A majority of Americans don’t think going into debt for a four-year college degree is worth it, according to a new study from Pew Research Center, released today. Only 22% of 5,200 survey respondents said that college is worth the cost if a student has to take on debt, while another 47% said a four-year degree is worth it only if the student doesn’t have to take out loans. That leaves 29% of respondents who say college isn’t worth its cost, regardless. Even a majority of college graduates themselves are skeptical of the value of a degree today—only a third say college is worth the cost if loans are required.
Maybe these findings shouldn’t be surprising. Total student debt in the U.S. has surpassed $1.6 trillion, with the average loan balance topping $29,000 for 2021-22 graduates. Published tuition prices have ticked up year after year, with some universities now charging more than $80,000 a year for tuition, fees, room and board (though at most private universities, very few, if any, students pay that price out of pocket).
While Americans have been souring on higher education, inflation-adjusted earnings for young adults (aged 25 to 34) without college degrees have risen over the past decade, after three decades of decline for men and stagnation for women, the Pew study shows. But the earnings of men are still not as high as they were in 1970 and the earnings gap with college graduates hasn’t closed. As for young women without college degrees, their earnings have been fairly stable since 1970, but are still far lower than for their male counterparts, or for better educated women.
In 2023, young men with a bachelor’s degree earned a median of $77,000, 71% more than the $45,000 median for men with only a high school diploma, while young women with a bachelor’s degree earned a median of $65,000, 81% more than the $36,000 median for women with only a high school diploma. (The salary figures are adjusted for inflation using 2022 dollars. It’s worth noting that current median salaries for young men with only high school diplomas are still lower than the median in 1970, which was $57,000.) The majority of the nation’s younger workers have not completed college. Of the 36 million workers in the U.S. aged 25 to 34, 19 million have completed only some college or less.
At the same time, after decades of degree-requirement inflation, employers have started to modify their job postings—a number of companies have removed degree requirements from their job listings, instead focusing on “skills-based hiring” strategies. (That said, a recent study found that most employers who have publicly embraced this strategy aren’t yet hiring more workers without college degrees for the reclassified jobs.)
All these trends likely contributed to what Pew found was a growing belief among the American public that a college degree isn’t as necessary to get a good job. Among all adults surveyed, 49% said a college degree was less important than 20 years ago when it comes to getting a well-paying job, while only 32% said it was more important. Republicans have soured more on the value of a degree—57% said it was less important and only 27% more important than two decades ago. But even Democrats are having doubts—43% said a degree was less important and 39% said it was more important.
Overall, only 25% of adults say that today it’s very or extremely important to have a four-year degree to get a well-paying job, while another 35% say it’s somewhat important, and 40% say it's not too or not at all important.
Pew surveyed 5,203 U.S. adults between Nov. 23 and Dec. 3, 2023 as part of its American Trends Panel, an online survey that selects participants using a random sampling of addresses. The results are weighted to be representative of the entire adult population with respect to race, gender, ethnicity and partisan affiliation. The study also relied on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve.
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Data from 1 in 4 higher education institutions shows that, a decade after enrolling, the average salary for college attendees is less than the average salary of high school graduates. A majority (56%) of Americans don't think that a college degree is worth the cost, a recent survey found.
Currently, California workers with a bachelor's degree earn a median annual wage of $81,000. In contrast, only 6 percent of workers with less than a high school diploma earn that much (12% of those with at most a high school diploma).
If you have too much student loan debt, you won't be able to save as much for retirement. Student loan debt can lower your credit score, especially if you fail to make on-time payments. Student debts may be forgiven under certain circ*mstances, but almost never if they are in default.
Borrowing to earn a four-year college degree typically pays off, according to research from the College Board, a company that helps prepare students for higher education. This conclusion holds true even after considering the time out of the labor force when a student could have been earning money.
Thus, while the benefits of college still outweigh the costs on average, not all college degrees are an equally good investment. The economic benefits of a college degree can be thought of as the extra wages one can earn with a college degree relative to what one would earn without one.
College graduates still enjoy higher earnings than the average U.S. worker. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that in 2022, bachelor's degree holders took home a median wage of $1,432 per week, while workers with just a high school diploma earned only $853. That's a difference of 68%.
The negative effects of student loan debt aren't just financial either. In our own research at Ramsey Solutions, we found that 53% of those who took out student loans regretted it. And 43% of those who took out student loans regret going to college altogether.
As of the first quarter of 2023, student loan debt in the U.S. stands at a total of over $1.77 trillion. More than 92% of this is federal student loan debt, while the remaining amount is owed on private student loans.
Just because the average student graduates with nearly $40,000 worth of student loans to repay, it doesn't mean you have to choose between college or debt. There are ways to minimize the cost of college, and the amount you need to take out in loans, such as: Save up for college during a gap year.
Less Stress. According to a Gallup-Purdue University study, college graduates with no student loan debts reported higher levels of happiness and were more successful in their personal and professional lives compared to students with debt. ...
Many students borrow to fund a portion of their college expenses. Each year, 30 to 40 percent of all undergraduate students take federal student loans; 70 percent of students who receive a bachelor's degree have education debt by the time they graduate.
Midwestern State University, located in Wichita Falls, Texas, left students with the most debt after their accepted their diplomas. Nearly every 2020 graduate from Midwestern State University — 97% — left the school with debt.
Research from EducationData.org shows that almost 45.3 million Americans hold an average federal student loan debt balance of $37,338. Combined, student loan debt in the U.S. adds up to nearly $2 trillion. According to the same data, the average student loan monthly payment is $503.
The median student debt load was $15,123. This means half of all students graduate with more debt, half with less. Add in $1,645 median credit card debt for new college graduates. That means that half of graduating undergraduates are more than $16,768 in debt as they walk across the stage to get their diplomas.
Today, more than half of students leave school with debt. Here's a snapshot of how much the average student borrows, what types of loans are most common and how those loans are repaid.
Regardless, one rule of thumb for student debt is that you should try not to borrow more than the first year salary you can expect in your chosen field. This means that if you expect to earn $38,000 in the first year of your career, you should try to borrow $38,000 or less for your degree.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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