Research shows value of college degree goes beyond ROI
Two East Carolina University researchers recently published a paper that examines how the overall benefits of earning a higher educational degree go far beyond return on investment.
Concerns about the rising cost of college and student debt have increased popularity in ROI calculators and ratings used to justify the cost of college based on future earnings. While appealing, the concept of ROI in higher education is much more complex, according to Drs. Beverly King and Meghan Millea.
ECU graduates celebrate turning their tassels at commencement in May. ECU researchers recently published a paper encouraging prospective students to consider more than ROI in measuring the overall benefit of earning a degree. (Photo by Rhett Butler)
King serves as project manager for a National Institutes of Health grant after retiring last year as ECU’s director of institutional research. Millea is a professor of economics in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.
Their paper titled “More Than a Paycheck: The Value of a College Degree” appears in the Journal of Higher Education Management, an American Association of University Administrators publication.
“Collapsing the goal of higher education to pay oversimplifies the objectives of degree-seekers who want good jobs,” according to the paper. “When considering employment goals, students and parents look beyond the dollar and consider higher-level attributes of employment.”
The benefits of a college degree are seen not only by graduates, but also their families, future children and society.
King and Millea summarized additional benefits that college provides, including critical thinking, more mature attitudes and values, better quality of life, intergenerational benefits to children, and commitment to community with increased levels of charitable giving and service. Studies also have shown a link between higher educational attainment and better cognitive function late in life with a reduced risk of dementia.
The authors encouraged national and state leaders, particularly in higher education, to consider the reasons why evaluating schools and programs simply on wage data can be misleading and potentially harmful.
“The bottom line is that a narrow definition of ROI that includes only individual earnings significantly underestimates the value of a college degree,” according to the article.
Prospective students and their families should be encouraged to evaluate the costs associated with college and ways to offset costs and debt.
“At the same time, however, they should also be aware that colleges and universities are in the business of turning out culturally literate, critically thinking and socially skilled individuals and that these attributes of a college-educated person provide a quality of life that goes far beyond a paycheck,” the authors said.
For their work, King and Millea have been awarded the Jerome L. Neuner Award for Professional Scholarly Publication by the AAUA, named for the two-time AAUA president and chair of the awards committee.
In announcing the award, Neuner said the article was “jargon-free, comprehensive in its review of the issue, well based in current research on the topic, and a positive contribution to the current acrimonious debate on the value of college.”
King and Millea will receive a plaque and be recognized at the AAUA annual meeting this fall.