In “Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?” The New York Times tackles the resounding question on many concerned parents’ minds. Unfortunately, there is no easy or straightforward answer.
A few studies have made some headway on the subject. A paper by economists from the RAND Corporation and Cornell and Brigham Young Universities found that, 10 years after graduating high school, graduates from the most selective universities earned an average yearly salary of 40 percent more than alumni from the least selective colleges. Also, “attendance at an elite private college significantly increases the probability of attending graduate school, and more specifically graduate school at a major research university.” However, these findings are more than 10 years old, and since then, as the article puts it, “the full sticker price for elite private colleges has far outstripped the pace of inflation, to say nothing of the cost of many of their public school peers.”
Plus, it is crucial to take the individuals into account—do graduates from elite schools perform better due to the influence of the schools or the inherent abilities of the individuals themselves? In 1999, economists from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University compared students at more selective institutions to others of “seemingly comparative ability,” who had attended less selective colleges, and found that both groups’ earnings were about the same.
Economic success aside, what about satisfaction? An article in the Journal of Labor Research concludes that, when examining whether alumni from elite schools were more satisfied in their work than those from less prestigious schools, “job satisfaction decreases slightly as college selectivity moves up.” This disparity could be attributed to higher expectations from elite college grads, and thus greater disappointment.
With this discrepant information, what is the best plan of action for high school students—and their parents? A lot depends on their financial situation and career aspirations. Those from less affluent backgrounds, for example, may find that a state school with a “large, passionate alumni body” may be more helpful in seeking a reliable job straight after graduation. According to some researchers, more important than a school’s prestige is if the student takes advantage of its educational offerings. Thus, “in this analysis, one’s major—and how it aligns with the departmental strengths of a university—may be more significant than the place in the academic pecking order awarded to that college by the statisticians at U.S. News.”
Consequently, without hard numbers, we can’t decisively conclude whether a school’s prestige is worth the money. Each college applicant must make that difficult decision for him- and herself.
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Read the full article: A College’s Prestige: Is it Worth it?
