Making College Pay

A leading economist makes the case that college is still a smart investment, and reveals how to increase the odds of your degree paying off.
The cost of college makes for frightening headlines and politics. The outstanding balance of student loans is over $1.5 trillion nationally, while tuitions continue to rise. And with most students currently attending classes remotely from their dorm or childhood bedrooms, we have to wonder: Is college really worth it?
From a financial perspective, the answer is yes, says economist Elizabeth Akers: the average college graduate earns a million dollars more over their lifetime than someone without a degree. And the most elite 4-year colleges deliver 15 percent return on investment—double that of the stock market. Moreover, despite all the horror stories about burdensome student debt, most graduates actually owe very little in monthly payments, relative to their income.
Yes, college is expensive. But when we look at...