The Economic Value of Higher Learning

A very important decision has been made by parents who have personally accepted the responsibility for their children’s education. The decision to pay private school tuition for elementary and secondary education must be weighed in comparison to other uses for those dollars. I applaud those parents who have chosen to commit their resources now to provide the best elementary and secondary education. It is a wise investment.

In addition to the many quality of life benefits of a good education, there are also very significant financial rewards. Consider the following statistics from the 2010 U.S. Census:

Median 2010 Incomes for Persons 25 and Older

• No high school diploma – $25,705
• High school graduate – $35,035
• Associate degree – $42,419
• Bachelor’s degree – $55,864
• Master’s degree – $68,879
• Professional degree – $101,737

Multiply these annual earnings by the number of years in your child’s working career and you can see the yield from the investment in a quality education. Of course, benefits go beyond the individual to include the earner’s own family and to society in general. While everyone has heard of exceptions to these statistics, the majority of persons will fit into these general earnings brackets.

Another point: Nationally, approximately 80% of independent school graduates earn college degrees, which is about twice the percentage of public school graduates. When one considers the lifetime earnings benefit of a college degree, the yield on the investment is enormous.

Providing the best available education for our children should be viewed not as an expense, but as an investment in their future.