What's the value of a college degree?

[FarCenter]

How much is that college degree really worth? That depends on your major. It turns out that some undergraduate and graduate diplomas are worth a lot more during a lifetime of work.

In fact, the difference in earnings between one major and another can be more than 300 percent, according to recent research from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Researchers there crunched U.S. Census data looking at 171 majors in 15 categories.

The full study, "Hard Times: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal," is available from the school's website (link.reuters.com/wev87s).

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-personalfinance-grad-qa-idUSBRE83T0WK20120430

[Posteritatis]

1. Apparently the value of a college degree is strictly monetary. Huh. (nt)

[FarCenter]

2. No, but the cost of getting a college degree is certainly monetary (nt)

[ZombieHorde]

5. One of the costs is monetary, but there are other costs as well. nt

[pipoman]

3. I have advised both of my sons

not to go beyond a bachelors degree before getting a job and gaining experience. Many companies aren't interested in masters and phds with no actual work experience. Also a college grad should realize it does not equal entitlement, rather it can qualify a person for a job.

[Drahthaardogs]

7. It really depends on your degree and field.

In my field, B.S. degrees don't get you hired too often. Some jobs like social workers require a M.S. at a minimum.

[pipoman]

9. I don't disagree, certainly one couldn't get a job as a MD without a phd..

these guys are getting business degrees..They will not come out of college with a masters and get a VP job. If they get out and do something entry level very well and they can either advance or move after they get some experience. I will encourage them to do night school to get their masters while gaining experience. I just see too many smart people who have difficulties getting entry level jobs in business (over qualified) and aren't qualified with experience to get the jobs which are geared to masters.

[bhikkhu]

4. Developing your mind is one way of contributing to society through your self

as well as socking away a form of wealth that can't easily be taken from you.

Whether you get a valuable degree or not, the basic college path has always been laid out first to develop the person as a person, and second to develop specific job skills. Plenty of people go into college without a solid idea of what they want, and at some point along they way they "find their feet", and their path through life.

Reducing it all to a sum of money misses the point and misdirects many people, though I know there is a point where money figures in pretty heavily. I'm paying on student loans myself, for a degree which leads to nothing currently. I don't mind. I expect my kids to go to college as well, and if the cost vs benefit thing doesn't on the surface seem to work out, I don't mind that either. Its still small potatoes against what you might call "a life well lived", or the alternative.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Major in something marketable. Minor in what you love. nt

[iemitsu]

8. a college degree is an official recognition

of educational attainment. it has some monetary value.
but it does not necessarily mean one is educated or that one is smart. one can be either or both of these without a college degree.

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. It's worth as much as the material it's printed on.

It doesn't entitle its owner to a single thing.

Earning a degree doesn't magically open a door to a high paying job if that high paying job didn't exist before the degree was earned. Does anyone get that? "I have a degree, but not a job" is just about the least intelligent statement I've ever heard. It's as if the person with the degree thinks earning a degree CREATED a job.

Don't show me your credentials... show me your abilities. PROVE your worth by completing the tasks you're assigned. Until you do that, your degree means squat and isn't worth any more than the cost to print it.

And that's the way it SHOULD be.

[bluedigger]

11. Monetarily, mine is virtually worthless.

The life it gave me is priceless.

[Skittles]

12. there are a lof of fucking morons with college degrees

just look at the republican party

[Vorwarts]

13. They're not worth much

Unless you move on to a specialty like medicine...

[MadHound]

14. Education is priceless,

Higher education opens your mind and broadens your horizons in ways that simply can't be measured. I find it a real travesty that we feel compelled to put a dollar amount on any education.

[vinny9698]

15. College degree proves two things that employers want to know.

Are you trainable and have you achieved a long term difficult goal. These are attributes that are hard to ascertain in a job interview, we can all bs our way through those questions. But a degree proves it.

[vinny9698]

16. Also the best years of your life.

Ask any college graduate at the age of retirement, and most will claim the college years are best in their lives. I know, those were my best years, learning, coeds, gym. I tell my kids that and that really motivates them. Plus I consider it child abuse if parents do not prepare their kids.

[quaker bill]

17. I had a decent professional job

with 3/4ths of a college degree, but it did not pay that well. I scraped together the funds to take a year and a half off to finish my BS, and I now make better than 4X the money.