EDUCATION AND
EARNING POTENTIAL
Choose a path and follow it quickly!
It pays ($$) to have a goal.
Bell Work
On your note sheet, write a twosentence summary of what you
remember from the articles you
read concerning earning
potential based upon education.
Objectives
Students will graph salaries based on education
level for a ten-year period following High School
graduation.
Students will discover the $$ advantage of
planning a career path early.
Students will find out how much $$ they might lose
by not getting some sort of training after high
school.
Gather Information
1. Login to Navigator at
http://mpsaz.kuder.com
2. Click on Learn About Myself:
Continue Gathering Information
3. Click on View Assessment Results
(If you haven’t taken an assessment, click on Take an
Assessment and quickly finish the first assessment)
Choosing a Career Cluster
4. Pick a Cluster that you are interested in for a
future career.
Write the cluster you chose here!!
Choosing a Career Pathway
5. You’ll come to a place that looks like this:
Write the pathway you chose here!!
6. Scroll down to a place that looks like this
Find a Career – No Results
Click on the + sign next to High School Completion. One of 2
things will happen.
1. It will say “There are no results to display.” If this is the case,
write “minimum wage job” on your note sheet right here.
Minimum wage job
Find a Career – with Results
OR
2. A list of jobs will appear. Pick one of them and write the job title on
your note sheet here:
Record Annual Salary Based
upon a High School Education
Click on the career you chose and scroll down to
look for the Arizona Median Annual Salary.
Write that amount on your note sheet.
Write this amount on your
note sheet.
(If no results showed up in your choice for high
school education, then you will record the minimum
wage option explained on the next slide.)
$23,900
Figuring Annual Salary from
Minimum Wage
Arizona minimum wage is $8.20/hour.
Based upon a work-week of 40 hours,
and yearly employment of 50 weeks
(assuming a 2-week unpaid vacation),
the annual salary for a minimum wage
employee is $16,400. Write this
amount on your note sheet.
($8.20 x 40 hrs. x 50 wks. = $16,400)
$16,400
Record Information Based upon an
Associate’s (2 or 3 year) Degree or
Certificate
Go back to the Career Pathway and select
Associates Degree or Certificate and select
another career. Record the Job Title and
the Arizona Median Annual Salary on
your note sheet.
Record Information Based upon a
Four-Year Degree (Bachelor’s Degree)
Go back to the Career Pathway and select
Four-Year (Bachelor’s) Degree and select
another career. Record the Job Title and
the Arizona Median Annual Salary on
your note sheet.
This is how the note sheet should
look now:
Minimum wage job
$16,400
Teacher Assistant
$22,010
CTE Teachers - Secondary
$45,870
Table Instructions and Parameters
The annual salary data you find will be entered into this table.
After completely filling in the table, you will use the data to
create a graph representing the salary forecast for each level
of education.
 For High School Education or Minimum Wage Salary, use the salary
you recorded beginning in Yr. 1 to find all subsequent years’ salaries.
 For Associate Degree, use ½ the Minimum Wage Salary for Yr. 1 and
Yr. 2 (assuming part-time work during the 2 years it will take to obtain
the degree or certificate). Use the salary you recorded starting in Yr. 3.
 For Bachelor’s Degree, use ½ the Minimum Wage Salary for Yrs. 1-4
(assuming part-time work during the 4 years it will take to obtain the
degree). Use the salary you recorded starting in Yr. 5.
Table Instructions for High School
Salary
1. Minimum Wage Annual Salary: In Yr. 1, enter the Annual Median
Salary you recorded on your note sheet for minimum wage annual
salary. To fill in the other years, give yourself a 1.28% cost-of-living
increase each year. Round to the nearest dollar. For instance:
$16,400 $16,616
etc.
Table Instructions for Associate’s
Salary
In Yr. 1, enter ½ the minimum wage annual salary. (based upon working
20 hours/week at a minimum wage job while in school). Give yourself a
1.28% raise on that salary for Yr. 2. Enter the Annual Median Salary
you recorded on the Associate’s line of your note sheet for Yr. 3. To fill
in the other years, give yourself a 2.5% cost-of-living increase each
year. For instance:
$8,200
$8,305
$22,010
$22,560
Table Instructions for Bachelor’s
Salary
In year one, enter ½ the minimum wage annual salary for Yr. 1. (based
upon working 20 hours/week at a minimum wage job while in school).
Give yourself a 1.28% raise on that salary for Yrs. 2 - 4. Enter the
Annual Median Salary you recorded on your note sheet for Yr. 5. To fill
in the other years, give yourself a 2.5% cost-of-living increase each
year. For instance:
$8,200
$8,305
Etc.
Etc.
$86,860 $89,032
Graph Your Results
Necessary Components:
Title
Y-axis label
X-axis label
Key
Choose appropriate and equal intervals
for the x-axis (years) and the y-axis
(dollar amounts).
Excel Graph Example
KEY
Hand-Draw the Graph
Student Closure
Find the total income difference
between each level of education.
How much income would be lost by
postponing a bachelor’s degree for
four years?
Based upon the above findings, what
conclusions can you draw?