IT'S A NO-BRAINER

If you're planning to go to college—or are already enrolled—you're en route to one of the most exciting times in your life. Many great experiences and challenges lie ahead.

As a Venture Scholar, no doubt people have told you—and told you again—how important it is to have a college education. Earning a college degree is not just about how much more money you can earn (although that's important, too). It's about growing personally through classes and experience. And it's about finding and preparing for a meaningful career.

College is a great time to learn independent living skills, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, and managing money. This Web site is designed to help you learn how to finance college and give you some important tools to deal with your money now and throughout your life. You'll learn to set short-term goals—such as how to save money for a new laptop or a summer study trip—plus how to plan for long-term goals like graduating from college with little or no debt. Like earning a college degree, knowing how to handle your money can help you realize small dreams and big ones, too.

Take a minute to check out the facts below. They'll give you some insight into the long-term benefits of a college degree and a career in math or science.

Show Me the Money
Math- and science-based careers are not only interesting, they also can be extremely lucrative. Consider this:

• The median annual earnings of engineering managers were $90,930 in 2002.
  
  
• The median annual wage and salary earnings of pharmacists in 2002 were $77,050.
  
  
• According to the Medical Group Management Association's Physician Compensation and Production Survey, median total compensation for internal medicine physicians in 2002 was $155,530.
  
  
• The median annual earnings of computer systems analysts were $62,890 in 2002.
  
  
• In 2002, the median wage and salary annual earnings of accountants and auditors were $47,000.

(Unless specified, the above data came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)