Liberal arts majors and business majors are like oil and vinegar. They don’t exactly blend well together, but for some reason when you combine the two they are absolutely fantastic.

I learned this my final year of college when I moved into the sorority house and instantly bonded with my business major roommate, Jenny. I was an English major and the two of us were intermingled with several other girls with varying interests and educational pursuits. But for some reason, while Jenny and I were the most different, we ended up becoming almost the same.

I was messy and artistic, Jenny was organized and, I hate to admit it, a little sterile. She liked things where she liked them and anything out of place was sure to trigger a conniption. She instantly made our bills into an Excel spreadsheet and wrote out “invoices” each month to each housemate for their share of the gas, water, and…frozen waffles? Down to our grocery shopping, she inventoried everything and left me awestruck and wondering, “Who does things like that?!”

Apparently a lot of people as I met many business majors during my college years. And for some uncanny reason, they were always the ones that I hit it off with the most. My quirkiness meshed together with their straight man personality. My creativity was enhanced by their organization, and while it seems as if our worlds would collide, they seldom did.

There were a few times that we butted heads, when my dance team crashed the house and we kept the karaoke machine on a little too loud a little too late. Jenny would throw herself into a tirade about her 8 am accounting final and couldn’t we PLEASE just keep it down a bit? (Answer: no, but we will pretend to try.) And there were times I left the half eaten bowl of macaroni on the stove top and Jenny found it before I remembered I had left it there. (Truth: it was usually about three days later.) But all in all, we became the best of friends. My carefree outlook softened her anal retentive views toward college and life. Her orderly conduct encouraged me to be more responsible with money and especially with sleep. I started to value going to class more, and learned that there was more to get out of college than just the degree. The funny thing is that in a different way, I taught her that as well.

I learned from rooming with “Miss BA in Business” that sometimes the people the most unlike us are the ones that we are destined to enjoy and cherish the most in life. I’ve done my best to keep in contact with Jenny, and though I rarely see her, I’m grateful for the communication and correspondence we do have.

Jenny continues to go down the straight and narrow path. She’s made some great achievements and built a solid resume. I seem to remain all over the map. I run a dance company, work as a freelance writer, and travel the world every chance I get. While she loved her accounting firm internship, I loved my trip to Africa. We enhance each others’ lives more than I experience with my friends who are a lot like me. Cookie cutters are not always a positive thing. A flair for the variety is often the more successful of pairings.

All over the U.S., the health care industry has reported a shortage in qualified nurses. Several online colleges and universities, such as The University of Phoenix, are trying to help by offering several health care and nursing degrees.

The American Association of College of Nursing said that the in the U.S. alone, there could be a shortage of 340,000 quailified nurses before the year 2020. That is roughly 3 times the current rate.

There are multiple reasons for the trend.

Many veteran nurses are retiring as the baby boomer generation reach retirement. Compounding the issue is the fact that people live longer now than ever before, all of which creates a greated need for health care.

There is also a problem in finding teachers to train new nursing and health care canidates. 150,000 applicants were turned down for nursing programs because of shortages in qualified nursing educators. Part of this was due to keeping qualified faculty. A recent survey of nursing faculty members reported many work close to 60 hour work weeks, due to the shortage.

Both four-year bachelors degrees and two year associates degrees in the nursing and health care fields provide a future for strong job outlook.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that nurses will create the second largest number of new jobs among all occupations in the future. In addition to the new jobs, many existing positions are expected to open as existing health care providers retire.

An individual with only a high-school diploma will earn earn approximately 1 million over a lifetime. In comparison, individuals with Bachelors degrees will earn over two times that amount. In addition to a better salary, a Bachelors degree allows for movement up the ranks of your employer. Many employers reward employees who continue their education by obtaining a bachelors degree. The rewards are often in the form of raises, promotions, and positions with greater responsibility and challenges.

With reasons like these, it’s no mystery why obtaining on-line bachelor degrees are as popular now as ever before!