by Mr. Aquarist

Created on: February 09, 2009

A good college education, as good Mastercard prose would say, is priceless. When considering the cost of a college education, consider this: college debt is probably the best debt you can have, and if you later default on your loans, the bank cannot repossess your education!

When it boils down to cost effectiveness with a college education, there is nothing more cost effective. You initial investment in your own or a relative's college education can reap some pretty big returns further down the road. Consider the intial investment for just a bachelor's degree. Four years of college run between $12,000 and $36,000 for 63% of full-time undergraduates attending four year institutions (College Board). The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that a person with a bachelor's degree will earn over one million dollars more than a person who has just a high school diploma (USBLS). Based on these data and statistics, that is a whopping 2,700% ROI (return on investment) over a 50 year period (lifetime) for $36,000-worth-of-college. If the rock solid statistics do not sway you, then job security will. The unemployment rate, again for just a bachelor's degree, is 2.2% lower than a person who holds only a high school diploma (USBLS).

Not only is a college education the best investment that you can make for yourself or a relative, but it is also the best controlled. An investment with a guaranteed and fixed return, the only thing better would be if you could control how much your investment is; with a college education, you can. Families typically spend years saving up for college, so it is usually fairly simple for someone to venture off to a school and return with little or no indebtedness, but a valuable degree. Also, financial aid really aids you financially. You can receive government loans at low interest rates (sometimes even subsidized while you're in school) in addition to a plethora of grants, scholarships and tuition waiviers. Buying books used and procuring state residency if attending a public institution can greatly reduce your initial investment for the degree being sought.

The benefits to be reaped from a good college education are priceless. Even so, there are also ways to lower the overall costs of attending a four year institution. But no where in the current state of the economy will you find something more cost effective than a college education.

References:

(College Board) http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/cos t06/trends_college_pricing_06.pdf

(USBLS) http://www.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm

Learn more about this author, Mr. Aquarist.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.