Education is key to financial success

Lifetime earnings rise with number of years in school

There is good news for the recent batch of college grads now facing years of student loan payments.

By Elyse Hayes
Deseret News staff writer

Over a lifetime of work, a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.1 million — nearly twice that of
someone with only a high school diploma, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau released
Thursday.

That sounds about right to Valerie Miasnik, a student at the University of Utah earning a bachelor’s
degree in family and consumer studies.
"Actually, I plan on doubling my salary once I graduate," Miasnik said.
After she has her degree, she expects to be promoted to assistant buyer at Meier & Frank, where she
has worked for 2 1/2 years while in school.

The average work-life earnings for full-time, year-round workers with a college degree is $2.1 million,
compared to $1.2 million for high school grads, according to results from a Current Population Survey
collected during 1998, 1999 and 2000. Working years are defined as ages 25 through 64.

Those who earn associate degrees average $1.6 million. Workers with master’s degrees can expect to
earn an average of $2.5 million. Those with professional degrees earn an average of $4.4 million, and doctoral
degree recipients earn an average of $3.4 million over a lifetime.

When broken down into average yearly salaries, those with professional degrees, mainly doctors and
lawyers, earn the most with an average of $109,600 annually. Those with bachelor’s degrees earn an average
of $52,200 annually, and those who did not graduate from high school earn the least, with an average of
$23,400 per year. Those averages are only for full-time, year-round workers.

David Buhler, associate commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, says increased earning
power is part of the reason for the demand for higher education services in the state.
"It’s something we like to point out to legislators. This really is the key to opportunity and economic
success to the people of Utah," he said.

Beginning in the seventh grade, students in Utah are taught about careers and goals as a way to
prepare them for choices they will make concerning high school and college, said Mark Peterson,
spokesman for the Utah State Office of Education.

Though it’s essential for students to know that decisions regarding their education will have lifelong impacts on their finances, some are
simply not cut out for a doctorate he said.
"As long as kids know the consequences and are willing to live with them, that’s the ideal," he said.

In Utah, 87.7 percent of the older-than-25 population has at least a high school diploma, according to the 2000 Census, and 26.1 percent
of the state’s population has at least a bachelor’s degree. Utah fares better than the national average when it comes to educational attainment
levels, as nationally, 80.4 percent of those older than 25 have high school diplomas, with 24.4 percent having received at least a bachelor’s
degree.

The report also shows on average men still earn substantially more than women at every educational level.
The work-life earnings estimate for women with a bachelor’s degree is $1.6 million, compared to the average for a man with the same
degree, which is $2.5 million.

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