AS THE deadline looms on November 1st for the first round of college applications, America’s annual admissions hysteria is reaching its peak. It is the first big financial decision young people make, and arguably the most important. The Pew Research Centre finds that employed college graduates aged 25-32 earn 63% more than those with only high-school degrees. But such returns come with ever-greater financial risk: since 1978, tuition fees have risen three times as fast as inflation.
College is still thought to be the best investment in America. But that view is based on broad averages, which obscure the differences among the country’s 7,800 higher-education institutions. Sadly for economists, students are not assigned to colleges randomly, which makes it difficult to determine which schools are worth the cost. Are Harvard graduates rich because they went to Harvard, or would such bright young things have succeeded regardless of where they studied?
This information void has severe consequences. American colleges are churning out more degrees than ever, but their graduates do not seem to have the skills employers want....Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1MkHhE3
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