Jenna Ashley Robinson of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy has written an informative piece about the value of a college degree. Most of us are used to hearing and reading the claim that over a lifetime, a college degree generates about $1 million more in income than a high school diploma. Not so.
But Mark Schneider, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, conducted a study for the American Enterprise Institute that pours cold water on that figure.
He found that the average lifetime earnings advantage for college graduates is well below the million-dollar figure when forgone wages and the cost of a college education are factored in. Incorporating those figures and using the Department of Education’s 2003 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, Schneider estimated that the lifetime earnings advantage for college graduates ranges from $150,000 to $500,000.
The data is neither good nor bad on its face. There are many reasons to obtain a degree; earning potential is only one. However, I do believe it’s critical that students and parents consider this when making the financial and time commitment to a university.
