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http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm Education / Unemployment Rate: Didn't finish high school

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm Education / Unemployment Rate: Didn't finish high school 15.3% No college degree 10.1% College Degree 4.7% That looks like a solid ROI to me. I think this article is indicative of the fact that education + not much experience means you get left out in the cold when people with the same education and more experience are looking for work. Note that they talk about recent college grads in the low 20s - these typically aren't people with lots of degree-related work experience. You can also argue that not all degrees are created equal, in terms of employment. But hearing 'college is a ripoff' a lot (like, say, here) doesn't make it true.

grannyg00se 16y ago
Those statistics don't show an ROI, they show a correlation between education and unemployment. There could be many reasons that people with higher education aspirations have lower unemployment. Correlation does not imply causation. I'm sure you can imagine that if somebody has the drive and mental capacity to finish a college degree, they also likely have the drive and mental capacity to land and keep a job. It is not the college degree that matters necessarily. Using your own statistics, 89.9% of college dropouts have a job. And 95.3% of college grads have a job. Is four or five years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars worth a 5.4% increase? What if you were to dedicate those four years to personal study and lower job market experience and work your way up for four years instead? Can you be sure that the college route is the better solution, knowing that it only gives a 5.4% increase in those statistics?