What is the Career Payoff to a College Degree?

This article reviews participation in college education and examines statistics on the career demand and average salary paid for the different post-secondary academic credentials.

You may have encountered the maxim that a Bachelors Degree is considered to be the required academic credential for success in the world of business.

It seems however that selected sub-Baccalaureate degrees ( Associates degrees and selected Certificates ) can sometimes offer equal, if not greater, opportunities to earn a higher career income than some academic Bachelors degrees.
 

The facts are an online associates degree can get you started on a top paying career in areas like Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts; Physician Assistants; Medical Records and Health Information Technicians; Computer Software Engineers, Applications; Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software; Physical Therapist Assistants; Database Administrators; Veterinary Technologists and Technicians; Dental Hygienists; and Computer Systems Analysts.

What is the Career Payoff to a College Degree?

There is a clear statistical payoff to college—-and as a general rule, the more college, the bigger the payoff in increased career options, better promotion opportunities, higher earnings, and lower unemployment (Dohm and Wyatt 2002).

Recent studies and statistics illustrate that statement with solid evidence.


Unemployment Rate

* In 2000, the unemployment rate for workers aged 25 and over with a
 

• high school diploma was 3.5 percent; s

• some college but no degree, 2.9 percent;

• associate degree, 2.3 percent;

• bachelor's degree, 1.8 percent;

• master's degree, 1.6 percent;

• professional or doctoral degree, 0.9 percent

 

Notice the unemployment rate decreases as education level attained increases.

(Bureau of Labor Statistics).
 

Median Earnings

* In 2000, median earnings of year-round, full-time workers aged 25 and over with a

high school diploma were $28,800;
some college but no degree, $32,400;
associate degree, $35,400;
bachelor's degree, $46,300;
master's degree, $55,300;
doctorate, $70,500;
professional degree, $80,200
("Education Pays" 2002).


 

The earnings benefits of college may be referred to as "the college-premium". In other words, the increased earnings of a college graduate over those of a high school graduate.


What about the payoff to non college post high school careers and technical training and education?

Earnings benefits and premiums of post-secondary certifications are lower than those for
Bachelor's degrees but are, on the other hand, offset by lower costs (Boesel and Fredland 1999).

In other words, generally speaking, you will make less money in your career with a Certificate than you would with a Bachelors degree, BUT,  a Certification is usually faster and cheaper to obtain than a bachelors, so you will begin your career quicker - as much as 3 years! - and you have less debt to pay back.

But, over the long haul, a Bachelors will pay off greater, generally.

Continues Below.....

 

 

 

Field of study

The increased earnings and benefits for academically themed Associates degrees tended to be small, whereas those of Technical Associate Degrees could be quite substantial in selected occupation career areas, equaling or even exceeding the average earnings benefit of a Bachelors degree.

In the same regard, the increased career earnings benefit of selected Technical Certificates in selected top paying occupational jobs could equal the average salary of an Associate degree and even exceed the salary of an academic Associate degree.

 

Gender

Men generally had higher earnings from Associate Degrees in Engineering, Computer Science, Public Service, and Vocational and Technical fields;

Women, higher salary benefits from Business and Health fields.

Overall, men with Technical Certificates received earnings comparable to men with Associate degrees.

However, women with Typist, BeaTech Schoolcian, and Medical Assistant Certificates had earnings comparable to women with Associate degrees, whereas women with Nurse Assistant Certificates had lower earnings than women with Associate degrees.




Academic Program completion

With but a few exceptions, the completion of a educational program and acquiring an academic Certificate, Associate degree, or Bachelor's degree led to greater earning and salary benefits than just acquiring the equal number of class credits with no academic credential.

Naturally the salary benefit payoff on any post high school Certificate or Degree, Academic or Technical, depends on the labor market. There is some debate on labor market projections for occupations requiring bachelor's degrees as opposed to occupations requiring technical certificates or technical associate degrees (e.g., Boesel and Fredland 1999; Gray and Herr 2000).

Nevertheless, it seems clear that both groups of occupations are growing fast and can reasonably be expected to provide plentiful job openings, whether through creation of new jobs or replacement of current workers (Crosby 2002-2003; Dohm and Wyatt 2002).

 

 

Should Everyone Go to College?

All analysts agree that at least some postsecondary education is essential for success in the workplace. There is also agreement on the critical importance of appropriate academic preparation for college and the detrimental affects of non-completion.

Certainly, a Bachelor's degree can be a good foundation for workplace success, but pursuing a bachelor's degree is a risky proposition for students without the appropriate academic foundations.

For such students, a technical certificate or associate degree may indeed be a wiser investment—completing a program in a high skill - high wage occupational area and finding related employment can be a comparable foundation for workplace success.

 

 

Does Everybody attend College?

Of course not everyone who can actually goes to college, but it's true that more and more people do (Snyder 2002;), especially if the term college is defined to include both two and four year institTech Schoolons.

Incredibly, as recently as March 1970, only 55% of the US population aged 25 and older had completed high school or some college and just 11 percent had completed 4 or more years of college!

By March of 1999, those figures had reached 83% (from 55%!) and 25% (from 11%), respectively.

Undergraduate degree student enrollment in degree granting undergraduate institTech Schoolons increased from 7.4 million in 1970 to 12.7 million in 1999, and student enrollment is projected to increase to 15.3 million by 2011.

Higher college enrollment rates for recent high school graduates offset statistical enrollment decreases in the 1980s and 1990s of the traditional college-age population.

Between the 1969-1970 and 1999-2000 school years, the number of associate degrees awarded had increased from 206,000 to 565,000.

Likewise, the number of Bachelors degrees, rose from 792,000 to 1,238,000. Although growth in undergraduate enrollments slowed somewhat in the 1980s, faster growth set in again in the 1990s and is projected to continue through 2011. [Snyder 2002 and Wirt 2002]

Clearly, participation and completion of Undergraduate degree programs has increased greatly over the past 10 years.
 

 

 

References

"Education Pays" Occupational Outlook Quarterly 46, #1 (Spring 2002)

Grubb, W N Learning and Earning in the Middle The Economic Benefits of Sub Baccalaureate Education. New York: Community College Research Center, Columbia University, 1999

Grubb, W N "Learning and Earning in the Middle, Part I: National Studies of Pre Baccalaureate Education." Economics of Education Review 21, # 4 (August 2002a)

Grubb, W N "Learning and Earning in the Middle, Part II: State and Local Studies of Pre Baccalaureate Education."
Economics of Education Review 21, # 5 (October 2002)


Wirt, J. Choy, S. Gerald, D. Provasnik, S. Rooney, P. Watanabe, S. and Tobin, R The Condition of Education 2002. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, 2002.