Average Lifetime Earnings By Education Level

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Decisions about whether to get a college degree, where to go, and what to major in are, for most people, the most consequential financial decisions we will ever make. These choices have lifelong consequences, but they are made by people who have barely entered adulthood, using information that is, at best, incomplete.

There are two common views of higher education that we see in the popular press, often with statistics cherry-picked to “proof” their claim. The first is that college is always worth it, takes little risk, and that a four-year degree should be the goal of every high school student. The second is that college has become so expensive that only the lucky few (usually those with significant family wealth) will be able to escape massive student loan debt. Each of these views is problematic in its own way.

Average Lifetime Earnings By Education Level

Let me be clear, the financial payoff of a four-year college degree far outweighs the cost to the average student. Given the choice, I’d rather be a 22-year-old with $30,000 in debt (about the national average among federal loan borrowers) than an 18-year-old who decides not to go to college. Absolutely not. The direct financial benefits of a degree are enormous and don’t even begin to capture the many other dimensions that attending college can have on one’s life.

The College Payoff: Higher Lifetime Earnings

However, not everyone receives the average salary for a college degree. There is considerable variation in lifetime earnings, which depends on things like your college career, the school you attended, your own skills, luck, and many other factors. Additionally, many students who enroll in college never complete their degree; these students often have job prospects closer to those of students with only a high school diploma. For these reasons, a better way to think about whether a university is paying for its benefits is through the lens of a financial investment that involves some degree of risk.

There is strong evidence that a college degree is worth the investment despite this risk. This is true even if lifetime income is “adjusted” by factors such as net present value (the fact that the same amount of money is valued more today than in the future) and the fact that many people who attend college will not graduate. While the value of a college degree can be quite high, it is still important for students, parents, and policy makers to be aware of the magnitude of the financial risks associated with attending college. That’s why my research goes beyond averages to find out how different financial outcomes exist for individual students even for graduates. Going beyond simple average returns:

This report compiles data from a variety of data sources to provide evidence on the costs, benefits, and risks associated with attending college. The five most recent waves of the American Community Survey (ACS, 2012–2016), the 1993 and 2003 waves of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), and the 1979 and 1997 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are used to generate precise estimates of the distribution total lifetime income.

He revisits college all his life. The general idea is that each data set provides the necessary component to project the income and educational outcomes of a young person’s current life. The ACS and its large sample size provide the most recent data on income outcomes for a variety of educational outcomes (both education level and college degree for those with at least a bachelor’s degree). The NSCG allows me to track the same cohort of individuals over several decades and adjust my projections because today’s 18-year-olds may not look like 50-year-olds when they themselves turn 50. For many, the NLSY follows the exact same individuals for years and contains detailed cognitive (score test) and non-cognitive (personality) measures. Consideration of these performance measures is important in assessing a university’s financial performance; estimates that do not take into account innate ability will somehow exaggerate the actual impact that a college degree has on future income. Due to data availability, I only review degree feedback for people who did not attend graduate school.

Mcclellan High School

By its very nature, each subsequent simulation must make dozens of assumptions about human behavior. For example, how long are students enrolled in college? Some students take as little as four years to complete their degree, but many take six. For students who graduate and never graduate, I present the results of students who graduate after 1 semester or after 2 years. There are too many permutations to show results for all possible circumstances. I try to show how things change for the most consistent decisions (eg, by the university rather than the average student) and state each hypothesis so the reader can make their own mental adjustments. Ultimately, I’m trying to make assumptions that are less favorable to attending college to provide conservative estimates of financial benefits.

I present assessments for graduates who take 5 years to complete their degree and do not do any paid work during those years. Thus, even a college graduate who has no direct costs paid will still start his working life behind the average worker who decided to go to college and enter the labor market at 18. In scenarios involving students who attend but do not graduate, these students are assumed to have been enrolled for two years.

I’m also assuming that two-thirds of university costs are paid upfront, and the remaining third is debt-financed (and therefore subject to interest). I assume that this debt is paid under the income based repayment rules that were in place in the 2017/18 school year.

Data on wages are obtained from the entire sample of workers classified as active population, i.e. employed or unemployed (but looking for work). Therefore, the following estimates do not apply to people of any level of education who have a high probability of leaving the active population for an extended period of time.

Lifetime Earnings Calculator

It is important to note that each number presented below only considers the benefits of an individual’s college earnings. Therefore, they do not include many non-salary benefits associated with higher education (e.g. better working conditions, health insurance). They also do not account for the effect on household income (those with higher education are more likely to have spouses with higher education and higher incomes).

Figure 1 shows the annual income of the average high school and college graduate by age 65. While the purpose of this report is to quantify the overall return distribution (eg, risk), it is useful to look at median income trajectories to get an idea of ​​why policymakers and other stakeholders are working to increase attendance and completion. universities. The typical high school graduate doesn’t earn a significant amount between the ages of 18 and 22, so it doesn’t take long for the average college graduate to make up the shortfall with higher earnings after graduation. At age 65, the average college graduate earned more than the $900,000 of the average high school graduate. That’s a big difference, but this comparison greatly obscures the necessary nuances in the decision to attend college.

On the one hand, simply comparing averages or medians ignores the fact that not everyone receives the same increase in earnings from a college degree. Incomes vary greatly depending on factors such as the school you attend, the career you choose, the country you live in, random luck, and much more. It is quite possible that the average performance in college is high, but at the same time it turns out to be a bad investment for some people. Therefore, the purpose of this report is not the average economic benefit of attending college, but the likelihood that this investment will pay off for the person who enrolls.

The tuition and fees paid by the average student vary considerably between schools. In addition, the published tuition/fee rates (often known as the sticker price) are much higher than what students actually pay. At four-year public schools, tuition fees published in 2017-2018 are about $10,000 a year, but the typical student pays just $4,140. In private nonprofits, the comparable figures are $34,740 and $14,530.

The High School/college Graduate Wage Gap

Of course, there are other direct costs to attending college, including books, transportation, and room and board. According to the college, the average total cost that includes these factors is $14,940 for public and private nonprofits of $26,740. However, these official statistics are still averages (many schools are more expensive, just as many are cheaper) and there is evidence that they may be underestimating some important living costs.

For prospective students, deciding whether to factor in basic living expenses such as rent when deciding to attend college is a complex and individual calculation that depends on their living situation.

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