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Title: Is College Worth It? A Comprehensive Return on Investment Analysis

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2021

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Abstract:  This report estimates return on investment (ROI) — the increase in lifetime earnings minus the costs of college — for nearly 30,000 bachelor’s degrees.  For students who graduate on time, the median bachelor’s degree has a net ROI of $306,000. But some degrees are worth millions of dollars, while others have no net financial value at all.  After accounting for the risk of dropping out, ROI for the median bachelor’s degree drops to $129,000. Over a quarter of programs have negative ROI.  Four in five engineering programs have ROI above $500,000, but the same is true for just 1% of psychology programs.  Elite schools such as Caltech and Penn dominate the list of highest ROI programs. But attending an elite school is not a golden ticket; some Ivy League degrees have negative ROI.

Url: https://freopp.org/is-college-worth-it-a-comprehensive-return-on-investment-analysis-1b2ad17f84c8

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Authors: Cooper, Preston

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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