By Jennifer Merritt
From the moment Eve ate the apple, women have been
considered the weaker sex. We have the weaker upper bodies,
weaker bladders, and the majority of us produce the weaker
paycheck. We can work on the first two by hitting the gym
regularly and drinking less water, but the paycheck . What's
to be done about that?
Some might say the answer is easy: Advance your education,
learn new skills, impress the boss, and you'll add a few
digits to your salary. In fact, when it comes to education,
women are the stronger sex, outnumbering men who earned
associate, bachelor's and master's degrees during the
2004-2005 school year, according to data from the National
Center for Education Statistics. "But going back to school
is a big investment of my time and money," you say. "How can
I be sure I'll get a return on that investment?"
Well, your evidence is right here: Women who graduated from
college earned about 76 percent more than women with just a
high school diploma in 2004, according to data released by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Finding Your Focus
"The first thing you have to do is figure out what your
values are, and understand that the ways to higher pay are
about trade offs," says Warren Farrell, Ph.D., the San
Diego-based author of Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth
Behind the Pay Gap and What Women Can Do About It (Amacom,
2005). "The road to higher pay is a toll road; the discovery
is finding out what tolls are worth it and which aren't."
When it comes to using education to increase earning power,
Farrell says it comes down to choosing the right
sub-specialty-particularly one that is least common, but
most in demand. As an example, Farrell points to gypsy
nurses: Even though nursing is an in-demand profession, due
to the travel requirement, gypsy nurses can earn twice as
much as traditional nurses.
"Ask not how far you want to go or what you should major in,
ask what you should sub major in," he says. "It's not just
your choice of field. What's just as important is your
choice of sub field."
Farrell believes the field, rather than the degree, can be a
predictor of higher pay. "A scientist is going to make a lot
more than a language major," he says. "More important is
that the choice of field not only predicts pay, but also the
probability of getting a job in that field at all. Consider
acting and theater majors: the average person who works may
make some money, but the great majority are called waiters."
Caring for Your Career
Practicality is exactly what propelled Teri Fagan's
paycheck. Fagan was working in accounting making $8.60 an
hour when she and her family fell on some hard times
financially. A friend encouraged her to increase her earning
potential by going back to school to become a nurse, but
Fagan struggled on her own for four years before realizing
higher education could help her financial situation. Even
so, the years she spent in school were "scary," she admits.
"I was in the program full time, and the last year I was
there, I only grossed $5,000," she says. "I relied a lot on
family and friends."
The notion of one day having a better salary that could
afford a better life pushed Fagan through the program. "They
asked us a lot in class why we wanted to be a nurse, and
many people said they wanted to give and be compassionate,"
Fagan says. "I'm afraid I was all about money. But I was
intrigued by the thought of nursing. It's intellectually
stimulating, and it has a lot to do with accounting in terms
of math and judgment."
After earning her degree, she landed a job on her second
interview at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., one of the
top 100 hospitals in the nation. Since then, her salary
increased three-fold, her family has taken their first
vacation together, and Fagan was able to buy her first home
two years ago.
"Within the first six months, I bought a car - that was
wonderful," says the 45-year-old. "It was nice to go out and
buy things for the kids because I wanted to. It was a little
bit like winning the lottery and it's just gotten better
because nursing is such an in-demand job."
So does she feel like she got a return on her investment?
Most definitely. "I wish I had thought in terms of the
bigger picture and made education a priority earlier in
life, so that I could enjoy my life more," she says. "Buying
the house was a big thing, going on the cruise, just being
able to manage my finances and meet my long-term goals has
been wonderful."
Maintaining Versatility
Frances Altman had a good job and even better salary, but
she went back to her alma mater, Roosevelt University in
Chicago, to earn her master's degree in communications
because she felt it would help her keep pace with her peers
in public relations.
"I was running into more and more people who had a degree,"
she says. "It became apparent that the additional
consolidation of my education would be beneficial."
When her employer of 19 years downsized, the tangibility of
Altman's degree became quite apparent. Although she was left
without a job, she quickly found another, and eventually
landed her current position as a public relations specialist
for Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business.
It was her degree, says Altman, that maintained her
versatility in a continuously fluctuating job market. "You
have to be watching for opportunities to reinvent yourself
all the time," she says. "Maybe it seems public relations
doesn't exactly fit in one area, and yet, I began working in
PR in education. I'm using all the same techniques, but now
I'm working with alumni and teachers."
Knowledge Is Business Power
Erika Ingram says outright that her MBA helped increase her
earning power. In fact, if she hadn't pursued the degree,
she may never have opened her own business.
Like Altman, Ingram went back to school because she felt she
needed it to keep up with her colleagues. Although she had
no intention of leaving her job in corporate America, her
creation of a mock business plan for a school assignment got
her thinking.
She worked with one of her marketing professors for two
years to put together a business plan for a spa, spoke to
other spa owners around the country, and examined the pros
and cons of the health and wellness industry. She opened the
first location of her Iatria Spa and Health Center in
Raleigh, N.C. at the age of 31, and seven years later, has
opened an additional three locations throughout the state.
"Prior to going into business school, I was somewhat
unconfident of what I didn't know," Ingram says. "I was
hungry for more information, and I wanted to see the big
picture and have more of an impact." She admits that she
could have never been able to accomplish that at the very
large organization she worked prior to her educational
recommitment.
"[After graduating,] I had more self-confidence, because I
had a more well-rounded set of skills. I had a better
network and knew to whom I should go."
There's no question for Ingram that education directly
increased her earning power. In fact, she hopes to spread
the wealth of her knowledge when she begins teaching an
online marketing course at the University of California at
Irvine in April. "This enables me to give back and that
makes me happy," she says. "I'm more rewarded doing what I
do now, because I can affect change better."
So if you hand your boss a copy of your advanced degree,
will he or she hand you big fat raise in return? Not
necessarily. But if there's anything women can learn from
Eve's perceived weakness in eating the apple, it's that you
learn from experience.
"The career has something to do with it, there's no question
that's part of the deal," says Marsha Firestone, president
of the Women Presidents' Organization in New York, a
non-profit membership organization of 1,000 successful
female entrepreneurs who own and run multi-million dollar
businesses. "But education is key for opening doors," she
attests.
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