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Certainly, one can go on to higher education and learn a profession or a science, while remaining a JW. What's interesting, though, is that the "extra effort" you mention is required partly because the JWs themselves make it hard for people to balance the education and the faith. One would think that a religious organization would be pleased to have its members climb the ladders of education, status, earnings, and influence; that would reflect well on the organization. But it would seem the JW sect doesn't have the confidence that such individuals will remain members. 

I'm not sure whether your last comment is directed at me, but responding to it anyway: I, too, could have accomplished education while retaining the JW beliefs; I felt mild pressure against education, but was never tied down or even directly told to steer clear of universities! Shedding the beliefs came purely out of my own reasoning, and I honestly don't see the education as being a key force behind it. (That is, if I had gone right from high school into a career in waste handling, I think I still would have ditched religion. Though I admit I can't run an alternate-reality experiment to test that!)