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.
