COLLEGE PAYOFF, THE

ASEE Prism, Dec 2004 by Grose, Thomas K

EDUCATION

GOT ANY UNDERACHIEVING students in your classes? Show them this. Maybe it'll motivate them. According to census numbers of average annual salaries of American adults, as crunched by the American Council on Education, the average salary of bachelor's degree holders in 2002 was $51,194; 88 percent more than the $27,280 earned by high school graduates. The gap 20 years ago-using current dollars-was only 60 percent. If you had a graduate degree in 2002, your average salary was $72,824, or 167 percent more than what high school grads were earning. Workers with nary a diploma earned on average a measly $18,825. The good news for female college grads: the $37,909 they earned was 79 percent more than the $21,141 paid to women high school graduates. The bad news: It was 67.5 percent less than the $63,503 earned by their male college-educated peers. Male undergraduate degree-holders earned 94 percent more than the $32,673 paid to male high school grads. -TG