Estimator
What's My College Degree Worth? Lifetime Value
What's my college degree worth over a working life? The average premium is large, but averages hide enormous variation by field, institution and debt taken on to get there.
Your details
Net lifetime value of the degree
$967,500
An earnings gap of $26,000 a year over 40 years
- Extra lifetime earnings
- $1,040,000
- Total cost of the degree
- $62,000
- Estimated loan interest
- $10,500
- Years to break even
- 2.8 years
How you compare: US workers with a bachelor's degree earn roughly 65% more than high school graduates at the median, and unemployment among degree holders runs consistently lower.
How we calculate this
The earnings gap is the difference between the salary you expect with the degree and what you would realistically earn without it, held level in today's money across your remaining working years.
Loan interest is estimated at about 35% of the amount borrowed, which is typical for a standard ten-year federal repayment at recent rates. Longer plans cost considerably more.
Opportunity cost — wages given up while studying — is not included unless you build it into the total cost field. For a full-time four-year degree it is substantial.
Field of study drives most of the variation. Engineering, computing, nursing and economics graduates sit far above the median; several fields sit close to or below it.
The average is not your degree
The often-quoted million-dollar lifetime premium is a median across all fields and institutions. Within it are degrees returning several times that and degrees returning nothing after debt.
Institution-level earnings and debt data published through the College Scorecard is the practical way to check a specific programme rather than the category.
Debt is what turns a good degree bad
A widely used rule: total borrowing should stay below the first year's expected salary. At that level, standard repayment is manageable on a normal budget.
Above it, repayment starts crowding out saving, and a strong earnings premium can still leave someone worse off for a decade after graduating.
Cheaper routes to the same premium
Two years at community college before transfer, in-state public tuition, employer tuition assistance and credit for prior learning all cut cost without touching the credential on the certificate.
For several well-paid fields, an apprenticeship or a licensed trade route reaches similar earnings with no tuition debt at all — worth pricing before assuming a degree is the only path.
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