Home News For Many, A College Degree Is A Bad Investment – Forbes

For Many, A College Degree Is A Bad Investment – Forbes

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The conventional wisdom is that attending college is a good investment. College graduates over a lifetime make, in present value terms, on average about $1 million more than those with high school diplomas. Since the cost of obtaining a degree, even including costs associated with earnings foregone while studying in college (as opposed to working full-time) is vastly less than$1 million, obtaining a college degree is a good investment.

A more correct nuanced view is that obtaining a college degree is a good investment for a significant subset of the young American population. However, for another large segment of the population, it is actually not a viable proposition on strictly economic grounds.

For every 100 students entering a four-year college on a full-time basis, only about 60 obtain a bachelor’s degree after six (not the advertised four) years. Moreover, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, about 40 % of that 60% who graduate actually become underemployed —taking jobs typically filled by those with lesser education, especially a high school diploma. Thus out of every 100 students who start college full-time, only about 36 typically actually both graduate and get a good job in a timely manner. College is a risky investment.

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