Benefits of higher education

So I try to avoid re-posting as much as possible but this chart is just to good to pass up. One of the most common-threads that runs through pretty much every scientific discipline/department/university at the graduate school level that I have been exposed to is that of complaint. No matter where you are, you can never seem to lose points by talking about how flawed the academic system is in terms of how much graduate students and post docs get paid, length of working days, shortness of vacations,  how small our chances of finding gainful employment are, etc. 

While I'm all for making improvements to a system that I see as being far from perfect, I never quite understand the jaded graduate student trope and more frequently get annoyed at it. At some point in their education, everyone seems to feel like they were lied to and that they didn't sign on for x, y or z. I'm sure most of those individuals are people who didn't necessarily think through the choice of graduate school adequately, and my sympathy is non-existent for them until convinced otherwise. 

Yet, there are undoubtedly others who took their time and made a career decision to continue their education rather then doing so simply out of inertia/apathy. For those individuals, I hope this chart is a pleasant reminder. 

Feel free to call me out when I come whining to you in a few more years time, but until then look at the numbers. High school education pays. Undergraduate education pays. Graduate education pays. All the terrible sacrifices that we make now and make us question our life decisions should be contextualized at least every now and then by the fact that education is a rational economic decision in addition to the numerous difficult-to-quantify benefits. 

Of course, business majors undoubtedly drag these numbers up but humanities and liberal arts majors probably drag them down (sorry guys) leaving scientists and engineers somewhere in the middle.

While I made this post about graduate school in particular, the benefits for graduating high school and attending university are even more striking. So for those individuals whom the graduate school argument seems a bit esoteric, I hope there is a take home message in here for you as well. 

I couldn't possibly argue for the intangible benefits of higher education enough, but take solace that if your sole goal is increased income and job security you will find both with increased education. 

It's a bit of a side issue but I can't seem to throw a rock without hitting a journalist/blogger/academic complaining about the sky rocketing costs of undergraduate or professional education. While I'll never make the argument that our system is perfect and that we couldn't/shouldn't make adjustments to control costs and make education more accessible, I will make the argument that the benefit that can be gained over a life time is substantially more then the cost you'll pay upfront or with loans. 

Even an absurdly expensive $50,000/year education will likely pay itself off several fold over a lifetime. Does that mean it should cost $50,000/year? Or be free? Or cost substantially more? These are arguments for another day but I'd love to hear them.

see the original posting at: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm