Studies are ignoring credential inflation

College graduates earn more money. They contribute more to the economy. Just imagine the boost to the economy if we could all be college graduates.

This is nonsense. The studies that show the financial benefit of college consistently overlook credential inflation. They assume the value of a college degree would have the same value as today for everyone who obtained the piece of paper.

As more people graduate college, the value of that degree gradually diminishes. This is very similar to what we have seen with our K-12 system. High school diplomas are no longer usable for most decent jobs, and the jobs that require that piece of paper are not generally well paid. If we do the same with college, why would we expect anything different?

The bottom line is that studies showing the financial benefits of going to college make false assumptions. Instead of trying to determine what the value of a degree would be if everyone obtained one, they simply plug in current numbers.