My Conclusion

Through my research in my past posts I have uncovered some insightful information and statistics to help me get a better idea of whether or not the value of the degree is decreasing as tuition rises. My original assumption was that the degree is decreasing in monetary value, and I still think that holds true through my research. To back my belief, I have run some numbers using my resources from the past few posts from "Statistics Brain" and "Salary Trends." In between 1990 and 2000 there was an increase of average incomes reported from bachelor degree graduates of $12,298. The price of tuition with fees and room/board rates only increased $1,364 for one year of college in this same decade. From 2000 to 2010 however, from the averages those bachelor degree graduates reported, there was only an increase of $8,464 in income but tuition in this decade increased $2,906. The increase in per year income was well higher when the increase in per year costs was less. As time has gone on, the income increase is declining per decade while the tuition costs are increasing. To put it more simply, our pay rates for graduates are not growing as fast as the cost of tuition. In my opinion, this proves that the monetary value has been decreasing.

Other questions I still have are about student loans and how they have changed over time. I have not researched this part of my inquiry and am still curious how those effect my findings. Does the difference in student loans over this time make degrees even less valuable?  How much interest are students paying on the average loan? How does that factor into the per year costs for school? How much were we paying in 1990 in interest on our loans? These questions could still factor into my argument. 

Although I have found information to support my belief that the degree is declining in value, I still found a lot of intriguing things that prove just how valuable degrees still remain. Overall it is concerning to me that the degree is losing its value, but I am glad to report that the answer to my original question is that a degree is still worth achieving when comparing it to not having a degree at all.

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