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Economic and Career Benefits
- Job Stability/ Security
- Higher Income
- Living Arrangements

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Download the fact sheet & infographic.
The evidence that a college degree significantly improves one's employment prospects and earnings potential is overwhelming. Bachelor's degree holders are half as likely to be unemployed as their peers who only have a high school degree and they make $1 million in additional earnings on average over their lifetime.1,2

Bolstered Prospects

Sixty percent of bachelor's degrees in the United States are awarded by public institutions. College-educated workers enjoy a substantial earnings premium. On an annual basis, bachelor's degree holders earn about $32,000 more than those whose highest degree is a high school diploma.³ The earnings gap between college graduates and those with less education continues to widen. Today, Millennials with a high school diploma earn 62 percent of what the typical college graduate earns.⁴ In 2019, median income for recent graduates reached $44,000 a year for bachelor's degree holders aged 22-27. For high school graduates the same age, median earnings are $30,000 a year.⁵

Recent college graduates also weathered the Great Recession better than their peers with a high school diploma. When unemployment reached its peak in 2010, recent college graduates experienced an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, compared with a jobless rate of 15.8 percent for all young workers. Today, the jobless rate for bachelor's degree holders is just 2.5 percent. And the incidence of poverty among bachelor's degree holders is 3.5 times lower than it is for those who hold high school degrees. A college education is expected to become even more valuable. Some 99 percent of jobs created since the recession went to individuals with at least some postsecondary education.

Additional Benefits to Graduates

Of course, a college education is about more than just securing a job and a steady income. Consider health and safety, prerequisites for leading a fulfilling life. Bachelor's degree holders are 47 percent more likely to have health insurance provided through their job and their employers contribute 74 percent more to their health coverage. Life expectancy is also longer for those who attend college. Studies suggest that those who have attended at least some college can expect to live seven years longer than their peers with no postsecondary education.

1. Abel and Deitz, " Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, 2014.
2. Timiraos and Zumbrun " The July Jobs Report in 15 Charts," Wall Street Journal, 2016.
3. Trostel, Lumina Foundation, " It's Not Just the Money," 2015.
4. Pew Research Center, The Rising Cost of Not Going to College, 2014.
5. Zumbrun, " Income for Recent Graduates the Highest in Over a Decade," Wall Street Journal.
6. " The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates," The Federal Reserve Bank of New York."
7. Trostel, Lumina Foundation, " It's Not Just the Money," 2015.
8. Carnevale, Jayasundera & Gulish, " America's Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have Nots," 2016
Download the fact sheet & infographic.

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How does a college degree improve graduates' employment and earnings potential?

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Download the fact sheet & infographic. The evidence that a college degree significantly improves one's employment prospects and earnings potential is overwhelming. Bachelor's degree holders are half as likely to be unemployed as their peers who only have a high school degree and they make $1 million in additional earnings on average over their lifetime.1,2 Sixty percent of bachelor's degrees in the United States are awarded by public institutions.

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Higher Quality of Life for Their Children
- Have children who are more likely to graduate from college
- Provide better health care for children

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515 students who were 4 th or 5 th year undergraduates in computing programs reported their parental education, in-major GPA, and whether or not they had an REU during their undergraduate program. First generation college students were significantly less likely to have had an REU, even at the highest GPA levels. Other questions established that the reasons for nonparticipation were not lack of interest (first generation sophomores were equally as interested in an REU as non first generation students, 41% vs. 43%) or finances (first generation seniors who did not participate in REUs were no more likely to say that an REU didn't pay well enough, 23% vs. 23% of those whose parents had bachelor's degrees and 31% whose parents had graduate degrees). However, high-GPA first generation students were more likely to say that they were not aware of available research opportunities (students with GPA > 3.5, 48% of first generation students and 50% of those whose parents had bachelor's degrees vs. 25% of those whose parents had graduate degrees). Therefore, REU programs might want to make a special outreach effort to these students to make sure that they are aware of opportunities and that they understand what is required to apply and participate.

These data are brought to you by the CRA's Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP). CERP provides social science research and comparative evaluation for the computing community. To learn more about CERP, visit our website at https://cra.org/cerp/.

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First generation college students significantly less likely to have had an REU

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515 students who were 4th or 5th year undergraduates in computing programs reported their parental education, in-major GPA, and whether or not they had an REU during their undergraduate program. First generation college students were significantly less likely to have had an REU, even at the highest GPA levels.

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Advanced Intellectual Skills
- Are more knowledgeable
- Are more likely to continue learning throughout life
- Have more effective problem solving skills

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The Skills Employers Wish College Grads Had

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Social Benefits
- More Social self-confidence
- Stronger interpersonal and human relations skills
- Better leadership skills

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Physical Benefits
- More likely to have better health insurance coverage
- Have better dietary habits
- Exercise more regularly

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How Exercise Makes you Smarter and a Better Student

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Effective Citizenship
- Greater Knowledge on current events
- Less likely to be incarcerated

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Education and Correctional Populations

Caroline Wolf Harlow, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics

January 1, 2003 NCJ 195670

Compares educational attainment of State and Federal prison inmates, jail inmates, and probationers to that of the general population. Educational attainment is also examined for various demographic groups -- including gender, race/ethnicity, age, citizenship, and military service -- and for other social and economic factors. Reasons for dropping out of school are compared for jail inmates and the general population. The report describes the availability of educational programs to inmates in prison and jail and their participation in educational and vocational programs since admission. Findings are based on analyses of more than 10 different datasets from both BJS and the U.S. Department of Education.

Highlights:

68% of State prison inmates did not receive a high school diploma

About 26% of State prison inmates said they had completed the GED while serving time in a correctional facility.

Although the percentage of State prison inmates who reported taking education courses while confined fell from 57% in 1991 to 52% in 1997, the number who participated in an educational program since admission increased from 402,500 inmates in 1991 to 550,000 in 1997.

Full report (PDF 360K)
ASCII file (32K)
Spreadsheet (Zip format 44K)
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About the Source Data
1995 Survey of Adults on Probation (SAP)

To cite this product, use the following link:
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=814
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Education and Correctional Populations Caroline Wolf Harlow, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics January 1, 2003 NCJ 195670 Compares educational attainment of State and Federal prison inmates, jail inmates, and probationers to that of the general population. Educational attainment is also examined for various demographic groups -- including gender, race/ethnicity, age, citizenship, and military service -- and for other social and economic factors.

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Emotional Benefits
- Higher levels of life satisfaction and personal happiness
- Greater sense of self efficacy