Three-fourths of Americans ages 25 and older haven’t graduated from college, including Bill Gates.

Gates is a college dropout, according to Gate’s biography on his Web site. Gates left Harvard in his junior year to devote his time to Microsoft, the company he began in 1975. Microsoft had revenues of $36.84 billion in the 2004 fiscal year.

According to the Census Bureau, only 24.4 percent of Americans ages 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree in 2000, and some of those without a bachelor’s degree live above poverty level. According to the Census Bureau, roughly 80 percent of Americans of all ages are living above poverty level.

Education usually correlates to more wealth, according to publicagenda.org. For example, census data shows that Washington, DC, which has one of the highest national percentages of college graduates at 39.1 percent, also has the highest researched average earnings at $61,191.

In Utah, where 26.1 percent of the population has a bachelor’s degree, the average income is $29, 203. In Alabama, where the cost of living is lower, the average income is $400 higher than in Utah, while the percentage of college graduates is only 19.

Money making potential varies by areas of study and areas of the country. Bob Maxfield, career placement director at BYU-Idaho, said specialized industries in large metropolitan areas can create good jobs for those without higher education. For example, Maxfield cites his two nephews in Phoenix, Ariz., who both work in sales and are not college educated but are financially stable.

Should students put forth time and effort to get a degree when many make money without one?

Maxfield said yes. He explained that Bill Gates is the exception.

“Gates is bright, but most people who drop out of college aren’t going to be billionaires,” Maxfield said.

A college education is becoming more and more necessary. Maxfield said a bachelor’s degree compares to what a high school diploma used to be.

But there is more to education than academic learning.

Students at BYU-I are gaining spiritual knowledge as well; they have a mandate from ecclesiastical leaders to become educated. Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a talk given to young Latter-day Saints in November of 2000, said that education is worth sacrifice.

“You need all the education you can get ... sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of the world ... You have a mandate from the Lord to educate your minds and your hearts and your hands.”

Some students have this same focus.

Paul Garner, a sophomore from Tabre, Alberta, listed among his reasons for getting a college education, getting the skills needed to better serve others and the church. He plans on earning a master’s degree in accounting.

Employers look beyond the grade point average too.

No one usually looks at grade point average after the first job, Maxfield said. Employers look for non-academic, “soft skills.” Writing and problem solving skills top the list for Maxfield.

Another important skill is the ability to reason, Maxfield said. Problems arrive in the workplace, and students need to know how to add A and B and get C.

Maxfield also explains that students should not only list attributes on their résumés. Students should list “soft skills” and how they illustrate the skill. For example, students should write, “I am a good writer. I have won two awards for essays.”