Can you afford not to go to university?
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
Future of Work
The rising cost of tuition fees in some countries has led many to question if a university education is worth the investment.
Despite those increased costs, along with the student debt that often accompanies them, not obtaining some level of higher education can in fact be quite costly for millennials. Data from a Pew Research Center survey of 2,002 adults, which was supplemented by an analysis of economic data from the US Census Bureau, shows that university graduates earn on average 62% more than someone with only a high school education.
A lower paying job was not the only consequence of less education. Over 10% of those with only a high school education were unemployed, compared to only 3.8% of university graduates. Those with only a high school education were also more likely to live below the poverty line.
Author: Donald Armbrecht is a freelance writer and social media producer.
Image: Profile of students taking their seats for the diploma ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Jobs and the Future of WorkSee all
David Elliott
July 18, 2024
Peter Brown, Kathy Parker and Harriet Newlyn
July 15, 2024
Don Howard and George Zuo
July 9, 2024
James Fell and Linda Lacina
July 3, 2024
Sarah Hewitt
June 25, 2024
Patrick Tsang
June 25, 2024