Courtesy of Lloyd Morgan
In 2014, Lloyd Morgan was struggling to support his wife and three children. He worked in early childhood education in Philadelphia and held a part-time job on the weekends, contributing to a household income of under $50,000 annually.
Morgan decided he had to try something different. At the age of 36, he quit his teaching job and enrolled in Penn State Abington — a suburban campus of Penn State University.
"This decision changed my life," Morgan told Business Insider via email.
Ten years later, Morgan completed a bachelor's and master's degree and is earning $78,500 a year working as the director of community relations and policy development for Pennsylvania State Sen. Jimmy Dillon.
Morgan is among the Americans who have grappled with the same life choice: Should I go to college? Business Insider has interviewed several Americans who have gone to school later in life and said earning a degree helped them land higher-paying roles. Others said it didn't open up doors and strapped them with student debt.
In recent years, some people have decided college isn't worth it due to the cost of higher education and job opportunities for workers without degrees. For many people, going to college can be a great financial decision: College graduates have a considerably higher income than people with a high school diploma and have a lower unemployment rate than people without degrees.
To be sure, a college degree doesn't guarantee a higher-paying job. But some graduates, like Morgan, credit their degrees with providing a career boost.
In 1997, Morgan enrolled at Dean College in Massachusetts, but after two years, he decided that school wasn't for him. After completing enough courses to receive an associate degree, he decided to leave Dean College without a bachelor's degree.
While he was enrolled, Morgan worked at the school's children's center. He said this turned out to be a "great decision" because it helped him realize that childcare could be a good career fit for him. In 1999, he applied for and landed his first nanny job.
Over the next decade, Morgan worked as a nanny in the suburbs of Philadelphia and on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He said he earned as much as $70,000 a year.
"With an associate degree, I was able to make great money that allowed me to live on my own in NYC for many years," he said.
In 2010, Morgan was laid off by the family who employed him. He said he left on good terms with a great reference letter and severance pay.
After struggling to find another nanny job that paid enough to support his family, he explored other options. He went back to work in early childhood education in Philadelphia and started working weekends as a server in a country club.
By 2014, Morgan and his wife were struggling to support their three children. He was working seven days a week and burned out. After thinking it over, he decided that going back to college might give him the best chance of landing a steady and better-paying role.
"I learned that this life was not for me," he said of balancing multiple jobs at once.
In May 2017, Morgan graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychological and social science from Penn State Abington. While pursuing his studies, he decided that he wanted to work in government — and that having a Master's degree would put him in the best position to achieve this goal.
In August, Morgan enrolled in a master's in social policy from the University of Pennsylvania and quit the part-time country club server job so he could focus on school. He said this put a lot of pressure on his family's finances.
"We had food stamps, Medicaid, and WIC — we were on low-income programs for our utilities," he said. "We needed all the help we could get so I could get to the finish line."
In 2018, at the age of 40, Morgan earned his master's degree and began interning with a local Pennsylvania state representative. Eight months later, he was offered a full-time legislative assistant position in the same office.
Morgan said the pay wasn't great — about $31,000 a year — but that the role offered "top-notch" retirement, insurance, and vacation benefits.
Since then, he's continued to work in Pennsylvania government. In September 2023, he accepted a role in the office of Dillon — working as director of community relations and policy development. Morgan said that the pay bumps he's received over the years have made a big difference for his family.
A downside to his education was that he graduated with student debt. Morgan said if he continues making his payments — and remains a public servant for about six more years — the remainder of his debt will be forgiven. He's eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which typically forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments.
In the coming days, Morgan's main focus is on whether Sen. Dillon will be reelected. If Dillon doesn't, Morgan could lose his job.
If this happened, Morgan said he would pursue jobs in the offices of other politicians. However, his progress toward 10 years of payments would be halted until he found a qualifying job for the PSLF program.
Overall, Morgan said he's satisfied with the way his career journey has played out, even if it's not what he expected.
"I always said many years ago that the only way I was going to be able to go back to college was if I won the lottery," he said. "Well, I didn't win, and I still went back to college. So it is possible, with successful outcomes."
Have you gone back to college later in life? Have you found financial success without a college degree? Reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
