College is obviously expensive, but is it still a wise investment? On average, foregoing college in favor of entering the workforce + investing tuition costs nets higher returns. The main financial benefit of attending college is the earnings differential received by a college graduate over a high school graduate; Payscale provides 20-year return on investment (ROI) figures for exactly that. The website compares the gain in median pay from graduating over a high school graduate across ~1,250 4 and 5-year educational institutions in the United States.

Below I'll compare the ROI of college to the return generated from simply joining the workforce after high school, but investing college tuition costs* into the stock market (using S&P 500 as a proxy).

College is obviously expensive, but is it still a wise investment? On average, foregoing college in favor of entering the workforce + investing tuition costs nets higher returns. The main financial benefit of attending college is the earnings differential received by a college graduate over a high school graduate; Payscale provides 20-year return on investment (ROI) figures for exactly that. The website compares the gain in median pay from graduating over a high school graduate across ~1,250 4 and 5-year educational institutions in the United States.

Below I'll compare the ROI of college to the return generated from simply joining the workforce after high school, but investing college tuition costs* into the stock market (using S&P 500 as a proxy).