One item that has been constantly in the news over the last few years is the current student debt crisis. The amount of money that US citizens owe on student loans has soared to a whopping $1.5 trillion dollars. Most of this is due to the fact that a college diploma is prized and generally leads to higher income and more satisfying career opportunities, or for some individuals appears to prove merit. When someone is considering getting a degree, it may be smart to consider whether or not a novelty degree may be enough to satisfy the need for a certificate without leading to years of debt.
Here are eight reasons why you should get a novelty degree that you may not have considered before:
1. White Elephant Gift
Many families or friend groups have a white elephant gift exchange during the holiday season. One unique gift that many haven’t thought of is a joke degree from a ridiculous college. It could really be a fun memory to have everyone at the party fighting about who should get the diploma from Harvard or who would be more deserving of a novelty degree from Monsters University.
2. Gag Gift
Maybe you know exactly which friend or family member deserves a gag diploma, and you don’t want to leave it up to chance with a random gift exchange. Most families have a resident know-it-all or even a sure-fire trivia champ. Show your loved one just what smarty-pants you think they are with a novelty diploma that tells them you bow down to their intellectual prowess.
3. Celebrate an achievement without the wait
Oftentimes when someone graduates from college, they have to wait weeks or even months to receive their real diploma. Though the time can seem interminable, you could help out by ordering a novelty degree that represents their real achievements. Your loved one could have the pleasure of hanging their degree the day of their graduation and really enjoy the celebration.
You could also provide a novelty degree to legitimize another momentous occasion. Whether they got through a hard time, got a promotion at work, or just adopted a new pet, there are lots of reasons to celebrate. It takes knowledge and hard work to do all of these things. Celebrate them with a degree for their work in the form of a novelty diploma.
4. Congratulate New Parents with a Novelty Diploma
No matter how many billions of people have done it before or how many books you read, every parent’s first child is a crash course. Whether it was through birth and the classes that come along with that or adoption and the training that that entails, there’s a lot to learn. A diploma hanging above the baby’s crib will let the parents and their child know that a mountain was climbed and an achievement made.
New parents get told advice all the time but very few people tell them that they made the right decisions. Most parents feel like they could make the wrong decision at any moment. Let them know they’re doing great with a novelty degree.
5. Need a prop for a movie or photo shoot?
If you are producing a movie and want to give one of your character’s gravitas or make them seem well educated and accomplished it is easy to do with a wall full of degrees in the background. A non-verbal signal that almost everyone understands is the presence of a degree or many, and what that means about the values and goals of a character.
Are you taking photos for a dust jacket of a book or for your academic career? Perhaps you can’t find your degrees or want to share a sense of your vast knowledge. Put a few novelty degrees in the background and you can share that sense with anyone who comes across your photo.
6. Show your students how proud you are
It doesn’t seem quite fair that only high school teachers get the pleasure of awarding a degree to their students. Many teachers are passionate about the work their kiddos do and would like to reward them with a degree that displays their accomplishments. Whether you are a dance teacher who would like to commemorate a particularly impressive recital or a second grade teacher who wants to show a certain kid how far they have come with their math skills, a novelty diploma may be a perfect way to show a student you care. The diplomas offered by ValidGrad can be personalized in any way you see fit, and don’t necessarily need to reflect graduation from an educational institution. You can easily show your students your pride, and instill confidence in their abilities by giving them a degree that celebrates their accomplishments.
7. Replace a Lost Degree with a Novelty Diploma
Given that the average person moves 11 times in their life, a lot of things get lost or misplaced in the process. One of the things that commonly gets misplaced, torn, or damaged is a diploma.
If you lost or damaged your diploma, replacing it is much easier with a novelty degree because you don’t have to worry about contacting your alma mater during normal business hours or jumping through multiple hoops in order to prove your identity. In addition to requiring time, getting a replacement degree in the conventional way can be quite expensive. Save yourself the time and the money by ordering a novelty diploma created to replace the old one.
8. Use a novelty diploma as a morale booster
It’s hard to stay motivated on a day to day basis. Work gets stressful and it’s easy to get buried. When you’ve got a massive goal ahead of you, having a visual reminder of what that is can be very helpful in achieving it. If your future requires further education, or you have a lifelong goal of completing a higher degree of education, ordering a novelty diploma showing that manifestation of that dream could be a step in making sure it comes true.
People can speculate that the only reason someone would need to order a novelty diploma is to commit fraud or trick people into thinking they have graduated from college. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are many reasons why ordering a degree from a company like ValidGrad can be helpful and bring joy and be part of a positive experience.