College education is worth the debt of admission, says New York Fed study

A new study finds that a degree benefits each graduate $1m more in earnings than a non-graduate, but problems remain

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To all the college grads out there, sighing over their student loan payments, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a message: it was all worth it.

If you regret spending all that money on a college education, you are not alone. About 31% of millennials regret paying for college instead of trying to get a job out of high school, according to Wells Fargo.

In exchange for paying interest, people can take out student loans to delay paying their college expenses. Thus, it is not necessary to incorporate such financing options into our rate of return analysis. In face, because interest rates on student loans are often subsidized at below-market rates, student loans generally allow people to earn higher returns than our results would indicate."

[T]he likelihood of being underemployed declines significantly with age, and more college graduates work their way into college-level jobs by the time they reach their thirties. Nonetheless, about a third of those who obtain a college degree do spend much of their careers in jobs that typically do not require a bachelor’s degree.”