Does Higher Education Count Less for Economic Success than for Personal Fulfillment?

Autor/in	Adam, Michelle
Titel	Does Higher Education Count Less for Economic Success than for Personal Fulfillment?
Quelle	In: Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 71 (2006) 6, S.47-51 (5 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0013-127X
Schlagwörter	Educational Opportunities; Higher Education; Educational Benefits; Economic Impact; College Outcomes Assessment; Lifelong Learning; Life Satisfaction; Salary Wage Differentials + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bildungsangebot; Bildungschance; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Bildungsertrag; Ökonomische Determinanten; Life-long learning; Lebenslanges Lernen; Lebensvollendung
Abstract	There are a lot of people who believe that education is the engine of prosperity. This is believed to be true, but can't be proven according to researcher Watson Scott Swail, president of the Educational Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization dedicated to policy-based research on educational opportunity for all students. Swail saw the challenges of proving a strong link between education and economic success co-writing a report funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, "Is More Better? The Impact of Postsecondary Education on the Economic and Social Well-Being of American Society." This article discusses Swail's report which focused on the private and public economic benefits of a four-year college education, and on the noneconomic returns postsecondary education seems to offer. Although it was hard to put a clear monetary figure on how higher education directly impacts people's lives and society, the report did provide clear signs that a four-year degree is worth its weight in gold. According to the report, four-year graduates make almost twice what noncollege graduates make, are more likely to be employed, and find jobs more easily. Even two-year-degree holders are more likely to enjoy a higher quality of life than those with only a high school degree, and those with some kind of college degree will have an easier time receiving employee benefit packages and good working conditions. Although Swail's report never did say, either way, if investing in higher education is worth it, it argued for providing an educational opportunity, especially for those on the bottom of the economic ladder. Swail's study did make clear, time and time again, that education does benefit the individual. But, as he pointed out, it is yet to be made truly possible for all. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Prakken Publications, 832 Phoenix Dr., P.O. Box 8623, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. Tel: 734-975-2800; Fax: 734-975-2787; Web site: http://www.eddigest.com/.
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10