By Wendy Anders

According to the San José, Costa Rica-based American University (UAM, its acronym in Spanish), students who push to earn a college degree can wind up earning up to a 60 percent higher salary than their counterparts who don’t.

According to recent census data, there are a total of 703,000 people with a higher education degree in Costa Rica; and 44 percent of young people entering the work force do not have such a degree, according to the 2015 Continuous Employment Survey.

According to Ana Laffite, Corporate Administrative Manager of the American University (UAM), graduates of this institution have a very favorable employment index, with 95 percent of graduates finding employment and 80 percent of students finding work in their area of expertise.

Laffite’s office has tracked graduates and has found that while the majority enter at minimum wage salaries, on average their pay rises by at least 60 percent, said UAM. On the other hand, those without university studies will have a harder time rising out of poverty, said Laffite.

The National Census Bureau’s Continuous Employment Survey found that 44 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 studied exclusively, 24 percent were employed, 20 percent neither worked nor studied,  and 12 percent combined work and studies.

Many Costa Rican students finance their studies with loans through the National Education Loan Commission (CONAPE, in Spanish).

“Three quarters of our students finance their career with loans,” said Laffite, who encouraged workers to consider investing their end-of-year bonus pay in enrolling in college courses. Most universities offer night and weekend courses to accommodate students who work during the day, said UAM.