Is college worth it?

Careers and Colleges, Nov-Dec, 2005

If you're about to pour tens of thousands of dollars into a college education, you may ask yourself: is college really worth that much? The answer is a definite "yes!" The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the more education you have, the more you will earn and the less risk you have of being unemployed.

    Education        Annual Mean   Unemployment
                     Earnings *      Rate *

High School            $34,931         5.0%
Associate's Degree     $42,861         3.7%
Bachelor's Degree      $61,368         3.0%
Master's Degree        $78,191         2.5%
Doctoral Degree        $103,789        1.8%

Earnings and unemployment refer to full-time workers age 18 and over.