Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
College degree still worth the investment, data suggest
Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY 1:51 p.m. EDT June 24, 2014
Despite rising tuition and falling wages, college graduates continue to earn far more over a lifetime than a worker with no more than a high school diploma, an analysis of four decades of federal data shows.
The main reason: Average wages also have declined for workers with no college degree. The gap between wages for college graduates and those without a college degree remains near all-time highs.
"Investing in a college degree may be more important than ever before because those who fail to do so are falling further and further behind," says the report, released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
...
Calculations are based on the costs of college, the wages foregone by being in school and wages after graduation compared with those of non-degree-holders. The return on investment for earning an associate's or bachelor's degree has remained steady at about 15% a year over the past decade, "easily surpassing the threshold used by for a sound investment," about 7% a year, economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz write in the report, titled Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs?
...
Over the past four decades, those with a bachelor's degree generally earned 56% more than high school graduates and those with an associate's degree 21% more than high school graduates.
...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/24/college-diploma-degree/11303295/
Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY 1:51 p.m. EDT June 24, 2014
Despite rising tuition and falling wages, college graduates continue to earn far more over a lifetime than a worker with no more than a high school diploma, an analysis of four decades of federal data shows.
The main reason: Average wages also have declined for workers with no college degree. The gap between wages for college graduates and those without a college degree remains near all-time highs.
"Investing in a college degree may be more important than ever before because those who fail to do so are falling further and further behind," says the report, released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
...
Calculations are based on the costs of college, the wages foregone by being in school and wages after graduation compared with those of non-degree-holders. The return on investment for earning an associate's or bachelor's degree has remained steady at about 15% a year over the past decade, "easily surpassing the threshold used by for a sound investment," about 7% a year, economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz write in the report, titled Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs?
...
Over the past four decades, those with a bachelor's degree generally earned 56% more than high school graduates and those with an associate's degree 21% more than high school graduates.
...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/24/college-diploma-degree/11303295/