College Degrees Lead to 68% Higher Incomes

Is a Degree Worth It?

Ever wonder whether getting a college degree is worth the time, effort, money, and stress? Now there’s evidence to say that getting a degree significantly raises your income level and job success! It seems intuitive that more education would make you more competitive in the job market, but it’s nice to know this equates with financial success as well.

The College Board Report

A report released by the College Education Board this year affirms that receiving a college degree leads to a more successful career, and a higher income. The median income for persons with a college degree is 63% higher than the median incomes of those who have only received a high school diploma. In layman’s terms, that means that if a person with a diploma had an income of $25,000, a 65% increase would equate to about $40,750! Over the course of a career spanning 25 or so years, it is obvious that the difference mounts up quickly in terms of quality of life and how long before you can afford retirement.

Furthermore, they found that the education that children receive is correlated with that of their parents. If a child’s parents have been to college, they are more likely to also attend, putting them in a better situation for success. The report comments that a goal of educators should be to reach out to students whose parents did not go to college, to encourage them to attend. As the global market becomes more and more competitive, it is becoming increasingly important to have a valuable degree to make you stand out.

Surprise: Women Earn More than Men

Despite much previous evidence that showed an “earning gap” between men and women, in favor of men, the College Board Report found that women earned more than men.

Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the College Board and a professor of economics at Skidmore College, addressed this issue among others.

“The real issue here is that at every level of education, women earn significantly more than men,” she said. “However, female high school graduates have particularly few options for reasonable wages. The male/female gap is greatest for high school grads than for college grads.”

Exceptions to the Rule

This does not mean that there are variations in these populations: obviously some high school grads do just fine, and some college degree-holders might not excel. The statistic is the average of the population at large, gathered by the College Board. So remember that while some wealthy moguls or movie stars decided to skip college and still became a success, those are the exceptions to the rule. Its better be well-prepared, and well-educated, that to rely on luck.

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