Is a Liberal Arts Education Worth It in Todays Economy and Job Market

The American debate over whether a college education is worth it began when the colonists arrived from Europe and founded "New College" (afterward renamed Harvard Academy) in 1636. Today, there are around twenty million college students in the United States, and over 44 million borrowers owe a commonage $1.5 trillion in total student debt.

People who debate that college is worth information technology contend that college graduates have college employment rates, bigger salaries, and more than work benefits than high schoolhouse graduates. They say higher graduates also have meliorate interpersonal skills, live longer, have healthier children, and have proven their ability to achieve a major milestone.

People who argue that higher is not worth it contend that the debt from college loans is as well high and delays graduates from saving for retirement, buying a firm, or getting married. They say many successful people never graduated from college and that many jobs, especially trades jobs, practise non require college degrees. Read more background…

Pro & Con Arguments

Pro 1

College graduates brand more money.

The boilerplate college graduate makes $570,000 more than than the average high schoolhouse graduate over a lifetime. [126] Career earnings for college graduates are 71% to 136% higher than those of high school graduates. [122] The Federal Reserve Banking concern of New York calculated a 14% charge per unit of render on a available's caste, which constitutes a expert investment. Higher graduates earn an average of $78,000, a 75% wage premium over the boilerplate $45,000 annual earnings for workers with only a high school diploma. [128] 85% of Forbes' America'due south 400 Richest People list were college grads. [12]

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Pro two

Jobs increasingly require college degrees.

Only 34% of American jobs crave a high schoolhouse diploma or less in 2017, compared to 72% in the 1970s. [105] During the recession between Dec. 2007 and Jan. 2010, jobs requiring college degrees grew past 187,000, while jobs requiring some college or an acquaintance's degree fell by 1.75 million and jobs requiring a high school degree or less barbarous by 5.6 meg. [thirteen] Co-ordinate to researchers at Georgetown University, 99% of job growth (or 11.5 one thousand thousand of 11.6 million jobs) betwixt 2010 and 2016 went to workers with associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees or graduate degrees. [104]

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Pro iii

Higher graduates have more and ameliorate employment opportunities.

85.ii% of college freshman said they attended higher to "be able to get a better job." [106] The unemployment charge per unit for Americans over 25 with a bachelor'southward degree was 1.9% in Dec. 2019, compared to two.7% for those with some higher or associate's degrees, three.7% for high schoolhouse graduates, and 5.2% for loftier school drop-outs. [116] Underemployment, meaning bereft work, is lower for college grads (6.2%) every bit compared to high school-only graduates (12.9%) and people without a high school diploma (xviii.seven%). [101] 58% of college graduates and people with some college or associate'southward degrees reported being "very satisfied" with their jobs compared to 50% of high school graduates and forty% of people without a loftier schoolhouse diploma. [11]

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Pro 4

College graduates are more likely to have health insurance and retirement plans.

70% of college graduates had access to employer-provided health insurance compared to 50% of high school graduates in 2008. [xv] 70% of college graduates 25 years quondam and older had access to retirement plans in 2008 compared to 65% of associate's degree holders, 55% of loftier school graduates, and 30% of people who did non complete high schoolhouse. [11]

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Pro 5

Immature adults learn interpersonal skills in college.

Students accept the opportunity to collaborate with other students and faculty, to join pupil organizations and clubs, and to take part in discussions and debates. According to Arthur Chickering'southward "7 Vectors" student development theory, "developing mature interpersonal relationships" is ane of the 7 stages students progress through as they attend college. [sixteen] Students ranked "interpersonal skills" as the near important skill used in their daily lives in a 1994 survey of 11,000 college students. [17] Vivek Wadhwa, MBA, engineering entrepreneur and scholar, states, "American children party [in college]. But you know something, past partying, they learn social skills. They learn how to collaborate with each other…They develop skills which make them innovative. Americans are the almost innovative people in the globe because of the educational activity arrangement." [18]

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Pro half-dozen

College graduates are healthier and live longer.

83% of higher graduates reported being in first-class health, while 73% of high school graduates reported the same. [11] A 2018 University of Southern California written report found that adults over 65 with college degrees spent more years with "adept cognition" and fewer years suffering from dementia than adults who did non complete high school. [120] In 2008, twenty% of all adults were smokers, while 9% of higher graduates were smokers. [xi] 63% of 25 to 34 year old college graduates reported exercising vigorously at least once a week compared to 37% of loftier school graduates. [11] College degrees were linked to lower blood pressure in a xxx-yr peer-reviewed study and lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) by a Carnegie Mellon Psychology department study. [fifteen] In 2008, 23% of higher graduates aged 35 to 44 years one-time were obese compared to 37% of high school graduates. [eleven] College graduates, on average, live six years longer than high school graduates. [19] [20]

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Pro 7

Higher graduates accept lower poverty rates.

The 2008 poverty rate for bachelor's caste holders was 4%, compared to a 12% poverty rate for high school graduates. [11] In 2005, married couples with bachelor's degrees were least likely to exist below the poverty line (1.viii%) compared to 2.7% of acquaintance's degree holders, iv.6% of couples with some college, and 7.1% of loftier schoolhouse graduates. [21] According to the United states of america Census Bureau, 1% of college graduates participated in social support programs like Medicaid, National Schoolhouse Lunch Plan, and food stamps compared to 8% of high school graduates in 2008. [11]

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Pro 8

The children of college graduates are healthier and more than prepared for school.

A Lancet medical journal study from 1970 to 2009 showed college graduates had lower infant mortality rates than high school graduates. [15] Mothers with but a high school pedagogy are 31% more likely to give birth to a low-birth-weight babe than a adult female with a college degree. [11] Children aged 2 to 5 years old in households headed by college graduates have a vi% obesity charge per unit compared to 14% for children in households headed by loftier school graduates. [eleven] 18% more children aged 3 to 5 years quondam with mothers who have a bachelor'due south degree could recognize all messages compared to children of high schoolhouse graduates. [11] In 2010, 59% of children in elementary and eye school with at least one college graduate for a parent participated in after-school activities like sports, arts, and scouting compared 27% for high school graduate parents. [21]

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Pro 9

College graduates are more productive every bit members of club.

Henry Bienan, PhD, President Emeritus of Northwestern University, argues that a higher education results in "greater productivity, lower crime, improve health, [and] better citizenship for more than educated people." [22] A 2009 written report plant sixteen to 24 yr old high school drop-outs were 63% more likely to exist incarcerated than those with a bachelor's degree or higher. [23] According to the Agency of Labor Statistics, from Sep. 2008 to Sep. 2009, 43% of college graduates did volunteer piece of work compared to 19% of high schoolhouse graduates and 27% of adults in full general. [11] In 2005, college graduates were more similar to have donated blood in the past year (9%) than people with some college (6%), high schoolhouse graduates (4%), and people who did not consummate high schoolhouse (2%). [21]

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Pro 10

College graduates attract higher-paying employers to their communities.

A 1% increase in college graduates in a customs increases the wages of workers without a high school diploma by 1.9% and the wages of high school graduates past 1.6%. [21]

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Pro 11

Learning is always worthwhile.

According to Rebecca Mead, staff author for The New Yorker, college teaches students "to nurture disquisitional thought; to expose individuals to the indicate accomplishments of humankind; to develop in them an ability non merely to listen actively only to respond intelligently." [24] In 2011 74% of students said college helped them "grow intellectually" and 69% said higher helped them grow and mature as people. [25] Jonathan D. Fitzgerald, MA, Visiting Professor at Eastern Nazarene College, argues, "The value of a liberal arts higher education –to you, to employers– is that yous've spent iv years in a identify where you lot were forced to consider new ideas, to meet new people, to enquire new questions, and to learn to think, to socialize, to imagine. If you graduate, you lot will become a degree, simply if you are non a very different person from who are you are today, and then college failed." [26]

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Pro 12

College allows students to explore career options.

Colleges offer career services, internships, task shadowing, job fairs, and volunteer opportunities in improver to a broad multifariousness of courses that may provide a career direction. Over fourscore% of higher students complete internships earlier graduation, giving them valuable employment feel earlier inbound the job marketplace. [27]

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Pro xiii

People who do not become to college are more than likely to be unemployed and, therefore, place undue financial strain on social club, making a higher degree worth information technology to taxpayers.

Young people "not engaged in employment/education or training," AKA NEET, are more likely to receive welfare than youth in general, they are more likely to commit crimes, and they are more likely to receive public health care, all costing the government extra money. In total, each NEET youth between the ages of 16 and 25 impose a $51,350 financial burden on order per year, and after the person is 25 he or she will impose a fiscal brunt of $699,770. [28] The total toll of 6.7% of the The states population existence NEET youth is $iv.75 trillion, which is comparable to half of the Usa public debt. [29]

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Pro 14

Colleges provide networking value.

Harvard Business concern Schoolhouse estimates that 65 to 85% of jobs are acquired through networking. [30] College students can join fraternities and sororities, clubs, and teams besides as participate in a variety of social functions to meet new people and network with possible business connections. Internships offered through colleges often atomic number 82 to mentors or useful contacts inside a pupil's preferred field. Many colleges offering social media workshops, networking tips, career-related consultation, and alumni networks. [31]

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Pro 15

College education has a high return as an investment.

Return on investment (ROI) is calculated by dividing the proceeds from an investment (here the coin earned as a upshot of a college caste) by the cost of the investment (the money spent on a college degree). A higher degree has a return of fifteen% per year as an investment, larger than the stock market (6.8%) and housing (0.four%). [32] Completing some higher, only non earning a degree, resulted in a 9.ane% return on investment. [8] If a student spent $17,860 (the average cost of tuition and room and board in 2012-2013 for four years at a public university [33]), that pupil could expect a xv% render of $ii,679 each year. Co-ordinate to a 2011 Pew Research survey, 86% of college graduates believed college was a good personal investment. [25]

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Pro 16

College exposes students to diverse people and ideas.

Students alive, go to classes, and socialize with other students from around the world and acquire from professors with a diverseness of expertise. The community of people on a college campus means students are likely to make diverse friends and business connections, and, potentially, find a spouse or mate. Access to a variety of people allows college students to learn about dissimilar cultures, religions, and personalities they may accept not been exposed to in their habitation towns, which broadens their knowledge and perspective. seventy.7% of college freshman in 2015 said they expected to socialize with someone of another racial or ethnic group while in college, while 59.i% said college would assist improve their understanding of other countries and cultures. [106]

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Pro 17

Earning a higher degree is a major life achievement.

College graduation can correspond an attainment of the American Dream, the culmination of years of hard work for the student, and the payoff for sacrifices made by supporting parents and friends. Blogger Darrius Listen wrote that his graduation twenty-four hours at Wilberforce Academy was, "probably the best twenty-four hour period of my entire life. That was the twenty-four hour period I finished my challenge to myself and also the mean solar day I made history in my family unit, it was the day I EARNED my college degree." [34]

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Con i

Student loan debt is crippling for college graduates.

About 44 million Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in student debt. [123] [125] 45% of people with student loan debt say college was not worth information technology. [107] 10% of students graduate with over $forty,000 in debt and about 1% have $100,000 in debt. [36] In February. 2018, undergraduate higher graduates had an average of $37,172 in loan debt. [123] Co-ordinate to the US Congress Joint Economic Commission, approximately 60% of college graduates have student loan debt balances equal to 60% of their annual income. [37] Missing late for loan payments leads to lower credit scores and additional fees, worsening the debt problem. [36]

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Con 2

Student loan debt often forces college graduates to alive with their parents and delay wedlock, financial independence, and other developed milestones.

20% of millennials are homeowners, and well-nigh millennials say their student debt has delayed home ownership by seven years on average. [121] Student loan borrowers delayed retirement saving (41%), motorcar purchases (forty%), home purchases (29%), and marriage (fifteen%). [38] Less than l% of women and thirty% of men had passed the "transition to adulthood" milestones by age 30 (finishing school, moving out of their parents' homes, existence financially independent, marrying, and having children); in 1960, 77% of women and 65% of men had completed these milestones by age thirty. [39]

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Con 3

Many higher graduates are employed in jobs that do not require higher degrees.

According to the Department of Labor, as many equally 17 million college graduates work in positions that did not crave a college education. [vi] i in iii college graduates had a job that required a loftier school diploma or less in 2012. [5] More than 16,000 parking lot attendants, 83,000 bartenders, 115,000 janitors and xv% of taxi drivers have bachelor'southward degrees. [six] College graduates with jobs that do not require college degrees earn xxx-40% less per calendar week than those who work in jobs requiring higher degrees. [twoscore]

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Con iv

Many recent college graduates are un- or underemployed.

The unemployment rate for contempo college graduates (4.0%) exceeded the boilerplate for all workers, including those without a caste (3.6%) in 2019. The underemployment rate was 34% for all college graduates and 41.1% for contempo grads. [129] The underemployment (insufficient work) rate for college graduates in 2015 was six.ii% overall: v.two% for white graduates, eight.4% for Hispanic graduates, and 9.seven% for blackness graduates. [101] According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 44% of contempo college graduates were underemployed in 2012. [42]

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Con 5

Many people succeed without college degrees.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the xxx projected fastest growing jobs between 2010 and 2020, five do not require a loftier school diploma, nine crave a high school diploma, iv crave an acquaintance's degree, six require a bachelor's degree, and six require graduate degrees. [43] The following successful people either never enrolled in college or never completed their college degrees: Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group; Charles Culpepper, owner and CEO of Coca Cola; Ellen Degeneres, comedian and actress; Michael Dell, founder of Dell, Inc.; Walt Disney, Disney Corporation founder; Pecker Gates, Microsoft founder; Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple; Wolfgang Puck, chef and restauranteur; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. [44]

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Con 6

Many students do not graduate and waste their ain and their government'southward coin.

Almost 19% of students who enroll in college exercise not return for the second yr. [117] Students who drop out during the first year of higher cost states $1.iii billion and the federal government $300 1000000 per year in wasted educatee grant programs and government appropriations for colleges. [l] Overall, 41% of students at 4-twelvemonth colleges and universities did non graduate within vi years: 41% at public schools, 34% at private non-profits, and 77% at individual for-profits. [117] Students who did not graduate inside six years accounted for $3.8 billion in lost income, $566 million in lost federal income taxes, and $164 million in lost land income taxes in one year. [50]

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Con 7

Student debt overwhelms many seniors.

Whether they co-signed for a kid or grandchild's educational activity, or took out loans for their own educations, in 2012 there were half dozen.ix million student loan borrowers anile fifty and over who collectively owed $155 billion with individual average balances between $19,521 and $23,820. [51] Of the 6.9 1000000 borrowers, 24.7% were more than 90 days delinquent in payments. [51] Almost 119,000 of older borrowers in default were having a portion of their Social Security payments garnished by the US government in 2012. [52]

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Con viii

Learning a trade profession is a meliorate option than college for many young adults.

Trade professions are necessary for social club to part, require less than 4 years of grooming, and ofttimes pay above average wages. The high number of young adults choosing college over learning a trade has created a 'skills gap' in the Us and there is now a shortage of 'center-skill" trade workers like machinists, electricians, plumbers, and construction workers. Ane 2011 survey of United states manufacturers constitute that 67% reported a "moderate to severe shortage of talent," [53] "Heart-skill" jobs stand for one-half of all jobs in the US that pay eye-class wages. [54] According to the Agency of Labor Statistics, "middle-skill" jobs volition make up 45% of projected chore openings through 2014, but every bit of 2012 only 25% of the workforce had the skills to make full those jobs. [55]

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Con ix

College degrees do not guarantee learning or job preparation.

Many students graduate from college with little understanding of math, reading, civics, or economics. [56] In 2011, 35% of students enrolled in college reported they studied 5 hours or less per calendar week and at that place was a 50% decline in the number of hours a educatee studied and prepared for classes compared to a few decades ago. [57] 36% of students demonstrated no significant improvement on Collegiate Learning Assessments after 4 years of higher. [58] In 2013 56% of employers idea one-half or fewer of college graduates had the skills and knowledge to accelerate within their companies. [59] 30% of college graduates felt college did not set up them well for employment, specifically in terms of technical and quantitative reasoning skills. [60] A 2011 Pew Research survey institute that 57% of Americans felt higher didactics did not provide students with good value compared to the money spent. [25]

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Con ten

Educatee debt could cause another financial crisis.

As of 2012 student loan debt was over $1 trillion dollars, and more than 850,000 student loans were in default. [61] Co-ordinate to the National Association of Consumer Defalcation Attorneys, student loans are "first to have the aforementioned effect" on the economy that the housing bubble and crash created. [62] Former Secretary of Education William Bennett, PhD, agrees that the student loan debt crisis "is a fell bicycle of bad lending policies eerily similar to the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis." [63] On February. 3, 2012, an informational council to the Federal Reserve as well warned that the growth in student debt "has parallels to the housing crisis." [64] Every bit of January. 2013, the charge per unit of default on student loans hit 15.1%–a nearly 22% increase since 2007. [65]

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Con eleven

Tuition has risen quicker than income, making higher unaffordable for many.

A Mar. 2017 written report establish that 14% of community higher students were homeless and 51% had housing insecurity issues (disability to pay rent or utilities, for example), while 33% experienced food insecurity (lack of access to or ability to pay for "nutritionally adequate and safe foods"), though 58% of the students were employed and 42% received federal Pell Grants. [111] From the 1986-1987 school year to the 2016-2017 school year, the average cost of i year of college (including room and board) increased for 4-year individual schools (109.6%) and 4-year public schools (125.7%), while median family income only increased 10.0% between 1986 and 2015. [112] [113] From the 1976-1977 schoolhouse twelvemonth to the 2016-2017 school yr, annual tuition rates rose for community colleges (173.one%), 4-year public colleges (271.2%), and private 4-year colleges (213.5%). [112]

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Con 12

Likewise many students earning degrees has diluted the value of a bachelor's degree.

Rita McGrath, PhD, Associate Professor at Columbia Business School, stated "Having a bachelor'due south used to be more than rare and candidates with the degree could therefore exist more choosy and were more expensive to rent. Today, that is no longer the case." [68] A high unemployment rate shifts the supply and demand to the employers' favor and has made master'south degrees the "new available's degrees." [68] Co-ordinate to James Altucher, venture capitalist and finance author, "college graduates hire only higher graduates, creating a closed arrangement that permits schools to accuse exorbitant prices and forces students to take on crippling debt." [69]

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Con thirteen

The total cost of going to college also includes the cost of missing opportunities to brand coin at a job.

The total cost of going to college ways more than than tuition, fees, and books; it also includes an opportunity price which equals at least 4 years of missed wages and advancements from a full-fourth dimension task–about $49,000 for a four-year degree and $20,000 for a two-yr caste. [viii]

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Con 14

A higher caste is no guarantee of workplace benefits.

In 2013, 68.9% of employed new college graduates did not receive wellness insurance through their employers and, in 2011, 27.2% received retirement coverage (down from 41.5% in 2000). [41]

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Con 15

Educatee loan debt may not be forgiven in bankruptcy and may not have the aforementioned borrower protections as other consumer debt.

A report found lx% of people attempting to discharge educatee loan debt in bankruptcy were unsuccessful. [70] Medical, legal, credit carte, loan, and even gambling debt tin immediately be discharged in defalcation, but getting student loan debt discharged is much more hard and rare. [71] Private educatee loans often practise not have the same protections as federal loans similar income-based repayments, discharges upon death, or armed services deferments. [61]

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Con sixteen

Colleges may be indoctrinating students instead of educating them.

According to William Hare, PhD, Professor Emeritus at Mount Saint Vincent University, "teachers may corruption their power and potency and seek to impose sure beliefs and values, actively discouraging their students from raising problems or objections." [72] A 2010-2011 UCLA survey of full-time faculty at four-year colleges establish 50.3% identified as "liberal" compared to 11.v% who identified as "bourgeois." [73] David Horowitz, MA, conservative activist and writer, asserts that academy "curriculum has been expanded to include agendas about 'social change' that are overtly political." [74]

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Con 17

College stress tin lead to health issues and other negative consequences.

40.2% of higher students reported feeling "frequently overwhelmed" in a 2012 survey about stress levels. [75] According to the University of Florida'due south Counseling & Health Center, "The competition for grades, the need to perform, relationships, fright of AIDS, career option, and many other aspects of the college environment cause stress." [76] According to the Director of Student Health Services at Biola University, college stress can atomic number 82 to "headaches, weight gain, chronic digestive disorders, fatigue, increases [in] blood pressure, insomnia, teeth grinding in sleep, general irritability, reoccurring feeling of hopelessness, low and anxiety and low self-esteem." [77]

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Did You Know?
1. xix.ix million students were enrolled in colleges and universities in 2019, compared to 13.5 1000000 in 1990, 7.9 meg in 1970, and 2.7 million in 1949. [2] [iii] [102] [123]
2. The underemployment charge per unit was 34% for all college graduates and 41.1% for recent grads in 2019. [129]
three. One in three higher graduates had a job that only required a loftier school diploma or less, including more than 16,000 parking lot attendants, 83,000 bartenders, and 115,000 janitors with bachelor's degrees. [5] [6]
4. College graduates earn an average of $78,000, a 75% wage premium over the average $45,000 annual earnings for workers with simply a high schoolhouse diploma. [128]
5. The unemployment rate for Americans over 25 with a bachelor's degree was 1.nine% in Dec. 2019, compared to 2.seven% for those with some college or associate'southward degrees, three.vii% for high school graduates, and 5.2% for loftier school drib-outs. [116]

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Source: https://college-education.procon.org/

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