Economist Justin Wolfers is pushing back against skepticism about higher education, arguing that a college degree remains one of the most valuable investments a person can make.
College Degree Delivers Million-Dollar Lifetime Payoff
In an interview last month highlighted by MSNBC, "The Professor Is In," Wolfers said the financial returns from completing college are "quite extraordinary."
He explained that, on average, graduates earn more than $1 million in additional income over their lifetimes compared to those without a degree.
"The lifetime return to college remains enormous: four years of study adds more than a million dollars to expected earnings," Wolfers wrote Monday on X, posting a clip of the interview.
"It may not feel like it, but these might be the highest earning years of your career."
Education Shields Graduates From Rising Job Market Risks
Wolfers acknowledged that some graduates struggle early on, but stressed the bigger picture. "You can think about a college degree as inoculating you against unemployment," he said.
"It will be hard sometimes to find a job, but it's still so much easier when you do have that college degree in hand."
According to Wolfers, the unemployment rate for degree holders sits at about 2.5%, far lower than for those with only a high school education.
Rising Costs And Shifting Views On The Value Of College
Warren Buffett, despite holding degrees from Nebraska and Columbia, often argued that college was not essential for everyone. He once said some people gained a lot from higher education while others did not, viewing college as an investment with no guaranteed payoff.
Earlier in the year, Mark Zuckerberg argued that the cost-value equation of college was breaking down as tuition soared and job guarantees weakened.
The Meta founder, who had dropped out of Harvard University, warned that ballooning tuition and $1.77 trillion in U.S. student loan debt were driving the system toward "a reckoning." He noted that many graduates left school burdened with debt and uncertain career paths.
In August, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya shifted his stance on college. While he had once encouraged his son to attend for "culture."
He later warned that an entire generation had been given flawed advice about higher education versus skilled trades, especially as new federal loan restrictions threatened to reshape the student debt market.
In the same month, a college dropout, Sebastian Tan, who was slated to begin his freshman year at Stanford University, told Business Insider that he changed course after reading Peter Thiel's Zero to One.
He applied for Palantir's Meritocracy Fellowship, earned a spot, and deferred his enrollment until 2026. Tan explained that in the fast-moving tech world, the opportunity cost of college was too high, saying that "if you're in school all day, the world just passes you by."
Photo Courtesy: izzuanroslan from Shutterstock
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