Currency
Making College Pay: An Economist Explains How to Make a Smart Bet on Higher Education
Key Metrics
- Beth Akers
- Currency
- Hardcover
- 9780593238530
- -
- -
- Education > Educational Policy & Reform - Federal Legislation
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The cost of college makes for frightening headlines and politics. The outstanding balance of student loans is more than $1.5 trillion nationally, while tuitions continue to rise. And on the heels of a pandemic that nearly dismantled the traditional college experience, we have to wonder: Is college really worth it?
From a financial perspective, the answer is yes, says economist Beth Akers. It's true that college is expensive. But once we see higher education for what it is--an investment in future opportunities, job security, and earnings--a different picture emerges: The average college graduate earns a million dollars more over their lifetime, and most four-year schools deliver a 15 percent return on investment--double that of the stock market.
Yet these outcomes are not guaranteed. Rather, they hinge upon where and how you opt to invest your tuition dollars. Simply put, the real problem with college isn't the cost--it's the risk that your investment might not pay off.
In Making College Pay, Akers shows how to stack the deck in your favor by making smart choices about where to enroll, what to study, and how to pay for it. You'll learn
- why choosing the right major matters more than where you enroll
- the best criteria for picking a school (hint: not selectivity or ranking)
- why there's a high cost of working part-time while earning your degree
- why it's often best to borrow, even if you can afford to pay outright
- the pros and cons of nontraditional degree programs
- how to take advantage of new, low-risk financing tools
Full of practical advice for students and parents, Making College Pay reminds us that higher education remains an engine for opportunity, upward mobility, and prosperity.
Author Bio
Elizabeth “Beth” Akers is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on the economics of higher education. Before joining AEI, she worked as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a visiting research scholar at the Federal Reserve Board, a fellow at Brookings Institution, and a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.
Dr. Akers is the coauthor of “Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt” (Princeton University Press, 2016) and the coauthor of the chapter “Understanding Changes in the Distribution of Student Loan Debt over Time” in “Student Loans and the Dynamics of Debt” (Upjohn Institute Press, 2015).
She has testified before Congress, and her writing and research have been published or featured in Bloomberg View, Boston Globe, E21 Manhattan Institute, Education Next, New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsweek, Quartz, Time, The Hill, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today, among others. Her broadcast appearances include ABC News, Bloomberg Television, C-SPAN, and CNBC.
Dr. Akers has a PhD in economics from Columbia University and a BS in mathematics and economics from the State University of New York at Albany.
Source: American Enterprise Institute
Videos
No Videos
Community reviews
Write a ReviewNo Community reviews