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I'd love to see socioeconomic status pulled out of the equation. i.e. Take 1000 offspring of middle/upper class folks. Measure the difference between those wh

I'd love to see socioeconomic status pulled out of the equation. i.e. Take 1000 offspring of middle/upper class folks. Measure the difference between those who chose to go to college and those who did not. Measuring the economic success of people who don't go to college is (most of the time) measuring the success of people who can't afford to go to college.

ChuckMcM 14y ago
Ok, so lets say you did that. Do you have a hypothesis about what might be different? College is actually reasonably affordable, there are accredited four year university degrees that cost about $25K over four years. Generally those are 'state' schools but still $25K it what it costs to buy a car, so if one can choose between buying a car and going to school we could do some interesting comparisons there. In every survey I've ever seen, whether it was done by the Census bureau or the chamber of commerce, people with college degrees were more likely to have better economic success than someone who had not completed college. The numbers are quite skewed toward college graduates with STEM [1] degrees. By and large, today, for the general case, if you want to increase your chances for economic success, getting a STEM degree from an accredited college is your most highly leveraged investment. [1] STEM - Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
- webwright 14y ago
  Coming at this 7 days late, but... The median household income in the US is $49k, I believe. 40% of households spend more than they bring in and have considerable consumer debt. Of course, 50% of households make LESS than $49k income and 2+ kids. Here's a list of state schools with instate and out of state tuition: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/ http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/ This is their "best values" list. Nowhere is a $25k over 4 year school that I can see. You'll need to account for living expense, textbooks, etc., for those 4 years as well (or maybe you're assuming that our hypothetical student can find a supporting job while going to school-- note that youth unemployment is approx. 2X the national average, and that the cheaper schools here are in states with generally higher unemployment). Saying that college is reasonably affordable for most americans is just crazy. All that aside, my hypothesis is that college impacts success (STEM-degrees having a higher impact), but that socioeconomic starting point has more of an impact. When you have three things that are highly correlated (success, starting point, and education) it's really hard to argue for causation with controlling for the third variable. When I look at all of my high-school peers who didn't finish college, they're all employed and making great money (I went to a mediocre private school in Maryland), but half of contemporary college grads (presumably most near the median background) can't find jobs (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57434159/half-of-college-grads-cant-find-full-time-jobs/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57434159/half-of-colle... ).

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Ok, so lets say you did that. Do you have a hypothesis about what might be different? College is actually reasonably affordable, there are accredited four year university degrees that cost about $25K over four years. Generally those are 'state' schools but still $25K it what it costs to buy a car, so if one can choose between buying a car and going to school we could do some interesting comparisons there. In every survey I've ever seen, whether it was done by the Census bureau or the chamber of commerce, people with college degrees were more likely to have better economic success than someone who had not completed college. The numbers are quite skewed toward college graduates with STEM [1] degrees. By and large, today, for the general case, if you want to increase your chances for economic success, getting a STEM degree from an accredited college is your most highly leveraged investment. [1] STEM - Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

webwright 14y ago
Coming at this 7 days late, but... The median household income in the US is $49k, I believe. 40% of households spend more than they bring in and have considerable consumer debt. Of course, 50% of households make LESS than $49k income and 2+ kids. Here's a list of state schools with instate and out of state tuition: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/ http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/ This is their "best values" list. Nowhere is a $25k over 4 year school that I can see. You'll need to account for living expense, textbooks, etc., for those 4 years as well (or maybe you're assuming that our hypothetical student can find a supporting job while going to school-- note that youth unemployment is approx. 2X the national average, and that the cheaper schools here are in states with generally higher unemployment). Saying that college is reasonably affordable for most americans is just crazy. All that aside, my hypothesis is that college impacts success (STEM-degrees having a higher impact), but that socioeconomic starting point has more of an impact. When you have three things that are highly correlated (success, starting point, and education) it's really hard to argue for causation with controlling for the third variable. When I look at all of my high-school peers who didn't finish college, they're all employed and making great money (I went to a mediocre private school in Maryland), but half of contemporary college grads (presumably most near the median background) can't find jobs (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57434159/half-of-college-grads-cant-find-full-time-jobs/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57434159/half-of-colle... ).