The Value of Education

In The Value of Education I wrote (almost one year ago today) the following:

The money you spend on a college degree still yields a sizable return on your investment. Over a working lifetime, the typical college graduate earns about 75% more than a high school grad does. On average, that difference totals $1 million more -- easily enough to re-pay those student loans and then some.

Check out the entire post for more thoughts on the value of an education.

I've written a lot more on the subject of how valuable a college education can be. For more thoughts, see these posts:

• College is Expensive, but Well Worth It Financially (Or: Give Four Years and $40,000 and Get an Extra $1 Million)

• The Value of an MBA

• Earn More by Going to College

Comments

[Phillip]

I have always liked your articles on the value of an education and agree. However, one thought occured to me today...

Let's say you put the $40,000 it would cost to go to college in an investment (would require quite a bit of will power to put it in and leave it there) making 8% on average per year. Over the next 45 years (age 20 to 65) that investment would grow to almost 1.3 million! That sort of changes the equation, just a bit.

I know most people would not have the resources or willpower to get the money in an account up front, but it is kind of neat to run the numbers and see what that realitively small amount of money would do over a working lifetime.

[Foobarista]

Also, an interesting approach would be to study the relative values of expensive colleges versus inexpensive ones. I saw a study that tried to compare equivalent students - it claimed that expensive colleges aren't worth the money.

Another point is whether cost-saving approaches like going to community college and transferring to university are a good approach versus going straight from high school.

[FMF]

Phillip --

Keep an eye out -- I feel a post on that subject coming up. ;-)

Foobarista --

I do have an article on the value of "elite" colleges versus averages and several on going to a smaller school first. Check out the "college category" to the right.