PEW Research Center conducted a study to explore if college was worth it in 2024. Richard Fry was the Senior researcher on that project. As costs are rising, the college debate is always a huge discussion.

“Given the debates about college, a little bit better opportunities for those who haven't gone to college, it seemed like a good time to sort of both look at the economic data we have on, you know, the value of college.”

PEW research began this survey about a year ago about the U.S. adult attitudes about going to college. They found that there is a disconnect between what the government data says about college educated versus non college educated.

“Outcomes have improved for young adult, particularly young adult men who finish their education at high school. The share of them that are able to land full time jobs, adjusting their pay for inflation, their earnings are up. And so, the past ten years sort of marks an upturn after a very dismal 40 years for less educated young men, where they're given the decline of manufacturing, their real earnings were declining. They were having a harder time finding full time, full work. So, yes, opportunities have improved recently for young men who finish their education at high school. Having said that. Opportunities have also improved for college educated young adults, both men and women. And so, when we compare the two. Yeah, things have gotten better for the less educated. But things have also gotten better for the college educated. And so using the most recent year, let's just throw a few numbers out there. You know, the typical and here I am combining both men and women. I have the numbers separately, but it's easier to digest if I just keep it together for both men and women. The typical college educated young adult ages 25 to 34, he or she makes about $70,000 a year recently, whereas their high school educated counterpart only makes about 40,000. So, I mean, you're looking at a 75% pay premium. You know, pay advancement. Typically, if a young adult has at least a bachelor's degree. And that sort of earnings gain hasn't shrunk over the past ten years or the past 20 years. Typically, this is a typical outcome, an average outcome. Young adults who finish at least a bachelor's degree tend to get paid quite a bit more than their high school educated counterparts.”

CLICK HERE to see more of the data.

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.