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Is College Worth It?

A response to a post in a long line of articles regarding the value college:
 
For economic reasons, an undergraduate is worth it because you can't get a master's degree otherwise.  With an increasing number of people with 4 year degrees, and the growing divide between degreed and non-degreed, as well as the increased risk of off-shoring, a young person today needs to be more qualified than ever.  A master's degree is no guarantee of a job, but it certainly correlates with better outcomes.  A better question might be to ask if a master's degree worth it, and even that is often dubious.

As for the non-economic reasons, continued education correlates with many positive outcomes in life - with the awareness that some positive aspects are correlates of higher incomes and intelligence - and extending education as long as possible is a social good, particularly since modern life is more complicated than ever.

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James Igoe said…
A unrelated but supporting article from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/education/edlife/edl-24masters-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
7:51 AM, July 24, 2011
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