So, I'm not certain that college is really worth it, but there're a lot of misleading statistics in the infographic:
1. The cost of attending a private vs. public university does not include financial aid. For many middle-income kids, the actual price of attending a private university is often less than that of attending a state school, because the private university may give you a full ride based on need, while the state school has much less resources to spend on financial aid.
2. The "17 years to make up the difference" figure is based on starting salaries, but it doesn't account for raises that occur soon afterwards. Many of college friends went into financial, software or consulting businesses at around $55K/year - 4 years later, they're now making well over 6 figures. Many of my high school friends went into local or boutique businesses at around $50k/year - 4 years later, they are still making $50k/year, or worse, they've lost their jobs because of the economic crash.
3. "1 out of 2 students fail to correctly analyze prose" - ironic, because of the inaccuracies in the infographic...
The numbers spent partying/drinking/videogaming seem about right though. I think it's pretty likely that college is a bubble, but I don't like to see some of the financial myths repeated. If you get into Yale and you get decent financial aid, you should probably go, because that degree is worth a lot more than one from UConn, and the people who write for FastCompany often have no idea about the inner workings of the financial aid system.
The financial aid available at top-tier schools is very generous, because so few low-income students make up the undergraduate body. If I recall correctly, at the top 120 colleges in the United States, only 3% of the student body come from families in the bottom quintile of household income.
As a result, schools such as Harvard[1] and Stanford[2] pay for all tuition for students with a household income of less than $60,000.
Right. Which means that if you are a lower-income student with the academic chops to make it into Harvard or Stanford, it very much behooves you to go. You get a fully subsidized education, and it probably makes much more of a difference to your bottom-line earnings than if you were a child of upper-income parents that's always figured you were going to Harvard.
1. The cost of attending a private vs. public university does not include financial aid. For many middle-income kids, the actual price of attending a private university is often less than that of attending a state school, because the private university may give you a full ride based on need, while the state school has much less resources to spend on financial aid.
2. The "17 years to make up the difference" figure is based on starting salaries, but it doesn't account for raises that occur soon afterwards. Many of college friends went into financial, software or consulting businesses at around $55K/year - 4 years later, they're now making well over 6 figures. Many of my high school friends went into local or boutique businesses at around $50k/year - 4 years later, they are still making $50k/year, or worse, they've lost their jobs because of the economic crash.
3. "1 out of 2 students fail to correctly analyze prose" - ironic, because of the inaccuracies in the infographic...
The numbers spent partying/drinking/videogaming seem about right though. I think it's pretty likely that college is a bubble, but I don't like to see some of the financial myths repeated. If you get into Yale and you get decent financial aid, you should probably go, because that degree is worth a lot more than one from UConn, and the people who write for FastCompany often have no idea about the inner workings of the financial aid system.