Is College Worth it?

I see a lot of mumbling these days about how college isn’t worth the expense. Basically, that's a lot of crap. Aside from the value of education and knowledge for its own sake, there is still a significant financial benefit.

All numbers here are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau income table H-13.

In 2010, the median income for a high school graduate was $38,976. If you managed a 2 year Associate Degree, the median was $56,811. That’s a difference of about $18,000. If you got a 4 year Bachelor’s degree the median increases to $75,568, almost double a high school graduate. That’s a $36,000 difference.

Now let’s consider costs. I’m using New Jersey college costs simply because I’m familiar with the schools.

Let’s start with the Community College route. An Associate Degree at Bergen Community College will run you about $6,500 a year if you go full time. This doesn’t include living expenses because Community Colleges don’t have dorms. That’s a total of $13,000 which you can expect to make back in a couple of years.

If you go the four year college route there are really two basic paths. You can go the private school path which is going to run you between $40,000 and $50,000 a year assuming no grants, scholarships or other financial aid that you don’t need to pay back. So that’s somewhere between $160,000 and $200,000. Those are big numbers but you can expect to recoup that amount, plus any interest paid on loans, in 5 to 10 years. Considering you’ll probably be working al least 40 years, it’s still a good deal.

If you manage to get into a state college the costs drop to $25,000 a year for a total of $100,000 which you can expect to recover, including the interest on loans, in 4 to 5 years or less. That’s pretty much a bargain.

Keep in mind that we’re talking medians here. If we look at mean salary then for a high school graduate it’s $50,561, an Associate Degree $67,790 and a Bachelor’s $94,207. These numbers make a Bachelor’s degree, with a $43,000 difference, even more valuable but an Associate Degree a little less so.

Can you make a lot of money without a college education? Sure, but the odds are against you so ignore the morons that say college isn’t worth it. The numbers say they’re wrong.