Yikes. This article is from 2014 but I just read it today: https://slate.com/business/2014/09/college-graduate-vs-high-school-graduate-salaries.html Essentially, the bottom quartile of college grads earn approximately the same amount as the median high school grad, so that the economic benefit of them attending college is essentially erased, but then we add on the amount of debt that they get into, and college starts to look like a bad option for a chunk of students. The article mentions a "study of marginal students who were barely admitted to Florida’s state university system" but the link 404's. I think it referred to this: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/676661 The conclusion of that study is that students whose grades were just above the threshold for admission were much more likely to attend than those whose grades were just below the threshold (obviously) and that the 22% increase in their income over the next 8-14 years paid for the cost of college and then some. Interesting stuff!
Interesting. I wonder though if that is a fair comparison. To do that analysis correctly I think they need to hold some of the external factors constant in both groups. For example, adjust for people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, family issues. It could be the top quartile were just lucky to avoid all that misfortune. But in general, I think you will see a huge spread around the median salaries in any school. For example, you are better off as the top quartile at a good state U vs. bottom quartile at an Ivy.
What do you think the correlation (if any) is between performance and salary? The data examined for the article was the income quartiles, not the academic/grade quartiles. So, you would probably be better off with a 3.5 at State U versus a 2.0 at an Ivy. But I imagine your income definitely is affected by attending one or the other, especially in fields where networking is prized.
I was referring to salaries. The evidence shows that the top 25% of an average university is better off than the bottom 25% of an Ivy. This is an old source (2008 data) but shows the breakdown by percentile: https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Salaries_for_Colleges_by_Type-sort.html There's also official school salary reports from the Census by percentiles comparing public schools. You will see that being the top 25% at an average state school beats the bottom 25% at elite state schools like UT Austin or University of Michigan. https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/pseo_explorer.html?type=earnings&compare=postgrad&specificity=2&state=08&institution=00137000°reelevel=05&gradcohort=0000-3&filter=50&program=52,45
I know high-school grads who make way more than me. Hairdressers for example. The average hairdresser in Belgium with their own salon retains 5k$ after taxes and expenses. I, college graduate, keep around 2,5k$ after taxes. Meal-vouchers (200$) and pension saving (170$) and hospitality insurance (50$) come on top of that but still. Here in Belgium we are so taxed to death that college grads barely make more than high school grads. A friend of mine with only a high school diploma, works in a cookie factory and earns 2k$ a month net + meal-vouchers (100$). Then sometimes you wonder if that 500$ more per month was really worth all those years of blood, sweat and tears.
