There is a new
Gallup survey that asked college graduates of all ages about their later-in-life happiness and income. The intent was to understand whether attending a highly selective prestige university or college resulted in greater happiness, income. Result: It doesn't.
National Public Radio (NPR) has a nice
article explaining the findings.
NPR writes:
This isn't the first time studies have documented no edge for highly selective schools. Previous studies have shown no link between expensive private colleges and later salary for graduates. Income is much more closely tied to a person's choice of a major, which is a finding the Gallup survey also supported.
High-end colleges often boast that their long-term results should be judged not by looking at paychecks, but at whether their graduates live lives of meaning and deep satisfaction. (snip) This survey asked about all that qualitative stuff — purpose, motivation to achieve goals, opportunity to learn and grow — and it didn't find any broad influence whatsoever, whether a person's diploma cost $25,000 or $250,000.
NPR quotes the
Gallup survey leader's conclusion:
If you can go to Podunk U debt free vs. Harvard for $100,000, go to Podunk. And concentrate on what you do when you get there.
Long-time
COTTonLINE readers remember our repeated insistence on the crucial choice of college major. Selecting a career path in which there are vacancies as well as decent pay and conditions seems pragmatic.
