’t know what to major in. I also dont know when I would even have time to attend or how I would pay for it.

As far as my educational background goes I went to a technical school and completed a one year welding program. Most of the class was spent welding in the shop but we also had alot of classwork. We had to study every night and we had at least two tests a day. I made the highest grade in my class and I was very highly recommended by my teacher to the company I am working for now.

Unfortunately though when I was in high school I made very poor grades because I didnt care or try hard. I never studied or did homework and I barely did my classwork. I graduated with a 2.3 GPA, I did however excel in history. Even without studying I made straight A’s and I made the highest grade in the whole school on one of my history final exams. I have also always been an above average reader.

So I guess my question is this

  1. What should I go to college for? I really have know clue what I would want to get a degree in.
  2. What fields are currently in demand and what jobs pay good money? I would like to make 75k or more, even if not right away, some point in my career. I would like to make that much money without working over 40 hours.
  3. How long does it take to get a degree? I guess I wouldnt want to be in school longer than two years if possible.
  4. Is it even possible to go to school working 60 hours a week?
  5. How much would this cost and are there any scholarships or grants I could get that would allow me to go for little or no money?

Any input is greatly appreciated. Feel free to include any additional information that I may have forgotten to ask about, and also your welcome to ask me any questions you need to help answer this.Thanks.

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  1. What interests you? When you're not working, what do you do for fun? Find out what careers can come from the answers to these questions.

https://www.onetonline.org/ and http://www.bls.gov/ are good websites for getting a brief overview of occupations.

  1. Engineering and Computer Science comes to mind. Browse college confidential for similar threads for more information, and search online, there's likely many articles on this topic.
  2. A Bachelor's degree typically takes 4 years as a full time student.

An Associates could be completed in two years as a full time student.

  1. It depends on the person, and how many units you're taking. Take into account the time spent in class, homework, studying, working, and day to day activities such as showering, eating, etc. I personally would not recommend working 60 hours a week on top of going to school.
  2. The cost varies depending on what schools you're looking at.

There are scholarships and grants out there, and I recommend making an appointment at a community college or a college you’re looking at attending and speaking to academic counselors and financial aid counselors.

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You sound like a good candidate for community college. You can get an associate’s degree relatively quickly, though if you are working >40 hours per week, it can be difficult to do that. Realistically, if you are working 60 hours a week, you might be able to handle one or two classes. If you work 40 hours a week, then as long as you can arrange your schedule appropriately and manage your time well, you could take three to four courses at a time.

At the community colleges in my area, it is around $500 per course, so you would look at $1,500 per semester or up to $4,500 per year if you go to school spring, summer and fall with three courses per term.Associate’s degrees are generally 60 credits (20 courses at 3 credits per course), which means that your cost of an Associate’s could be around $10,000. Some states offer more support for community college, so it may be less, or it may be more. One MAJOR consideration for you since you are planning to work full time is the American Opportunity tax credit. You can take off up to $2,500 of your tax bill as a result. For example, let’s say you make $18/hr as a welder, and you average 40 hours per week. You would likely pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 a year in tax. If you take 9 courses at an average of $500 per course, you would pay a total of $4,500. The AOTC allows you to deduct every dollar of the first $2,000 of your education expenses and then 25% of the next $2,000 from the amount you pay to the government. The result would mean you would effectively pay $2,000 a year instead of $4,500 a year. $2,000 a year comes out to around $40 a week. If you’re making good money as a welder, then $40 a week should be doable for you.

The jobs that pay $75,000+ mostly require a bachelor’s degree at this point. After getting your associate’s degree, you would need 60 more credits from a 4-year college or university, which would inevitably cost substantially more than community college, but that is something you don’t need to focus on right now.

With all this said, as a tradesman, you are in relatively decent shape. Master welders in my area average $55,000 in salary. Other tradesmen can make even more. Electricians typically make around $25/hr, which, at 45 hours a week, means greater than $60k per year.

I would think about why you want to get a degree, then think about what you want to do with your degree. Getting an associate’s degree is a relatively low-risk proposition that can help you later on, even if you don’t use it, but a bachelor’s degree would require some sacrifice. If you are paying for it on your own, it is probably best to know what you want out of it before committing