What College Costs, But Why It Is Important To Get An Education

Does It Pay To Go College?

Education is an investment that pays for itself, giving you the opportunity to open doors that would otherwise remain closed. What’s more, chances are up to 30% greater that you will not face unemployment if you have a college degree.

From earnings to pension plans, health coverage and overall community vigor, are some of the pluses that high education yields and rewards its recipients and society as a whole.

College graduates are also more likely than others to engage in behaviors that improve their health, engage in volunteering, voting and donating blood and increased valuable social behaviors such as more tolerance for the opinions of others.

The above attributes are all positive for a person and also for society. However, I believe the big question is “What about the money?” We all understand that doctors and lawyers make more money than the normal graduate or high school graduate.

A student who graduates from college with just a four-year degree, does he or she really make more? They will have a high price loan to repay over many years. And if one starts right out of high school there are several jobs where they could be advancing and making good money, correct?

Comparing The Wages Between High School and College Graduates

Without considering the intangibles, a recent study shows that each additional level of education draws a higher lifetime income. While the high school graduate age 25 and above, earns about $26,000, the college graduate age 25 and above, earns about $42,000. That is an annual income premium of about $16,000, or around 60 percent.

Yes, the college grad will spend years paying off loans. But eventually the earnings net of loan payments will pull ahead of the high school graduate’s.

A report released September 12, 2007, “Education Pays” at a College Board panel on Capitol Hill, the following results were released:

A college graduate will earn about $1 million more over their working lives than high school graduates. By the age of 33, the typical college graduate who enrolled at age 18 has earned enough to compensate for both tuition and fees at the average public four-year institution and earnings they missed out on during the college years.

College graduates in 2006 earned recorded-high starting salaries. Engineering, high-tech, business and accounting degrees are all in high demand by employers. The average starting salaries in these fields are as high as $54,000 per year, and are increasingly concentrating their recruiting efforts on the college campuses.

It is widely recognized that people with a college education get further in their professional life, more often achieving their career and monetary goals, than those without a college degree.

Today, even the meaning of the word college has changed. It now refers to a great variety of programs and institutions. A big reason for this is that jobs are no longer what they used to be. In the last 20 years, the share of jobs requiring some college has risen from 28% to 64%, and is still increasing.

Statistics show that every bit of post secondary education a person gets boosts income and opportunities over their lifetime. It is important, more than ever, for you to learn about what is available and how to get into and succeed in higher education.