<story><title>Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]</title><url>https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/files/pdfs/hfs/is-college-worth-it/emmons_kent_ricketts_college_still_worth_it.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>seem_2211</author><text>I have a degree from a no-name university in New Zealand. I&amp;#x27;d do it again for a few pragmatic reasons.&lt;p&gt;1: Lots of companies will reject you on sight without a degree. I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s a good thing, but it is reality.&lt;p&gt;2: With a degree your ability to move overseas dramatically improves. I moved to America after graduating. I flat out couldn&amp;#x27;t have done that without a degree. Points based systems immigration systems like New Zealand have dramatic bonuses for people with degrees.&lt;p&gt;3: You don&amp;#x27;t have to jump through the hoops and explain why you don&amp;#x27;t have a degree all the time. Stupid reason I know, but it&amp;#x27;s something I&amp;#x27;ve seen friends without degrees have to do constantly - and not just in career situations. As I mentioned, I went to a no-name university. If you live in NZ, you&amp;#x27;ll know it. If you&amp;#x27;re an American, chances are, you&amp;#x27;ve never heard of it. But because I have a degree, it doesn&amp;#x27;t ever really come up.&lt;p&gt;4: The cost isn&amp;#x27;t that bad, when you spread it out over a career. My degree &amp;amp; living costs cost about $60k NZD (~$40k USD). That&amp;#x27;s $1k USD &amp;#x2F; year, or $.50 per hour. Considering how my income has multiplied in the few years since I&amp;#x27;ve graduated (SF wages help tremendously here), the actual cost is barely anything, even when you control for the opportunity cost of studying.&lt;p&gt;Where I think College returns make a lot less sense&lt;p&gt;• Paying out of state tuition for lifestyle reasons, when you&amp;#x27;re going into a relatively low paid field afterwards (e.g. teaching).&lt;p&gt;• Paying private school tuition at a school without a strong reputation&lt;p&gt;• Grad school, in general, seems to be a rip off</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amiga_500</author><text>You didn&amp;#x27;t go to uni in the USA and the paper is by the St Louis Fed on USA grads.&lt;p&gt;You took your degree in a country with far lower inequality and better inward education investment, and then jumped over to work in a country that doesn&amp;#x27;t tax people enough to support USA students.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d imagine that is pretty good value.</text></comment>
<story><title>Is College Still Worth It? The New Calculus of Falling Returns [pdf]</title><url>https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/files/pdfs/hfs/is-college-worth-it/emmons_kent_ricketts_college_still_worth_it.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>seem_2211</author><text>I have a degree from a no-name university in New Zealand. I&amp;#x27;d do it again for a few pragmatic reasons.&lt;p&gt;1: Lots of companies will reject you on sight without a degree. I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s a good thing, but it is reality.&lt;p&gt;2: With a degree your ability to move overseas dramatically improves. I moved to America after graduating. I flat out couldn&amp;#x27;t have done that without a degree. Points based systems immigration systems like New Zealand have dramatic bonuses for people with degrees.&lt;p&gt;3: You don&amp;#x27;t have to jump through the hoops and explain why you don&amp;#x27;t have a degree all the time. Stupid reason I know, but it&amp;#x27;s something I&amp;#x27;ve seen friends without degrees have to do constantly - and not just in career situations. As I mentioned, I went to a no-name university. If you live in NZ, you&amp;#x27;ll know it. If you&amp;#x27;re an American, chances are, you&amp;#x27;ve never heard of it. But because I have a degree, it doesn&amp;#x27;t ever really come up.&lt;p&gt;4: The cost isn&amp;#x27;t that bad, when you spread it out over a career. My degree &amp;amp; living costs cost about $60k NZD (~$40k USD). That&amp;#x27;s $1k USD &amp;#x2F; year, or $.50 per hour. Considering how my income has multiplied in the few years since I&amp;#x27;ve graduated (SF wages help tremendously here), the actual cost is barely anything, even when you control for the opportunity cost of studying.&lt;p&gt;Where I think College returns make a lot less sense&lt;p&gt;• Paying out of state tuition for lifestyle reasons, when you&amp;#x27;re going into a relatively low paid field afterwards (e.g. teaching).&lt;p&gt;• Paying private school tuition at a school without a strong reputation&lt;p&gt;• Grad school, in general, seems to be a rip off</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>xenihn</author><text>Moving overseas is the top benefit of having a relevant (not just any) degree IMO. I&amp;#x27;m grateful that American cities are still the best places in the world to work as a software engineer, but that could always change. I&amp;#x27;m hoping a non-STEM degree combined with 6+ years of experience will still let me move around easily.</text></comment>