Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight.com posted a piece about research done by Payscale on the value of a college degree. Of little surprise Payscale found that the total ROI from a degree handed out by a "top" school was significant. They claim a twenty-year earnings difference of over $800,000 for someone graduating from these "top" schools compared to someone who only graduated from high school.
But there is one major flaw in this comparison. On average the person who goes to work full-time right after high school versus the person who is accepted into MIT or Stanford will have different personal attributes which dramatically effect lifetime earnings.
Generally, there will be differences in:
- Previous school performance
- IQ
- Work ethic
- Upbringing
- Household income
- Books read
- Essays written
Of course there are other differences which are not quantifiable at all. Many of these factors are determined well before the future high earning college graduate steps foot onto campus.
A more honest (and difficult) study would attempt to estimate lifetime earnings on these multitude of factors as opposed to one blunt outcome like being handed a piece of paper by the dean from MIT.
The full 538 article can be read here.
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