College is expensive. Is it financially worth it? Yes, but you need to graduate, and the return on investment depends on the degree.
Here’s a helpful and accessible article by Dr. Jonathan James of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He breaks down the wage premium of a bachelor’s degree and an advanced degree as compared with a high school degree. He also looks at the choice of a college major, explaining that the “differences in the college major premium are as large as the college wage premium itself.”
Here’s one of his figures:
Half of those who possess bachelor degrees have their training in the top 15 most popular fields. Some of these fields have a high payoff with just a bachelors degree (e.g., electrical engineering), while the payoff in others (e.g., biology) is more dependent on holding an advanced degree. Read the whole thing.
Disclaimer: This post is not intended to suggest that college can’t deliver numerous intangible benefits.
Related: An interview with David Wilezol, co-author with Bill Bennett of Is College Worth It? (Thomas Nelson, 2013)