The Value of Education

It's pretty valuable.

But an undergraduate degree has become—and graduate degrees are becoming—an important qualification. Students obtain one, because without it they'll be unable to get an interview for most of the best jobs in the country. If everyone could spontaneously agree that students should attend school only up to the point at which the value of the actual knowledge gained exceeded the cost of tuition, then we could dispense with much of this unnecessary rigmarole. Since that's unlikely to happen, the optimal individual decision is to get the undergrad degree, and then often to get a graduate degree, as well.

And if you're going to go back to school, now is the time to do it. Not only is the opportunity cost of the time spent extremely low—wages aren't likely to rise any time soon, and there may not be a job available anyway—but so to is the opportunity cost of the money invested. What, you'd rather have that tuition sitting in the market right now? Or in a home?

Go to grad school, folks!