The earnings gap between young people with and without college degrees is the widest in half a century. Recent college graduates are more likely to be employed full time and far less likely to be unemployed than high school grads.
And all that debt college grads had to incur? The vast majority of college grads aged 25 to 32–72 percent–say their education has already paid off. Another 17 percent believe it will in the future.
Those are just a few of the fascinating statistics from the latest Pew Research survey, aptly titled “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College.” Read, learn, and use the statistics to combat those who say a college education isn’t a good value.
The article says that 72% of college grads 25-32 say that their degree “has already paid off” – i.e., helped them financially or in some other way – not that the bills are paid off.
Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed the reference.
True story. My husband worked at Walmart through college, and managed to graduate debt free. He got a masters degree in chemistry, and graduated right in the middle of the recession. He couldn’t find a job anywhere; Too much education, not enough experience. So he went back to Walmart, and worked his way up to a Co-manager. It sounds almost like a wasted degree. But the surprise ending is that he wasn’t willing to drive people the way his superiors wanted him too, and the job didn’t work out. In less than a month, he had a job, without moving, in chemistry, and because he had the masters degree, the cut in pay wasn’t nearly as drastic as we feared.
We will teach our kids that some form of higher education beyond high school is necessary, but debt is not. Be creative on how you pay for it, really look at what the different options will cost, and don’t student loan luxuries, (ex, the really fancy dorms they think they need to build now)