Many of us are called on to help out with the college bills for our emerging adults--and many
of us agree to pay our children's way, no questions asked or raised. Or we may be asked or want to
help--after the fact, as those college loans come due.
Our
generation has operated under theory that a college education for our children is worth the financial sacrifice--hence the temptation and wide spread practice of helping with tuiltion as well as room and board if we can. Recent news stories have been surfacing that suggest some kids who have to borrow to go to college are questioning whether that higher education is worth encumbering themselves with debt only to find no job in their field when they get out of school. A sobering thought and one that has some reality behind it.
A recent study that relies on 2008 data reinforces our orginal beliefs. It finds that although college costs more in this country than others, the payoff is bigger. [See Sweden]. This graphic from Planet Money tells a good part of the story.
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Notes
*Data for Japan are from 2007.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Credit: Lam Thuy Vo / NPR
A few notes:
The data come from a recently published OECD report looking at educational data around the world. The cost of education includes tuition fees and living costs paid by the student, as well as earnings that students forgo by not working while they're in school.
"Benefits" is the difference in lifetime earnings between someone with a high-school degree and someone with a college degree.
For more on the difference in earnings between men and women in the U.S., see this study from Indiana University.
