College graduates earned significantly more in 2008 than their less-educated peers and also liked their jobs more, but significant disparities remain along racial and ethnic lines in terms of who gets into college, who graduates and the size of the salaries that graduates command upon graduation.
Such are among the key findings of a new College Board report released today titled Education Pays 2010: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society.
The report delves into more than just the financial rewards of holding a college degree in today’s economy, showing, for instance, how college graduates were less likely to smoke or be obese than high school graduates; how they vote and volunteer more; are more satisfied with their jobs; and how their children enter school more academically prepared than the children of lesser-educated parents.
But the report is primarily meant to serve as a resource for those who give advice to others — particularly America’s youth — on whether going to college makes dollars and sense.
“Clearly, it shows that college does pay off for most people,” the report’s author, Dr. Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the College Board, told Diverse. “It pays off for individuals and it pays for society.”
For instance, the report shows that four-year college degree holders earned an average of $55,700 in 2008. That’s $21,900, or roughly 40 percent more than high school graduates earned the same year.
Even individuals with some college fared better than high school graduates, earning 17 percent more, the report shows.
