Do College Grads Earn More?

Hello.   This is Rebecca Kochenderfer from Homeschool.com.

Now that people are homeschooling so successfully through high school, is the next step homeschooling through college”?   My son thinks so.   He just finished his freshman year at a prestigious private university and was disappointed with the experience.   The classes he wanted to take were full and he felt he wasted a lot of time and money taking classes he wasn’t interested in.

Frankly, I think homeschooling has spoiled him.   He’s now trying to talk his dad and I into letting him homeschool his way through college and this brought up the questions, “Is a college education really worth the time and the money?”

I came across a study today that looks at the median personal incomes by educational attainment.

For people 25 and older (median personal income)–

High school graduate–$32,085

Some College–$39,150

Associates Degree–$42,382

Bachelor’s Degree–$52,493

Master’s Degree–$67,123

Professional Degree (nursing, lawyer, etc.)–$100,000

Doctorate–$78,324

So, if you are done with schooling at age 25, and you work for 40 years, you’ll earn $1,283,400 over your lifetime, not adjusted for inflation.

If you have your bachelors degree, you’ll earn $2,099,720.

If you have your Master’s degree, you’ll earn $2,684,920.

So, having a college degree makes a huge difference in earning potential in your lifetime.   It doubles your earning potential at the very least.

And if having a college degree is so valuable, how can a person create a meaningful, customized college experience for him or herself?

Have you ever heard of anyone who has homeschooled their way through college?   If you have, please write about it in the News Forum below and email a copy to me at: Rebecca@Homeschool.com.   I suspect this is the next frontier in homeschooling.

Keep learning all the time!

Rebecca Kochenderfer,

Senior Editor, Homeschool.com